A Biography of Kafka, by Ronald Hayman (Phoenix Giant, £12.99 in UK)

In a strictly factual sense, remarkably little happened to Franz Kafka, but considering his poor health (TB) and quite exceptional…

In a strictly factual sense, remarkably little happened to Franz Kafka, but considering his poor health (TB) and quite exceptional degree of introversion, this is hardly surprising. The German Jewish culture of the outer reaches of the Habsburg Empire was a fascinating phenomenon which also produced Rilke, Mahler, Karl Kraus, Celan, etc., but was always, by its very nature, an endangered thing. What is rather surprising is Kafka's attraction for women, who in his short life seem to have found him almost irresistible - his last lover, Dora Dymant, threw herself on his grave when he was buried in 1924. His loving but often uncomprehending parents were buried in the same grave seven years later.