Koeltzsch:Vor dem Weltruhm

Franz Kafka has been regarded as an undisputed icon of world literature since the 1940s. Where did this posthumous fame of the relatively unknown writer during his lifetime come from? "Before World Fame" shows that writing and speaking about Franz Kafka has steadily increased in the literary and Jewish public of Central Europe since his death in June 1924. The commemoration of him was supported by a transnational community of memory between Prague, Vienna, Berlin, and Munich, which in the following years, as well as later in exile, ensured that the writer did not fall into oblivion and that his author-legend remained alive. "Before World Fame" offers new perspectives on the early afterlife of the world-famous author and thus makes an important contribution to the anniversary year 2024.