June 18, 2008
Kafka on the perils of excavating in quarries while drunk
I read an interesting post over on This Space that talked about Franz Kafka‘s “rage to write” as well as the forthcoming publication of a book containing some of Kafka’s work that has never before been translated into English.
The collection, titled Franz Kafka: The Office Writings, will be published in October by Princeton University Press.
Kafka, whose best known for such works as The Metamorphosis and The Trial, lived as a workers’ comp lawyer during the day and as a writer at night. It is from the former experience that these newly translated works arose. More specifically, these professional writings were “composed during his years as a high-ranking lawyer with the largest Workmen’s Accident Insurance Institute in the Czech Lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,” according to the book description.
Here’s more:
These documents include articles on workmen’s compensation and workplace safety; appeals for the founding of a psychiatric hospital for shell-shocked veterans; and letters arguing relentlessly for a salary adequate to his merit. In adjudicating disputes, promoting legislative programs, and investigating workplace sites, Kafka’s writings teem with details about the bureaucracy and technology of his day, such as spa elevators in Marienbad, the challenge of the automobile, and the perils of excavating in quarries while drunk. Beautifully translated, with valuable commentary by two of the world’s leading Kafka scholars and one of America’s most eminent civil rights lawyers, the documents cast rich light on the man and the writer and offer new insights to lovers of Kafka’s novels and stories.
I’m positive the book will have some literary merit if it contains Kafka’s writing. But beyond that, I’m genuinely piqued by the “perils of excavating in quarries while drunk.” Who knew?
For more news about Jewish books, sign up for Jewish Literary Review’s email alerts.