The Diaries of Franz Kafka
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132. Frydlant and Liberic, two old towns in northern Bohemia. The text retains Kafka’s German spelling of the names.
133. Judging from the last entry in the diary of this trip (this page), it seems probable that Kafka visited these places on official business for the Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute, by which he was employed.
This castle may perhaps have influenced Kafka’s conception of the castle in his novel.
134. A recollection of the trip to Riva, Brescia, in 1909.
135. Kafka undertook this trip together with the Editor. We planned to write a novel together, called Richard and Samuel, one chapter of which has been preserved under the title of ‘The First Long Train Journey’. (See n. 14)
136. Alice R. is the woman who appears as Dora Lippert in ‘The First Long Train Journey’. (See n. 21).
137. As shown in a drawing in the manuscript.
138. An allusion to the theory of the ‘Indistinct’, with which the book Anschauung und Begriff by Felix Weltsch and myself begins. The ‘Indistinct’ is represented there by the graphic symbol, A + x.
139. A Czech expression for the little envelopes that contain fortunes; a trained parrot would draw one out of a heap.
140. Writing entries in our diaries.
141. Paintings in the Louvre.
142. Paintings in the palace of Versailles.
143. From this point on the entries were made at the Erlenbach Sanatorium, Switzerland, whither Kafka had gone on alone while I returned home. His leave of absence was a little longer than mine. The entries, however, soon revert to the impressions of Paris that he had just absorbed.
144. Kafka and I went to Weimar together during our holiday, staying there until 7 July. On 8 July Kafka left for the Jungborn nature therapy establishment in the Harz. Kafka was always interested in Naturheilkunde in all its various forms, such as the raw food diet, vegetarianism, Mazdaznan, nudism, gymnastics, and anti-vaccinationism. The curious mixture of irony and respect in his attitude to these cults, and his efforts over the years to live in accordance with several of them, defy all analysis. The ‘Travel Diary’ faithfully reflects Kafka’s attitude.
145. Patriotic Czech gymnastic societies.
146. [‘Confession’, by Goethe. The following is a translation by Paul Dyrsen (1878):
Absolution give to us!
And we shall forever
To remember your command
Faithfully endeavour;
Wholly love all worth and beauty
And from doing half our duty
Resolutely sever.]
147. Johannes Schlaf, with Arno Holz one of the first men in German literature to write in the genre of modern realism, was one of the forerunners of Gerhart Hauptmann. In the years before our visit he had again made himself much talked about by advancing and vehemently defending an anti-Copernican theory according to which the sun moved round the earth.
148. Wickersdorf was a progressive country boarding school founded in Germany in 1906 in close conformity with the ideals of the German Youth Movement.
CHRONOLOGY
1883 – 1924
1883 Born 3 July in Prague.
1901 Graduates from the German Gymnasium. (Incorrectly given in Diaries as 1903.)
1906 Doctorate in jurisprudence from the Karl-Ferdinand University in Prague.
before 1907 Writes ‘Description of a Struggle’ and ‘Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande’.
1907–08 Temporary employment in the Assicurazioni Generali, an Italian insurance company.
1908 Appointed to post with government-sponsored Arbeiter-Unfall Versicherungs-Anstalt für das Königreich Böhmen in Prag.
1909 Publication of ‘Conversation with the Supplicant’ and ‘Conversation with the Drunken Man’, two dialogues from ‘Description of a Struggle’, in the literary periodical Hyperion. Publication of ‘The Aeroplanes at Brescia’ in the Prague newspaper Bohemia.
1910 Publication in Bohemia of several short pieces later included in Meditation.
1911 Trip to Frydlant and Liberic.
Trip to Switzerland, Italy, Paris, and Erlenbach.
Meets Yiddish theatre troupe in Prague.
1912 Publication in the literary periodical Herderblätter of ‘The First Long Train Journey’, first chapter of Richard and Samuel.
Trip to Weimar and Jungborn.
Meets F.B.
Begins Amerika.
Writes ‘The Judgement’.
1913 Publication of Meditation.
Publication of ‘The Judgement’ in the literary year-book Arkadia.
Publication of ‘The Stoker’, first chapter of Amerika.
Trip to Riva.
Writes ‘The Metamorphosis’.
1914 Formal engagement to F.B.
Begins The Trial.
Writes first draft of ‘In the Penal Colony’.
Writes ‘The Giant Mole’.
Trip to Denmark.
1915 Publication of ‘The Metamorphosis’.
Completes The Trial.
Awarded the Fontane Prize for ‘The Stoker’.
Moves from parental house into a rented room.
1917 Tuberculosis.
Sick leave from the Arbeiter-Unfall-Versicherungs-Anstalt
Final break with F. B.
1918 Writes ‘The Great Wall of China’.
1919 Publication of the collection of stories, A Country Doctor. Short-lived second engagement to J.W.
1920 Publication of ‘In the Penal Colony’.
Stay in Meran, Austria.
Resumes work at his office.
Meets Milena Jesenská
1921 Stay in a sanatorium in the Tatra.
Writes The Castle.
Publication of ‘The Bucket Rider’ in Prager Presse.
1922 Publication of the story ‘A Hunger Artist’ in Die Neue Rundschau.
1923 Writes ‘Investigations of a Dog’, ‘The Burrow’, and ‘Josephine the Singer’.
Meets Dora Dymant; goes with her to Berlin.
1924 Publication of the collection of stories, A Hunger Artist.
Dies 3 June in a sanatorium near Vienna.
Buried 11 June in the Jewish cemetery in Prague-Strashnitz.
LIST OF AUTHORS, ARTISTS, PERIODICALS, AND WORKS
Numerals preceded by an italic n refer to notes at the end of the book.
It was not possible to identify all the authors and artists mentioned in the text. In such cases their names are not listed here.
Abramowitsch, Solomon Jacob, see Mendele Mocher Sforim
Abschied von der Jugend, play by Max Brod
Adler, Friederich (1857–1938), German Jewish poet and playwright from Prague, n 110
Adler, Jacob P., founder of distinguished family of actors
‘Aeroplanes at Brescia, The’, by Franz Kafka, n 30
Aktion, Die, political and literary monthly edited by F. Pfemfert, published in Berlin 1911–32
Alarcos, by Friedrich Schlegel
Amerika, by Franz Kafka, n 48, n 53, n 81, n 90 n 101
Annalen für Naturphilosophie, monist publication edited by Wilhelm Ostwalt, published in Leipzig 1901–21
Annunzio, Gabriele D’ (1864–1938), Italian poet and novelist,
Arkadia, poetry yearbook edited by Max Brod, appeared in Leipzig 1913
Arme Spielmann, Der, by Franz Grillparzer
Arnold Beer, novel by Max Brod
Asmus Sempers Jugendland, by the German novelist Otto Ernst (1862–1926)
Az Est, Budapest newspaper
Baal Shem Tov, Israel B. Eliezer (c. 1700–1760), founder of Hasidism
‘Bachelor’s “Ill Luck” ’, by Frank Kafka, n 31, n 123, n 130
Bakunin, Mikhail (1814–76), Russian anarchist
Baluscheck, Hans (1870–1936), German painter
Bar Kokhba, play by Abraham Goldfaken, 104–6, 108–9
Bartered Bride, The, Opera by Friedrich Smetana
Baum, Oskar (1883–1941), Jewish author
and music critic from Prague, n 8
Beer-Hofmann, Richard (1886–1946), Austrian-Jewish lyric poet and dramatist, n 43
Beermann, Richard Arnold, pseud, of Arnold Höllriegel (1883–1939), author of travel books
Beethoven und das Liebespaar, novel by Wilhelm Schäfer
Belinski, Vissarion Grigorievich (1811–48), Russian critic
Beradt, Martin (1881–1949), German-Jewish novelist
Bergmann, Hugo (1883–1975), Jewish philosopher from Prague, later Professor at the Hebrew University
Berliner Tageblatt, newspaper edited by Theodor Wolff, founded in 1872, later absorbed by Nazis
Bernhardt, Sarah (1844–1923)
Besuch aus dem Elysium, by Franz Werfel
Bialik, Hayim Nahman (1873–1934), Hebrew poet
Biberpelz, by Gerhart Hauptmann
Bible
Bie, Oskar (1864–1938), German art critic
Biedermann, W. von, editor of Gespräche mit Goethe
Birnbaum, Nathan (1864–1937) Austrian-Jewish author and Zionist publicist
Bizet, Georges (1838–75), French composer
Black Flags, by Johan August Strindberg
Blanc, Louis (1811–82), French revolutionary and historian
Blei, Franz (1871–1943), German novelist and satirist, 128–9
‘Blinde Gast, Der’, story by Otto Pick, 316
Blüher, Hans (1888–1955), German writer, author of a number of anti-Semitic works n 127, 421–2
Blumenfeld, Kurt (1884–1963), German Zionist leader, later in Jerusalem
Bohemia, Prague German-language newspaper, 188–9
Böse Unschuld, Die, novel by Oskar Baum
Bouvard et Pécuchet, by Gustave Flaubert
Boy-Ed, Isa (1852–1928), German popular novelist
Brahms, Johannes (1833–97)
Brandenburg, Hans (1885–1968), German poet and critic
‘Brescia’, see ‘Aeroplanes at Brescia, The’, by Franz Kafka
Briefe, die neueste Literatur betreffend (1759), a series of literary criticisms edited by Friedrich Nikolai in collaboration with Moses Mendelssohn and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Briefe, by Heinrich von Kleist
Briefwechsel zwischen Rahel und David Veit
* Brod, Max (1884–1968), 45–6, n 14, n 30
Brothers Karamazov, The, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 322–3
Bruckner, Ferdinand, see Tagger, Theodor
Buch des Richters, by Søren Kierkegaard, n 58
By the Open Sea, novel by Johan August Strindberg
Carmen, by Georges Bizet
Castle, The, by Frank Kafka, n 18, n 70
Christliche Welt, Die, Protestant magazine first published 1886 in Marburg
Claudel, Paul (1868–1955), French poet and playwright, n 5, n 63 ‘Confidence Trickster’, see ‘Unmasking a Confidence Trickster’, by Franz Kafka
‘Conversation with the Supplicant’, by Franz Kafka, n 4
Corriere della Sera, Milanese newspaper
Country Doctor, A, collection of stories and prose pieces by Franz Kafka 386–7, n 87, n 124
Dalcroze, Emile Jacques (1866–1950), Austrian choreographer, founder of Hellerau school
Daudet, Alphonse (1840–97), French novelist
Dauthendey, Max (1867–1918), German novelist and poet
David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens
David, Pierre Jean (1789–1856), French sculptor
Davids Geige, by Joseph Lateiner
‘Death of Ivan Ilyich, The’, by Leo Tolstoy, it 121
Dehmel, Richard (1863–1920), German poet
‘Description of a Struggle’, by Franz Kafka, n 4
Deutschen in Russland, Die, by Paul Holzhausen (1860–), German author of a number of works on Napoleon
Deutsches Abendblatt, Prague German-language newspaper
Dichtung und Wahrheit, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Dick, Eisik Meir (1808–94), Yiddish author and novelist
Dickens, Charles (1812–70)
Diederich, Eugen (1868–1930), German publisher
Diener zweier Herrn, Der, by Carlo Goldoni
Dilthey, Wilhelm (1833–1911), German historian and philosopher, n 64
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor (1821–81), 322–3
Dream of a Spring Morning, play by Gabriele D’Annunzio
Dubrovačka Trilogijia, play by Ilo Vojnovič
Edelstatt, David (1866–92), Yiddish poet
Education sentimentale, by Gustave Flaubert
Eheleute, by Martin Beradt
Ehrenfels, Christian von (1859–1932), German philosopher and playwright
Ehrenstein, Albert (1886–1950), Austrian-Jewish poet
Eiserne Frau, Die, novel by Naum Meir Schaikewitz
Either-Or, by Søren Kierkegaard
Eleseus, see Growth of the Soil
Eliezar ben Schema, by Jacob Gordin
Erdgeist, play by Frank Wedekind
Erlebnis und die Dichtung, Das, essays by Wilhelm Dilthey, n 64
Ernst, Paul (1866–1933), German author
Er Und Seine Schwester, comedy by the Hungarian-born German playwright, novelist, and journalist Bernhard Buchbinder (1852–1922)
Esther, Kaiserin von Persien, play by Franz Werfel, 318–19
Excelsior, illustrated newspaper published in Paris from 1910 to 1942
Fall Jacobsohn, Der, by Siegfried Jacobsohn
Fidelio, by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
‘First Long Train Journey, The’, by Max Brod and Franz Kafka, n 14
Fishke der Krummer, by Mendele Mocher Sforim
Flaubert, Gustave (1821–80)
Fliegenden Blätter, Die, Satirical magazine published in Munich
Foerster, Friedrich Wilhelm (1869–1966), German pacifist, writer on politics and pedagogy, later in the United States
‘Fogs of London, The’, chapter in My Past and Thoughts: The Memoirs of Alexander Herzen
Franz Kafka, a Biography, by Max Brod, n 30
Franzi, novel by Max Brod
Franziska, novel by Ernst Weiss, n 77
Fred, W., pseud, for Alfred Wechsler (1879–), German-Jewish writer
Freud, Sigmund (1856–1939)
Freytag, Gustav (1816–95), German novelist
Fromer, Jacob (1865–1941), Jewish philosopher and historian
Frug, Simon Samuel (1860–1916), Yiddish poet
Gabriel Schillings Flucht, by Gerhard Hauptmann
Galeere, Die, by Ernst Weiss, n 57 Gespräche mit Goethe, edited by W. von Biedermann
‘Giant Mole, The’, story by Franz Kafka
Glaube und Heimat, by Karl Schönherr
Gluck, Christoph Willibald (1714–87), German-born French operatic composer
Goat Song, drama by Franz Werfel
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749–1832), n 44, n 45
Goethe, Philosophical biography by Wilhelm Dilthey
Goethe Yearbook, Edited by L. Geiger, appeared in Frankfort (1880–1913) 196
Gogol, Nikolai Vasilievich (1809–52)
Goldfaden, Abraham (1840–1908), Hebrew and Yiddish poet and playwright
Goldoni, Carlo (1707–93), Italian dramatist
Gordin, Jacob (1853–1909), Yiddish dramatist
Gordon, Judah Loeb (1830–92), poet of the Russian Haskalah
Gothic Rooms, The, novel by Johan August Strindberg
Gott, Mensch, Teufel, by Jacob Gordin
Graetz, Heinrich (1817–91), German-Jewish historian
Graf von Gleichen, by Wilhelm Schmidtbonn
Great Wall of China, The, by Franz Kafka, n 61
Grillparzer, Franz (1791–1872), Austrian dramatic poet
Grosse Maggid, Der, by Martin Buber (1878–1965), Austrian-born Jewish philosopher and scholar later in Israel, n 130
Growth of the Soil, by Knut Hamsun
Grünbaum, Fritz (1880–1940), German-Czech author, playwright, and artist
Gutsgeschichte, Eine, by Selma Lagerlöf
>
Haas, Willi (1891–1973), German-Jewish writer, editor, from Prague, n 47
Hässliche, Die, by Oskar Baum
Halbe, Max (1865–1944), German novelist and playwright
Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
Hamsun, Knut (1859–1952), Norwegian novelist
Harden, Maximilian (1861–1927), German-Jewish journalist
Hardt, Ludwig (1886–1947), German-Jewish elocutionist
Hašek, Jeroslav (1883–1923), Czech writer, n 15
Hasenclever, Walter (1890–1940), German-Jewish writer and playwright
Hauptmann, Gerhart (1862–1946), German dramatist, n 2
Hebbel, Christian Friedrich (1813–63), German poet and dramatist
Hegner, Jakob (1882–1962), German publisher, n 63
Heiligenlegenden, see Schönsten Heiligenlegenden in Wort und Bild, Die Heine, Heinrich (1797–1856)
Herder, Johann Gottfied von (1774–1803), German author and philosopher
Herderblätter, Die, literary magazine published in Prague, n 47
Hermann und Dorothea, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, n 44
Hermann, Hugo (1887–1940), Zionist editor and author from Prague
Hermann, Leo (1888–1951), Zionist worker and author from Prague
Herzele Mejiches, by Moses Richter
Herzen, Alexander (1812–70), Russian author and revolutionist, n 60
Hippodamie, by Jaroslav Vrchlicky
Histoire de la Littérature Judéo-Allemande, by Meyer Isser Pines
‘History of the Devil’, by Gustav Roskoff
History of the Jews, by Heinrich Graetz
Hofmannsthal, Hugo von (1874–1929), Austrian poet
Hose, by Karl Sternheim
Hugo, Victor (1802–85)
Humboldt, Wilhelm von (1767–1835), German philologist and man of letters
‘Hunter Gracchus, The’, by Franz Kafka, n 61
Ibsen, Henrik Johan (1828–1906), Norwegian poet and dramatist
Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique (1780–1867), French painter
Insel Almanach, Literary almanach, first published in 1905 in Leipzig by Insel-Verlag
‘In the Penal Colony’, by Franz Kafka
Iphigenie auf Tauris, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Ivan Ilyich, see ‘Death of Ivan Ilyich, The’
Jacobsohn, Siegfried (1881–1927), German-Jewish publicist and editor of Die Weltbühne
Jammes, Francis (1868–1938), French poet and novelist
Jerusalem, Karl Wilhelm (1747–72), prototype of Goethe’s Werther