Nachgelassene Schriften und Fragmente I

by Franz Kafka, Malcolm Pasley (Editor)

Kafka blickt auf die Welt als ein in sie Zurückgestoßener, als einer, der auf dem Weg nach jenen Stätten um-kehren muß, an denen der Kaiser wohnt und die unbekannten Gesetze beheimatet sind. Nicht so, als ob er überhaupt zu ihnen hingefunden hätte; aber ihm ergeht es doch wie einem halb Erwachten, dessen schlafbefangenes Sinnen dem eben erst verflogenen Traum gilt, in dem die Lösung aller Rätsel gegenwärtig gewesen ist. Noch glaubt er, das Schlüsselwort greifen, ja schmecken zu können, und schon zerrinnt die unübertrefflich klare Figur, zu der sich die Welt im Zeichen des offen-baren Geheimnisses zusammengeschlossen hat. Unter Qualen bemüht er sich, ihre auseinandergefallenen Teile einzufangen, die sich noch dazu grundverkehrt wieder zu vereinigen beginnen, und je weniger ihm die Rekonstruktion des verschwundenen herrlichen Bildes gelingt, desto verzweifelter jagt er zwischen den zerstreuten Bruchstücken hin und her, um sie aufzuhalten und womöglich zu ordnen."
Siegfried Kracauer (1931)

In diesem Band sind jene Texte aus Kafkas Nachlaß vereinigt, die bis Herbst 1917 entstanden sind (abgesehen von den beiden Romanen ,Der Verschollene' und ,Der Proceß' sowie von dem, was in den ,Tagebüchern' überliefert ist). Sie werden hier strikt handschriftgemäß dargeboten, aber nicht nur in der originalen Texgestalt, sondern auch in ihren ursprünglichen, handschriftlichen Textzusammenhängen.
Manches Wohlbekannte und oft Kommentierte stellt sich somit anders dar als in der gewohnten, von der bisherigen Druckgeschichte bedingten Form. Was in den früheren Kafka-Ausgaben als einheitliches und quasi abgerundetes Textstück vorgelegt wurde, stellt in Wirklichkeit oft ein zusammengesetztes Gebilde dar, das auf dem Wege der Kontamination, der Umordnung des Überlieferten oder auch der Wiedereinsetzung von Passagen, die vom Autor gestrichen sind, zustande gekommen ist. Danach würde man im vorliegenden Band vergeblich suchen: statt dessen finden sich hier lediglich, jeweils in den originalen Kontextbeziehungen, die verschiedenen, sich vortastenden Ansätze zum betreffenden ,work in progress'. Mit anderen Worten: Was in Kafkas Handschriften zusammensteht, wird in dieser Ausgabe zusammengelassen."
Malcolm Pasley

445 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

Franz Kafka was a German-speaking writer from Prague whose work became one of the foundations of modern literature, even though he published only a small part of his writing during his lifetime. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kafka grew up amid German, Czech, and Jewish cultural influences that shaped his sense of displacement and linguistic precision. His difficult relationship with his authoritarian father left a lasting mark, fostering feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inadequacy that became central themes in his fiction and personal writings.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.