With this biography, Franz Kafka: The Poet of Shame and Guilt, Holocaust historian Saul Friedländer has joined the ranks of the revisionist critics. 180 pages in length, it is a slim volume written in a masterful and readable style that is in great part concentrated on "sexual matters"—especially Kafka's homosexual impulses. The author's theory is that Kafka was disgraced throughout his life by homosexual inclinations, and he provides a trail of evidence through Kafka's correspondence and diaries, emphasizing the differences between Brod's version and the newer critical versions. ( )

If it weren't for the self-congratulatory introduction, which is a significant portion of the book, and if it weren't for the confusing choice of how to quote Kafka and his works, I would have found this a wonderful synopsis on why Kafka wrote the way he did. It would have helped if the author made his point of view clear and elaborated on the purpose of the book.

It's not a biography, it's not a deep analysis of Kafka's work, it's a bit of everything. It's also a little bit much of the author's own opinions and sometimes weak findings. Especially the parts where Friedländer assumes one of Kafka's writings was directly influenced by another specific work is rather dubious.

All in all this book feels very scatterbrained and disorganized. We jump back-and-forth in time and we are 'guided' through a number of aspects of Kafka's life where it is not entirely clear what point Friedländer is trying to make.

Does this have a place in the writing around Kafka? Yes, ironically I would say so. Mainly because you will find bits of information you might not otherwise find anywhere else. ( )

This book is a part of a Jewish Lives series published by Yale University Press, and the author Saul Friedlander won the Pulitzer for "The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945." The book is very academic, and although 200 pages long contains 20 pages of references. The quote from Marx that I found interesting was "what havoc literature creates in certain heads. It is like monkeys leaping about in the treetops, instead of staying firmly on the ground." There are a lot of monkeys leaping in this book as there are many theories that his writing expressed conflict between the father and son, rejection by family members, homoeroticism, sadomasochism, and Gnosticism. Marx seemed to suffer an anxiety disorder as he could not tolerate sounds and was a hypochondriac. There is speculation that he was schizoid or had a personality disorder. Whatever the case, he had a brilliant mind. The irony is that he died at age 40 from tuberculosis. Although he is considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century to the point that his name has become an adjective for an oppressive nightmarish style of writing, he had no recognition during his lifetime. ( )

Meandering, aimless, but perfectly entertaining short life. ( )