Brief an den Vater

Geschrieben von Franz Kafka

Erzählt von Martin Brücker

Der 1919 abgefasste "Brief an den Vater", von Franz Kafka niemals abgeschickt oder veröffentlicht, gibt wie kaum ein anderer Text aus seiner Feder tiefe biografische und psychoanalytische Einblicke. Kafka findet in dem hier beschriebenen Vaterkonflikt vielerlei Gründe für die Entwicklung seines zögerlichen Wesens und anderer Züge seiner Persönlichkeit mit denen er zeitlebens haderte.

Die 103 handschriftlichen Seiten schrieb Kafka vermutlich kurz nach dem Scheitern seiner Heiratspläne mit Julie Wohryceck, einer in seines Vaters Augen nicht standesgemäßen Verbindung.

Gesprochen hat der Hamburger Schauspieler Martin Brücker, der hier zum erstenmal für den HörGut! Verlag liest.

Begleitet wird die Lesung von einem PDF eBook mit dem ungekürztem Text, einem Glossar und einer Kurzbiografie.

• Sprache: Deutsch
• Herausgeber: HörGut Verlag Audio
• Erscheinungsdatum: 24. Okt. 2012
• ISBN: 9783864491665

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was born to Jewish parents in Bohemia in 1883. Kafka’s father was a luxury goods retailer who worked long hours and as a result never became close with his son. Kafka’s relationship with his father greatly influenced his later writing and directly informed his Brief an den Vater (Letter to His Father). Kafka had a thorough education and was fluent in both German and Czech. As a young man, he was hired to work at an insurance company where he was quickly promoted despite his desire to devote his time to writing rather than insurance. Over the course of his life, Kafka wrote a great number of stories, letters, and essays, but burned the majority of his work before his death and requested that his friend Max Brod burn the rest. Brod, however, did not fulfill this request and published many of the works in the years following Kafka’s death of tuberculosis in 1924. Thus, most of Kafka’s works were published posthumously, and he did not live to see them recognized as some of the most important examples of literature of the twentieth century. Kafka’s works are considered among the most significant pieces of existentialist writing, and he is remembered for his poignant depictions of internal conflicts with alienation and oppression. Some of Kafka’s most famous works include The Metamorphosis, The Trial and The Castle.

Rezensionen für Brief an den Vater

[danielstj · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

This was an eloquent, and detailed, letter from Franz Kafka to his father. Through it, you are able to see the man behind the works that he is most known for. The depiction is sharp, and Kafka does not try to disguise himself (even with the fear of his father being present- a concept that comes up several times in his letter) in his rendition. It is a deep letter and one that now, having read it, feel that I have a slightly larger glimpse of the man behind the letters, words, sentences, paragraphs, and pages that compose his oeuvre of work. 3.5 stars- worth it.

[bookomaniac-1 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Brief aan eigen vader. Zeer ontluisterend.Beeld van tirannieke, ambitieuse vader-zakenman die als een tempeest door het huis gaat. Franz ontwikkelt daardoor allerlei complexen: geen zelfvertrouwen, minderwaardigheidscomplex, compensatief voorkomend gedrag ten aanzien van andere mensenVerwijten aan vader : Geen opvoeding in jodendom, of in huwelijk en liefde, reden waarom : te hoge horde, wan dan gelijkwaardig met vader.

[michael8xolotl · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Illuminating; suspiciously so in that surely not everything can be reduced to Kafka's childhood and relationship with his father (or possibly it can, but it's always difficult to know how much of the present you're injecting into the past; Kafka wouldn't be an exception). It's all here: dread, authority, judgment, isolation, impotence, meaninglessness. It's one-sided, of course, sad, and with a vague childish petulance--understandable, if self-defeating, assuming Kafka's account is accurate. I feel like his untalented twin after reading it. Recommended if you like his work.

[maxernst11 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Brief aan eigen vader. Zeer ontluisterend.Beeld van tirannieke, ambitieuse vader-zakenman die als een tempeest door het huis gaat. Franz ontwikkelt daardoor allerlei complexen: geen zelfvertrouwen, minderwaardigheidscomplex, compensatief voorkomend gedrag ten aanzien van andere mensenVerwijten aan vader : Geen opvoeding in jodendom, of in huwelijk en liefde, reden waarom : te hoge horde, wan dan gelijkwaardig met vader.

[oldandnewbooksmell · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Dearest Father is a letter that Franz Kafka wrote to his father about the hardship and emotional abuse he went through as his son. His father never read it though as Franz had given it to his mother to give to his father but she never gave it to him, instead, returned it back to Franz. The letter, like most of Kafka's writes, wasn't meant for the public eye.

To read about what Kafka went through and how that formed him into the adult he was when he wrote it (36 years old) made me so sad.

“It is as if a person were a prisoner, and he had not only the intention to escape, which would perhaps be attainable, but also, and indeed simultaneously, the intention to rebuild the prison as a pleasure dome for himself. But if he escapes, he cannot rebuild, and if he rebuilds, he cannot escape.”

Because this wasn't intended for the public consumption, the writing is so raw and filled with the human experience. Kafka cries for both freedom and recognition from his father that he never did receive.

I always feel a little weird reading pieces that authors themselves never published because you never know if they ever wanted it out there. However, Kafka writes at one point,

"What do these children know? Nobody's been through that! Does any child understand such things today?"

And I think he would appreciate that he wasn't alone when it comes to it and that his letter might help others to see the same.

[stillatim · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

The genius of Kafka: he writes a letter to his father. His father comes across as a horrific human being. At the end of the letter, Kafka imagines his father's response--and it's just as convincing as Kafka's accusations. Nobody is innocent before the law.