Kafka, oni a my

It might seem that there is nothing new left to say about Franz Kafka. However, the book Kafka: oni a my (Them and Us) does not set out to be yet another analysis of Kafka’s work; rather, it reflects how his work was perceived in the 1960s, when it became accessible to a wider public. The impetus for this book was the discovery of a unique album containing carefully pasted newspaper cuttings, photographs and letters relating to Kafkaesque themes, accompanied by contemporary commentary, including rare correspondence between the Moravian writer Ladislav Šebela and Max Brod, Johann Urzidil and other writers. The author of the book has, for the first time, provided a comprehensive account of how Kafkaesque themes have been reflected in the visual arts, theatre and film. This unique collection of archival material, brought together in a single volume, thus becomes one of the key sources of insight not only into Franz Kafka, but above all into the influence of his work on the cultural history of the 20th century.