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Copy of the original manuscript of "Conversations with Kafka" by Gustav Janouch (mimeographed typescript). Prague, 1947. Czech.
"Conversations with Kafka" is a rare documentation of conversations the writer Franz Kafka had in his last years with 17-year-old Gustav Janouch. Upon publication, the book shocked the literary world, revealing a new treasure to Kafka-lovers and scholars – an abundance of Kafka quotes about literature, theater, dreams, the stories he wrote, his family members and even advice and rules of thumb for the amateur writer.
Janouch wrote down the conversations in the 1920s, after Kafka's death; but for a long time was unable to publish the manuscript and eventually abandoned it. Only after World War II he decided to renew his attempts to publish the book, revising the old notes and preparing a new manuscript. Janouch prepared several copies of the manuscript, in German and Czech, and sent them to several editors and readers. Among these readers was Kafka's closest friend, Max Brod, who was amazed to find out about the manuscript and decided to pitch in to publish it. The first edition of the book was published in 1951, in German, edited by Brod who heavily trimmed it down.
The present manuscript is one of the original copies made by Janouch before the first edition was published. The copy is dated on the title page to 1947, Prague, and bears the original title intended by Janouch for the book – "Franz Kafka Said…" (Franz Kafka řekl…). Several words and lines underscored (pen and pencil), with handwritten comment (Czech) on title page, according to which leaves of comments were enclosed with the copy.
The first Czech edition of "Conversations with Kafka", translated from one of the German editions, was only published in 2009.
[156] pp, approx. 30 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and creases. Fold lines to some leaves. Small tears to edges of several leaves. The first and last leaves partly detached, with long tears.