On the Road with Kafka: new book reveals places linked to famous Prague-born Jewish writer
The Jungborn nudist sanatorium, the Paris metro, or the picturesque town of Stresa by Lago Magiorre – these are just some of the many places visited by Franz Kafka, the great Prague-born Jewish writer who died exactly 100 years ago. To mark the occasion, a new book, has just come out dedicated to Kafka’s travels. I spoke to its author, journalist and publicist Judita Matyášová:
“We decided to create this book as an inspiration for those who already know Kafka. We would like to inspire people who are perhaps a little bit intimidated by his writing, who think that he is maybe too depressing or pessimistic. So we would like to invite them to follow in his footsteps all around Europe.”
Where did you draw information about Kafka’s travels?
“Our main source of information were the travel diaries of Kafka and his best friend, Max Brod. They wrote parallel diaries. And then also letters to his family members, to his fiancé and other friends, as well as other materials, including the memoirs of his friends and other people who met him.”
Is the book limited only to Czechia or does it cross borders?
“There are about 70 locations around Europe, including Czechia of course, but also Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and Slovakia.”
Can you mention at least some of the many places that Kafka visited or some of his favourite destinations?
“It could be for example Weimar in Thuringia in Germany, where Kafka followed in the footsteps of his favourite author Goethe. He really enjoyed this town. He also had a love affair or a crush on a local girl and he wrote about this affair in his travel diaries.
“This town is very inspiring. We discovered five places related to Kafka and two of them are in our book. We also paid a visit to Venice. For Kafka, Venice was not a very happy place, because he was again dealing with some troubles with his fiancée.
“Unfortunately the hotel in Venice where Kafka was staying is currently undergoing a reconstruction, so all of the authentic furniture and other stuff is gone. We were lucky that we could photograph them before the reconstruction started.”
What do these places reveal about Kafka? What do they say about his personality?
“He was very curious about the natural lifestyle movement and in our book you can find locations where he spent several days, sometimes weeks. But he also admired modern technologies. For example, he was obsessed with the Metro in Paris.
“There is also an interesting parallel to how we travel nowadays. Kafka had very limited time for his travels, but he wanted to see as many places as possible and do as much as possible. Nowadays we also fly to Paris or to Copenhagen for just a day, yet we want to see as much as we can.”
So far the book has been released in Czech. Is there any chance that it will be translated to other languages in the near future?
“We already have a German translation of our first book, so we just have to update it. This autumn we would like to present our book at the International Book Fair in Frankfurt and we hope we can find a German publisher there. We would also like to find a publisher in Italy, because it is not so well known that Kafka was in the Italy several times, so that is our goal for this year.
And hopefully English in the following year…
“Yes, I think English and also Spanish, because in Spain but also in South America there are a lot of people who really like Kafka. Usually, they are inspired by Borges, who really promoted Kafka, so English and Spanish would be great!”
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Franz Kafka was born in Prague, but where specifically did the world-famous writer grow up? Where did he draw inspiration, or even go on holiday?
