Picture 1 of 1

Stock photo

Kafka's Last Trial: The Case of a Literary Legacy [Hardcover] Balint, Benjamin - Picture 1 of 1

Kafka's Last Trial : The Case of a Literary Legacy by Benjamin Balint (2018, Hardcover)

InflatableMadness (353472)

97.3% positive feedback

Price:

$14.83

Free shipping

Estimated delivery Thu, Aug 21 - Tue, Aug 26

Returns:

30 days returns. Seller pays for return shipping.

Condition:

Brand New

With our dynamic pricing model, our prices are always competitive.

About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherNorton & Company, Incorporated, w. w.

ISBN-101324001313

ISBN-139781324001317

eBay Product ID (ePID)242727916

Product Key Features

Book TitleKafka's Last Trial : the Case of a Literary Legacy

Number of Pages288 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicEurope / Eastern, European / General, General, Literary, Property

Publication Year2018

IllustratorYes

GenreLiterary Criticism, Law, Biography & Autobiography, History

AuthorBenjamin Balint

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight19.6 Oz

Item Length9.5 in

Item Width6.6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2018-012190

Dewey Edition23

ReviewsWise and eloquent....A felicitous mixture of reportage and scholarship....Among Balint's many virtues as a writer is a keen ear for the great quote., Thrilling and profound, Kafka's Last Trial shines new light not only on the greatest writer of the twentieth century and the fate of his work, but also on the larger question of who owns art or has a right to claim guardianship of it. Benjamin Balint combines the sharp eye of the courtroom journalist with the keen meditations of a literary and cultural thinker, and his research and lively intelligence deliver insights on every page., Dramatic and illuminating....raises momentous questions about nationality, religion, literature, and even the Holocaust., Kafka's Last Trial is a fascinating inquiry into--and meditation on--the nature of artistic genius and the proprietary claims any one individual or country has on the legacy of that genius. Benjamin Balint is both a superb investigative journalist and a gifted cultural critic. Some of the questions he takes up are how Jewish was Kafka, who 'owns' his manuscripts, as well as Israel's conflicted approach to this most German of writers. The cast of characters, especially via the history of Max Brod and his secretary, Esther Hoffe, is a consistently intriguing one, with Gershom Scholem and Walter Benjamin putting in guest appearances. This is that rarest of books: a scholarly work that is also compulsively readable., Benjamin Balint's eloquent, insightful account of the long court battle over Franz Kafka's literary remains, woven through with the story of that legacy's formation, explores some of the most challenging ethical problems of our time, while also sustaining the intrigue of a rich courtroom drama., Though Benjamin Balint's masterful hunt for Kafka's rightful ownership begins as a local dispute in an Israeli family court, it soon thickens into modernity's most bitterly contentious cultural conundrum. Who should inherit Franz Kafka? The woman into whose hands his manuscripts fortuitously fell? Germany, the nation that murdered his sisters but claims his spirit? Israel, asserting a sovereign yet intimate ancestral right? Searing questions of language, of personal bequest, of friendship, of biographical evidence, of national pride, of justice, of deceit and betrayal, even of metaphysical allegiance, burn through Balint's scrupulous trackings of Kafka's final standing before the law., Absorbing....Balint elegantly intercuts courtroom scenes with episodes from Kafka's biography and cultural afterlife. He brings out every paradox of a judicial process that tried to tie down this most ambivalent of authors, the ultimate 'disaffiliated pariah,' to a fixed identity....Balint's scrupulous and sardonic prose makes you love Kafka, and dread the law., Compelling....A fascinating tale of literary friendship, loyalty, political power, and feckless law., Balint brings voluminous knowledge to bear...and modulates gracefully between reportage, biography, and literary criticism. He successfully balances the tasks of bringing to life the narrative's dramatis personae--principally Kafka and Brod in the past, and Eva Hoffe in the present--with teasing out the literary, political, and philosophical stakes of the conflict., A lively and balanced account of the international battle--fought in Israeli courts--for Franz Kafka's manuscripts, letters, and diaries...Well-researched and insightful, this suspenseful work illuminates the complex relationship between literature, religion, culture, and nationality., Constructing the narrative in zigzag fashion, Balint moves between the most recent decade and Kafka's lifetime, filling in the picture subtly and gradually....I warmly recommend this deeply absorbing book., Kafka's Last Trial is a fascinating inquiry into--and meditation on--the nature of artistic genius and the proprietary claims any one individual or country has on the legacy of that genius. Benjamin Balint is both a superb investigative journalist and a gifted cultural critic. This is that rarest of books: a scholarly work that is also compulsively readable., A tale pitting two Goliaths against one octogenarian David, untangled in exacting, riveting detail....A must-read., A vital, gripping tale of a deep friendship between two seemingly incompatible young men....a wonderful opportunity to peer behind the screen of a dramatic life, death and literary resurrection., Superb....Beautifully crafted, with just the right ratios of empirical-legal information, intellectual history, critical awareness of Kafka and his work, and wise reflection. It is obviously the product of admirably patient research and rare dedication to quality control., Thrilling and profound, Kafka's Last Trial shines new light not only on the greatest writer of the 20th century and the fate of his work, but also on the larger question of who owns art or has a right to claim guardianship of it. Balint combines the sharp eye of the courtroom journalist with the keen meditations of a literary and cultural thinker, and his research and lively intelligence deliver insights on every page., A lively and balanced account of the international battle--fought in Israeli courts--for Franz Kafka's manuscripts, letters, and diaries....Well-researched and insightful, this suspenseful work illuminates the complex relationship between literature, religion, culture, and nationality.

Dewey Decimal343.569405/3

SynopsisKafka's Last Trial begins with Kafka's last instruction to his closest friend, Max Brod: to destroy all his remaining papers upon his death. But when the moment arrived in 1924, Brod could not bring himself to burn the unpublished works of the man he considered a literary genius--even a saint. Instead, Brod devoted his life to championing Kafka's writing, rescuing his legacy from obscurity and physical destruction. The story of Kafka's posthumous life is itself Kafkaesque. By the time of Brod's own death in Tel Aviv in 1968, Kafka's major works had been published, transforming the once little-known writer into a pillar of literary modernism. Yet Brod left a wealth of still-unpublished papers to his secretary, who sold some, held on to the rest, and then passed the bulk of them on to her daughters, who in turn refused to release them. An international legal battle erupted to determine which country could claim ownership of Kafka's work: Israel, where Kafka dreamed of living but never entered, or Germany, where Kafka's three sisters perished in the Holocaust? Benjamin Balint offers a gripping account of the controversial trial in Israeli courts--brimming with dilemmas legal, ethical, and political--that determined the fate of Kafka's manuscripts. Deeply informed, with sharply drawn portraits and a remarkable ability to evoke a time and place, Kafka's Last Trial is at once a brilliant biographical portrait of a literary genius, and the story of two countries whose national obsessions with overcoming the traumas of the past came to a head in a hotly contested trial for the right to claim the literary legacy of one of our modern masters., The story of the international struggle to preserve Kafka's literary legacy. Kafka's Last Trial begins with Kafka's last instruction to his closest friend, Max Brod: to destroy all his remaining papers upon his death. But when the moment arrived in 1924, Brod could not bring himself to burn the unpublished works of the man he considered a literary genius--even a saint. Instead, Brod devoted his life to championing Kafka's writing, rescuing his legacy from obscurity and physical destruction. The story of Kafka's posthumous life is itself Kafkaesque. By the time of Brod's own death in Tel Aviv in 1968, Kafka's major works had been published, transforming the once little-known writer into a pillar of literary modernism. Yet Brod left a wealth of still-unpublished papers to his secretary, who sold some, held on to the rest, and then passed the bulk of them on to her daughters, who in turn refused to release them. An international legal battle erupted to determine which country could claim ownership of Kafka's work: Israel, where Kafka dreamed of living but never entered, or Germany, where Kafka's three sisters perished in the Holocaust? Benjamin Balint offers a gripping account of the controversial trial in Israeli courts--brimming with dilemmas legal, ethical, and political--that determined the fate of Kafka's manuscripts. Deeply informed, with sharply drawn portraits and a remarkable ability to evoke a time and place, Kafka's Last Trial is at once a brilliant biographical portrait of a literary genius, and the story of two countries whose national obsessions with overcoming the traumas of the past came to a head in a hotly contested trial for the right to claim the literary legacy of one of our modern masters.

LC Classification NumberKMK46.K34B35 2018