with the writer's relationship to the
city. The second half, "Prague in
Kafka," shows how the city figures
metaphorically in his fiction.
Kafka's own writings serve as tour
guide. Quotations from his letters, diaries
and fiction are sprinkled throughout, giv-
ing visual expression to his words.
Upon entering the exhibit, one is
immediately transported to Prague, with
an image of the city projected on slate
rooftops resembling the rooftops of
Prague. An actual bed of water mimics the
Moldava River running through the city.
Photographs of Old Prague, includ-
ing images of the Jewish Quarter and
the Alt-Neu Synagogue, are embedded
in the water, like reflections of the sur-
rounding urban landscape.
autobiographical letter (which the
father never saw), tells of his struggles
to grow up and become an adult in
the household of his domineering par-
ent. Kafka was always trying to find
ways to escape from the ideologies of
his father as well as from his physical
presence. He found that escape hatch
in his friendship with the Polish
Jewish actor Jizchak Lowy, whom
Kafka met in Prague in 1911.
It was Lowy who kindled Kafka's
interest in Yiddish theater and Jewish
literature, and helped to unleash his
creative potential. Kafka's father spoke
disparagingly of the friendship, but
the relationship with Lowy was one of
the bright spots in the author's life.
A section of the exhibit titled "A
Bohemia from 1908 until his retire-
ment in 1922. Although he found the
job and his writing not only incom-
patible but unbearable, the opposing
tensions became the wellspring of his
fiction.
In the section called "The Civil
Servant and the Artist," the exhibit
illuminates the tug of war between
Kafka the bureaucrat and Kafka the
writer.
That tension is graphically depicted
by a two-sided display case. Half
includes filing cabinets representing
his life as an office worker; on the
other side is a writer's desk with some
of Kafka's early writings.
Kafka viewed matrimony as yet
another interference with his writing.
"I am nothing but literature and can and want to be nothing
else."
Franz Kafka, "Diaries, 1910-1913"
Life With Father
Understanding Kafka's relationship
with his disapproving father is key to
understanding the writer, Levitov says.
In the exhibit, a larger-than-life
image of Hermann Kafka, superim-
posed on the family tree, suggests the
overpowering father in the author's
mind.
Kafka felt he could never please his
father, that nothing he ever did was
good enough. A number of his stories,
such as "The Judgment," address the
father-son conflict.
He also wanted his father to recog-
nize him for what he was — a writer
— and he never felt that recognition,
Levitov says.
"Dearest Father," Kafka's famous
Little Ravachol" includes photographs
depicting Kafka's walk to school as a
child. In his diaries, written years later,
Kafka described how the family cook
accompanied him to school, a tortu-
ous ordeal for the young boy.
Because of his awkward behavior, the
cook called him a "ravachol," a Czech
idiom for "troublemaker." When Kafka
asked his father what the term meant,
his father instantly replied, "a murder-
er." From earliest childhood, the
hypersensitive Kafka felt the insidious
nickname was warranted.
Bureaucrat Vs. Writer
He never married, although he was
engaged a number of times, twice to
the same woman, Felice Bauer.
The section of the exhibit highlight-
ing Kafka's fiction is especially graphic.
His story "The Burrow" tells of an
anxiety-ridden mole who builds a
labyrinthine refuge underground. The
tale is an allegory for Kafka's search for
a sanctuary in which to write and to
escape the pressures of job, family and
women. In the exhibit, a life-sized
wooden maze through which the view-
er walks simulates the underground
structure of the mole's burrow.
Rows upon rows of gigantic floor-
to-ceiling filing cabinets create a suffo-
A lawyer by training, Kafka worked as
a claims adjuster for the Kingdom of
CONN ECTING WITH KAFKA on page 89
Left to right, above:
Franz Kafka, around
1906-08: "I found equally
little means of escape from
you in Judaism." — from
"Dearest Fathen" the
authors famous
autobiographical letter
telling of his struggles to
grow up and become an
adult in the household of
his domineering parent.
Jizchak Lowy, a
Yiddish actor whose
friendship brought about
a turning point in Kafka's
appreciation for the
Jewish tradition.
Felice Bauer in 1914•
Kafka twice broke off their
engagement. "Could you
really stand that?
To know nothing about
your husband except that
he is sitting in his room
writing?" — Franz Kafka,
letter to Felice Bauer.
Milena Jesenska, the first
person to translate Kafka's
works' into Czech and his
great love — his first and
only non-Jewish love.
Although he called off their
relationship, she loved him
till the end of her days, in
the inferno of the
Ravensbruck concentration
camp in 1944.
Lifelong friend Max Brod:
At the end of his life,
Kafka asked Brod to burn
all of his manuscripts;
Brod published them
instead.
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