Letter to His Father
Encyclopedia
Letter to His Father is the name usually given to the letter Franz Kafka
wrote to his father Hermann in November 1919, indicting him for his emotionally abusive and hypocritical behavior towards him.
Kafka hoped the letter would bridge the growing gap between him and his father, though in the letter he provides a sharp criticism of both:
According to Max Brod
, Kafka actually gave the letter to his mother to hand on to his father. His mother never delivered the letter but returned it to her son. The original letter, 45 pages long, was typewritten by Kafka and corrected by hand. Two and a half additional pages were written by hand.
The letter, translated into English by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins, was published in a bilingual edition by Schocken Books
in 1966, and included in several Schocken collections of Kafka's works. A new translation by Hannah and Richard Stokes was published by Oneworld Classics in 2008 under the title Dearest Father.
The following collections include Kafka's Letter to His Father (Kaiser and Wilkins translation):
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
wrote to his father Hermann in November 1919, indicting him for his emotionally abusive and hypocritical behavior towards him.
Kafka hoped the letter would bridge the growing gap between him and his father, though in the letter he provides a sharp criticism of both:
"Dearest Father,
- You asked me recently why I maintain that I am afraid of you. As usual, I was unable to think of any answer to your question, partly for the very reason that I am afraid of you, and partly because an explanation of the grounds for this fear would mean going into far more details than I could even approximately keep in mind while talking. And if I now try to give you an answer in writing, it will still be very incomplete..."
According to Max Brod
Max Brod
Max Brod was a German-speaking Czech Jewish, later Israeli, author, composer, and journalist. Although he was a prolific writer in his own right, he is most famous as the friend and biographer of Franz Kafka...
, Kafka actually gave the letter to his mother to hand on to his father. His mother never delivered the letter but returned it to her son. The original letter, 45 pages long, was typewritten by Kafka and corrected by hand. Two and a half additional pages were written by hand.
The letter, translated into English by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins, was published in a bilingual edition by Schocken Books
Schocken Books
Schocken Books is a publishing company that was established in Berlin with a publishing office in Prague in 1931 by the Schocken Department Store owner Salman Schocken. It published the writings of Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Franz Kafka and S. Y...
in 1966, and included in several Schocken collections of Kafka's works. A new translation by Hannah and Richard Stokes was published by Oneworld Classics in 2008 under the title Dearest Father.
Editions
- Brief an den Vater. (Original German text) in German WikisourceWikisourceWikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Its aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, it has...
- Letter to His Father. Bilingual edition. New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
: Schocken Books, 1966. - Dearest Father. (Oneworld Classics, 2008) ISBN 978-1-84749-025-4
The following collections include Kafka's Letter to His Father (Kaiser and Wilkins translation):
- Dearest Father. Stories and Other WritingsDearest Father. Stories and Other WritingsDearest Father. Stories and Other Writings is a collection of writings by Franz Kafka translated by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins with notes by Max Brod...
. New York: Schocken Books, 1954. - The SonsThe SonsThe Sons is a collection of stories by Franz Kafka.In 1913 Kafka wrote to his publisher Kurt Wolff requesting that three of his stories be placed in a single volume:...
. New York: Schocken Books, 1989.