**More than two decades of letters from one of the greatest writers of
the twentieth century--the author of The Metamorphosis and *The
Trial--*to the people in his life, from his years as a student in Prague
in the early 1900s to his final months in the sanatorium near Vienna
where he died in 1924.
**
Sometimes surprisingly humorous, sometimes wrenchingly sad, these
letters, collected after Kafka's death by his friend and literary
executor Max Brod, include charming notes to school friends; fascinating
accounts to Brod about his work in its various stages of publication;
correspondence with his publisher, Kurt Wolff, about manuscripts in
progress, suggested book titles, type design, and late royalty
statements; revealing exchanges with other young writers of the day,
including Martin Buber and Felix Weltsch, on life, literature, and
girls; and heartbreaking reports to his parents, sisters, and friends on
the declining state of his health in the last months of his life.