Kafka is a headliner! Franz Kafka is in the international news this week. July 3 marked the 125th anniversary of his birth with special events held in his honor in Germany and elsewhere. The following story broke July 8 in Ha'aretz , one of Israel's major daily newspapers, and today a follow up article appeared in The Guardian in London. The front page tease reads: Franz Kafka:  Papers Found . The headline itself reads:

"End of a Kafkaesque nightmare: writer's papers finally come to light
Documents hoarded for 40 years in Tel Aviv flat by executor's secretary"

These are not the same papers the Kafka Project is looking for in Eastern Europe, although I think it a lovely omen that this is the second Kafka discovery since the Magical Mystery Literary History tour began last month. The first discovery was in Prague in mid-June of a previously unknown, unpublished letter Kafka wrote to another lover, Julie Wohyrzek, in 1919. The papers which are about to be uncovered in Israel are extremely important to Dora's version of events. When they are made available, a second edition of my book, Kafka's Last Love: The Mystery of Dora Diamant , will no doubt be necessary. These papers, which belonged to Max Brod, contain dozens of letters that Dora Diamant wrote to Brod after Kafka's death in 1924 until her own death in 1952. They also contain Dora's last will, which no one but Max Brod (and Ester Hoffe) has seen. It's an extremely important discovery, and the Kafka world is indeed "holding its breath."

There is also a fascinating review by Zadie Smith in The New York Review of Books  (July 17, 2008) of a new book about Kafka. Definitely worthwhile reading.  Zadie Smith is a London-based best-selling, award-winning novelist who made headlines herself last year with the announcement she was writing a musical about Kafka. One can only hope.

(Thanks to Ehud Gelb, Dale Estey, Steve Schlesinger and Miriam Shekter for keeping me informed while I'm on the road!) 

Kathi Diamant from Zab, Tatra Mountains, Poland
July 10, 2008 at 10:12 PM
The story about the Kafka papers found in Tel Aviv is heating up! Today's headline in Ha'aretz reads: "Bidding war erupts over Kafka's Tel Aviv legacy." According the Israeli state archivist, Dr. Yososhua Freundlich: "I'll persistently demand that no material connected to Franz Kafka leaves the State of Israel." You can read the complete story at: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1000641.html http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1000641.html

Kathi Diamant from Zab, Tatra Mountains, Poland
July 10, 2008 at 10:40 PM
And another article on the Franz Kafka "TREASURE TROVE" uncovered in Tel Aviv, in The Telegraph in the UK: Headline: Franz Kafka treasure trove unearthed By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin After decades of bureaucratic struggle worthy of his most famous novel, experts have finally won access to a "literary treasure trove" of work by Franz Kafka that they hope will illuminate the secretive world of the celebrated Jewish author. Read the whole article at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/2275166/Franz-Kafka-treasure-trove-unearthed.html