Radek Malý

This unusual book may be hard to find; I picked it up at the Kafka bookstore in Prague, but it appears to be unavailable online. I would characterize it as an interpretive, artistic biography of Franz Kafka. It summarizes aspects of his life and some of his major works of fiction. The "interpretive" element lies in the large, black & white pen & ink drawings, works that take up full pages. They are imaginative and skillful, and provide the chief justification for the book. Granted, they reflect the "Kafka-esque" side of his life, a side more consistent with his writing than with his actual existence (which was relatively benign, his eccentricities notwithstanding), The text appears to be reasonably accurate, but the drawings are what make this work unique.… (meer)