Travel Between The Pages

Kafka: Making of an Icon is an upcoming exhibition that will mark the centennial  of the great writer’s death and celebrate not only his books and creativity, but also his continuing inspiration for new literary, theatrical and artistic creations around the world.

I was excited to read that after the exhibition’s run at the Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, from May 30 until October 27, it will move to the Morgan Library in New York running November 22 through April 13, 2025.

Kafka: Making of an Icon will feature materials from the archives of the Bodleian Libraries alongside international loans. The Bodleian Libraries hold a treasure trove  of Franz Kafka’s papers, notably the original manuscripts of The Metamorphosis, two of his unfinished novels, Das Schloss (The Castle) and Der Verschollene (America), as well as personal correspondence.

The exhibition shows how his experiences nourished his imagination, taking visitors on a journey through Kafka’s life and influences, from his relationship with his family and friends, to the places where he lived and worked, through to his last years of illness and his death on June 3, 1924, at only 40.

Items on show include literary notebooks, drawings, diaries, letters, postcards, glossaries, architectural models, videographic materials and photographs. Among them is a postcard to his brother-in-law in which Kafka jokes about his exceptional skiing skills, despite being severely ill at the time. His Hebrew notebook and his letter (in Hebrew) to his teacher demonstrate his dedication to learning the language that connected him to his family roots, but there are also snippets of Czech, French and Italian, a reminder of Kafka’s keen multilingualism and interest in languages beyond German and Hebrew.