Kafka: Making of an Icon

Kafka: Making of an Icon marks the 100th anniversary of the author’s death, celebrating not only his achievements and creativity but also how he continues to inspire new literary, theatrical and cinematic creations around the world.

Presented by Bodleian Libraries

The exhibition will feature materials from the archives of the Bodleian Libraries, which hold the majority of Franz Kafka’s papers, including literary notebooks, drawings, diaries, letters, postcards, glossaries, and photographs. Notably, the notebooks in the archive include the original manuscripts of two of Kafka’s unfinished novels, Das Schloss (The Castle) and Der Verschollene (America), as well as a number of short stories.

Using this rich archive, the exhibition not only sets Kafka in the context of his life and times but also shows how his own experiences nourished his imagination. His notebooks show how his travels in Western Europe enabled him to practise descriptive writing, while his readings strengthened his fascination with remote spaces and made him aware of European colonialism.

This event is presented by the Oxford Kafka Research Centre and Bodleian Libraries. For additional information and inquiries regarding the event, please visit visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk