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O Mundo Prodigioso Que Tenho Na Cabeça - Franz Kafka: Um Ensaio Biográfico (2010)

by Louis Begley(Favorite Author)

3.59 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Companhia das Letras

review 1: An interesting read, if at times a bit irritating. The book is organized by topic rather than chronologically which generally works, except that at times I had to backtrack to see where I was in time. Begley has done his homework and provides lots of facts which he has dug out of the books, stories, diaries and letters of Kafka and others. What I did not like was Begley's tendency to try to guess at Kafka's intentions or hidden meanings with no real supporting documents. Just guessing.We are left with the image of a somewhat neurotic genius who probably drove everyone around him crazy. The fantastic stories seem to be the result of a fantastic mind.
review 2: Zadie Smith has interesting review of this book in most recent NYRB. She does good job of putting... more Begley's approach to K. in context of that taken by Max Brod, K's literary executor. In the process, Smith reveals some intriguing, and somewhat alarming, details about Brod's work as K's editor I didn't know. For example, apparently K's original manuscript of The Trial did not provide clear instructions on structuring the entire work, and so Brod decided on his own to put the famous parable "Before the Law" at the end, and to end with the church scene. This is quite astonishing to hear, and makes me want to reread with this info in mind. less

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