Esiste una sola fotografia che mostra Franz Kafka sorridere, ed è stata scattata sulla spiaggia del Lido di Venezia. In questo libro, Benjamin Balint ci accompagna alla scoperta di un aspetto poco noto della vita del celebre scrittore: la sua relazione con l’Italia. Attraverso lettere e testi autografi, Balint ripercorre gli itinerari dei quattro viaggi effettuati da Kafka fra il 1909 e il 1920, sottolineando l’influenza che il paesaggio e il clima della penisola hanno avuto sulla sua scri...

**Winner of the 73rd National Jewish Book Award for BiographyA New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceA fresh portrait of the Polish-Jewish writer and artist, and a gripping account of the secret operation to rescue his last artworks.**The twentieth-century artist Bruno Schulz was born an Austrian, lived as a Pole, and died a Jew. First a citizen of the Habsburg monarchy, he would, without moving, become the subject of the West Ukrainian People’s Republi...

'A highly entertaining story of literary friendship, epic legal battles and cultural politics centred on one of the most enigmatic writers of the 20th century' Financial TimesWhen Franz Kafka died in 1924, his friend Max Brod could not bring himself to fulfil the writer’s last instruction: to burn his remaining manuscripts. Instead, Brod took them with him to Palestine in 1939, and devoted the rest of his life to editing and canonizing Kafka’s work. By bet...

In the years of cultural and political ferment following World War II, a new generation of Jewish- American writers and thinkers arose to make an indelible mark on American culture. Commentary was their magazine; the place where they and other politically sympathetic intellectuals -- Hannah Arendt, Saul Bellow, Lionel Trilling, Alfred Kazin, James Baldwin, Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick and many others -- shared new work, explored ideas, and argued with each other.

**Winner of the 2020 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature"Dramatic and illuminating…[R]aises momentous questions about nationality, religion, literature, and even the Holocaust." —Adam Kirsch, The Atlantic**When Franz Kafka died in 1924, his loyal friend Max Brod could not bring himself to fulfill Kafka’s last instruction: to burn his remaining manuscripts. Instead, Brod devoted his life to championing Kafka’s work, rescuing his legacy from both obscurity and phys...

Der berühmteste Koffer der Literaturgeschichte hätte es beinahe nicht geschafft. Max Brod hatte ihn bei sich, als er 1939 mit dem letzten Zug von Prag nach Palästina floh. Im Koffer: Manuskripte, Notate, Kritzeleien seines Freundes Franz Kafka. Jahrzehnte später entsponn sich darum ein Gerichtskrimi, der erst 2016 ein Ende fand. Vordergründig wurde über den Nachlass von Max Brod entschieden, doch standen noch ganz andere Fragen im Raum: War Kafka vor allem ein jüdischer Autor ? Wo ist sein...

"A good gift for arm-chair traveler and ardent bibliophile who appreciates books and libraries." — Association of Jewish Libraries News and ReviewsIn this enthralling book, Merav Mack and Benjamin Balint explore Jerusalem's libraries to tell the story of this city as a place where some of the world's most enduring ideas were put into words. The writers of Jerusalem, although renowned the world over, are not usually thought of as a distinct school; their sto...

The twentieth-century artist Bruno Schulz was born an Austrian, lived as a Pole, and died a Jew. He was a master of twentieth-century imaginative fiction who mapped the anxious perplexities of his time; Isaac Bashevis Singer called him "one of the most remarkable writers who ever lived." Schulz was also a talented illustrator and graphic artist whose masochistic drawings would catch the eye of a sadistic Nazi officer. Schulz's art became the currency in which he bought life.Drawing...