How Did Franz Kafka Do It? Book Presentation of the Annotated Edition of „The Trial“ and Discussion With Dr. Reiner Stach, Literary Scholar and Kafka Biographer

„Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong, he was arrested one fine morning.“ This famous first sentence of Franz Kafka's novel fragment „The Trial“ essentially contains the entire story. In 1925, barely ten months after Kafka's death, the text from the estate of Kafka's friend Max Brod was first published by the small Berlin publishing house „Die Schmiede“. It was soon recognized as one of the signature texts of the 20th century. Yet it continues to puzzle readers around the world in their efforts to decipher its secrets in a satisfactory way. The first volume of the first annotated edition of Kafka's works is being published for the Kafka memorial year 2024. How Kafka actually made his texts work the way they do is the central question that Reiner Stach bases his work on in this commentary. Even the famous first sentence was not immediately successful. How Kafka changed it into the version we know today and why will be one of the questions Reiner Stach will answer this evening using the manuscript. You can look forward to an in-depth look into the workshop of the world-famous author Franz Kafka.

The book can be purchased at the book table at the event; Reiner Stach will be happy to sign copies after the presentation.

Moderation: Kathrin Verzino

An event as part of the Kafka Festival 2024 in Cottbus under the title AN DIESEM ORT WAR ICH NOCH NIEMALS.