The Diaries of Franz Kafka, 1910-1923

Edited by Max Brod. Though Kafka's work is so widely discussed and has had a great influence on literature world-wide, he remains an elusive figure, his life and work open to endless interpretation. These diaries reveal the essential Kafka behind the enigmatic artist. Covering the period from 1910 to 1923, the year before Kafka's death at the age of forty, they provide a penetrating look into Kafka's world. Now, for the first time in this country, the complete diaries of Kafka are available in one volume. They are not only indispensable to an understanding of Kafka, the man and artist, but are a compulsively readable, haunting account of a life of remarkable intensity.

The Diaries of Franz Kafka 1910-13 translated from the German by Joseph Kresh
The Diaries of Franz Kafka 1914-1923 translated from the German by Martin Greenberg with the cooperation of Hannah Arendt.

"It is likely that these journals will be regarded as one of [Kafka's] major literary works; his life and personality were perfectly suited to the diary form, and in these pages he reveals what he customarily hid from the world."--The New Yorker