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The Tremendous World I Have Inside My Head: Franz Kafka: A Biographical Essay
This biography emphasizes the importance of valuing the aesthetic and emotional impact of Kafka's work, offering a fresh glimpse of the tortured genius behind some of the 20th century's most perplexing and most rewarding writings. Photos.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
9 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
About the author
Louis Begley
45Ìýbooks86ÌýfollowersLouis Begley is an American novelist.
Begley was born Ludwik Begleiter in Stryi at the time part of Poland and now in Ukraine, as the only child of a physician. He is a survivor of the Holocaust due to the multiple purchases of Aryan papers by his mother and constant evasion of the Nazis. They survived by pretending to be Polish Catholic. The family left Poland in the fall of 1946 and settled in New York in March 1947. Begley studied English Literature at Harvard College (AB '54, summa cum laude), and published in the Harvard Advocate. Service in the United States Army followed. In 1956 Begley entered Harvard Law School and graduated in 1959 (LL.B. magna cum laude).
Upon graduation from Law School, Begley joined the New York firm of Debevoise & Plimpton as an associate; became a partner in January 1968; became of counsel in January 2004; and retired in January 2007. From 1993 to 1995, Begley was also president of PEN American Center. He remains a member of PEN's board of directors, as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
His wife of 30 years, Anka Muhlstein, was honoured by the French Academy for her work on La Salle, and received critical acclaim for her book A Taste for Freedom: The Life of Astolphe de Custine.
His first novel, Wartime Lies, was written in 1989. It won the PEN/Hemingway Award for a first work of fiction in 1991. The French version, Une éducation polonaise, won the Prix Médicis International in 1992. He has also won several German literature prizes, including the Jeanette Schocken Prize in 1995 and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Literature Prize in 2000.
His novel About Schmidt was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jack Nicholson.
Begley was born Ludwik Begleiter in Stryi at the time part of Poland and now in Ukraine, as the only child of a physician. He is a survivor of the Holocaust due to the multiple purchases of Aryan papers by his mother and constant evasion of the Nazis. They survived by pretending to be Polish Catholic. The family left Poland in the fall of 1946 and settled in New York in March 1947. Begley studied English Literature at Harvard College (AB '54, summa cum laude), and published in the Harvard Advocate. Service in the United States Army followed. In 1956 Begley entered Harvard Law School and graduated in 1959 (LL.B. magna cum laude).
Upon graduation from Law School, Begley joined the New York firm of Debevoise & Plimpton as an associate; became a partner in January 1968; became of counsel in January 2004; and retired in January 2007. From 1993 to 1995, Begley was also president of PEN American Center. He remains a member of PEN's board of directors, as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
His wife of 30 years, Anka Muhlstein, was honoured by the French Academy for her work on La Salle, and received critical acclaim for her book A Taste for Freedom: The Life of Astolphe de Custine.
His first novel, Wartime Lies, was written in 1989. It won the PEN/Hemingway Award for a first work of fiction in 1991. The French version, Une éducation polonaise, won the Prix Médicis International in 1992. He has also won several German literature prizes, including the Jeanette Schocken Prize in 1995 and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Literature Prize in 2000.
His novel About Schmidt was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jack Nicholson.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 8, 2020
English:
Wonderfully written, but due to its essayistic nature hard to navigate when trying to research background info about singular works. A huge plus are the numerous pictures that illustrate Kafka's life and times.
Wonderfully written, but due to its essayistic nature hard to navigate when trying to research background info about singular works. A huge plus are the numerous pictures that illustrate Kafka's life and times.
December 7, 2023
Faltando muy poco tiempo para publicar mi propia biografÃa sobre Franz Kafka, sigo comprando ensayos y libros acerca del gigante checo.
Entre ensayos y biografÃas ya rondan los treinta volúmenes en mi biblioteca kafkiana.
Me sroprendió gratamente que el primer capÃtulo de este libro comenzara con la dinámica y la información de manera similar a mi libro.
Aunque no hubo un solo dato que no conociera acerca de Kafka que no supiera, me encantó la manera que desarrolló Louis Begley de brindarnos los variados aspectos que rodean la vida del autor y de cómo dejó para el final un capÃtulo para realizar distintas reseñas de las obras más importantes de Kafka.
Es una buena manera de acercarse a la vida y la obra de Franz si un lector no conoce mucho sobre él.
Muy recomendado.
Entre ensayos y biografÃas ya rondan los treinta volúmenes en mi biblioteca kafkiana.
Me sroprendió gratamente que el primer capÃtulo de este libro comenzara con la dinámica y la información de manera similar a mi libro.
Aunque no hubo un solo dato que no conociera acerca de Kafka que no supiera, me encantó la manera que desarrolló Louis Begley de brindarnos los variados aspectos que rodean la vida del autor y de cómo dejó para el final un capÃtulo para realizar distintas reseñas de las obras más importantes de Kafka.
Es una buena manera de acercarse a la vida y la obra de Franz si un lector no conoce mucho sobre él.
Muy recomendado.
December 8, 2012
An interesting read, if at times a bit irritating. The book is organized by topic rather than chronologically which generally works, except that at times I had to backtrack to see where I was in time. Begley has done his homework and provides lots of facts which he has dug out of the books, stories, diaries and letters of Kafka and others. What I did not like was Begley's tendency to try to guess at Kafka's intentions or hidden meanings with no real supporting documents. Just guessing.
We are left with the image of a somewhat neurotic genius who probably drove everyone around him crazy. The fantastic stories seem to be the result of a fantastic mind.
We are left with the image of a somewhat neurotic genius who probably drove everyone around him crazy. The fantastic stories seem to be the result of a fantastic mind.
March 18, 2011
Absolutely beautiful -- thoughtful, sensitive; successfully evokes Kafka's internal and external environment, informing a reading of his work while avoiding reductive critical analysis
November 21, 2018
Auf eine seltsame Art gleichzeitig voller spannender Dinge und trotzdem unbefriedigend.
Want to read
July 12, 2008Zadie Smith has interesting review of this book in most recent NYRB. She does good job of putting Begley's approach to K. in context of that taken by Max Brod, K's literary executor. In the process, Smith reveals some intriguing, and somewhat alarming, details about Brod's work as K's editor I didn't know. For example, apparently K's original manuscript of The Trial did not provide clear instructions on structuring the entire work, and so Brod decided on his own to put the famous parable "Before the Law" at the end, and to end with the church scene. This is quite astonishing to hear, and makes me want to reread with this info in mind.
April 13, 2012
more about Franz Kafka the man than KAFKA the myth,
some very well-placed insights from source materials
that have long been plundered by a lot of other people
and come out a lot less down-to-earth and real.
Shows Kafka as the exact kind of contrary, paradoxical
figure that you imagine one must've had to be to
write the paradoxical, contrary work that is distinctly his own.
some very well-placed insights from source materials
that have long been plundered by a lot of other people
and come out a lot less down-to-earth and real.
Shows Kafka as the exact kind of contrary, paradoxical
figure that you imagine one must've had to be to
write the paradoxical, contrary work that is distinctly his own.
February 15, 2012
Disappointing and unenlightening. Kafka was such an amazing writer; he deserves a better biography.
August 20, 2020
Miserable man, very sickly and forlorn. Huge vibe
January 3, 2023
Franz Kafka comes across brilliant but a troubled and sickly soul�. The book is an anthology. This is his life.
He wrote a lot. He comes across masochistic. Troubled loves �. Intellectual, a little out of sync with his Jewish identity, but thoughtful, tremendously accomplished, and died at an early age of forty..
He wrote a lot. He comes across masochistic. Troubled loves �. Intellectual, a little out of sync with his Jewish identity, but thoughtful, tremendously accomplished, and died at an early age of forty..
September 14, 2021
Interesting biographical information. Detailed examinations of the books could be a bit dry.
July 12, 2019
“El mundo formidable de Franz Kafka" ensayo biográfico por Louis Begley
Nace el 3 de julio de 1883 � fallece el 3 de Julio de 1924.
Primera Guerra Mundial 1914 -1918
Segunda Guerra Mundial 1939 � 1945
Este ensayo te cuenta la vida de Kafka hasta su muerte, su familia, sus amores, devoción por la escritura, su enfermedad y más.
Algo que me gustó es que dentro del ensayo hay fragmentos de cartas, que luego el autor analiza y completa con información, lo cual te permite dar una mirada directamente a la cabeza del autor.
El capÃtulo que más me costó comprender es el que te cuenta sobre su vida amorosa, realmente era muy contradictorio todo el tiempo, asimismo puede disfrutarlo.
También dentro del ensayo se analiza “La metamorfosis" y “El Poceso".
Ame saber que tenÃa un profundo amor por su hermana Ottla y sentà pena pero la relación que tenÃa con su padre.
Realmente es un libro que recomiendo si eres curioso y te gusta saber sobre la vida de este autor o si eres un admirador o si leÃste los libros pero quieres llegar a comprender un poco más.
Nace el 3 de julio de 1883 � fallece el 3 de Julio de 1924.
Primera Guerra Mundial 1914 -1918
Segunda Guerra Mundial 1939 � 1945
Este ensayo te cuenta la vida de Kafka hasta su muerte, su familia, sus amores, devoción por la escritura, su enfermedad y más.
Algo que me gustó es que dentro del ensayo hay fragmentos de cartas, que luego el autor analiza y completa con información, lo cual te permite dar una mirada directamente a la cabeza del autor.
El capÃtulo que más me costó comprender es el que te cuenta sobre su vida amorosa, realmente era muy contradictorio todo el tiempo, asimismo puede disfrutarlo.
También dentro del ensayo se analiza “La metamorfosis" y “El Poceso".
Ame saber que tenÃa un profundo amor por su hermana Ottla y sentà pena pero la relación que tenÃa con su padre.
Realmente es un libro que recomiendo si eres curioso y te gusta saber sobre la vida de este autor o si eres un admirador o si leÃste los libros pero quieres llegar a comprender un poco más.
March 2, 2009
This is just what I want biography to be. Historical, personal, and professional contexts are given succinctly with the essence of the subject emerging from a sum of countless moments. Beautifully constructed, the book has it's own arc but is made almost entirely of direct quotes. Worth it for the letter to Brod where Kafka says a book must be "the axe for the frozen sea inside of us".
November 9, 2016
This book would have been better if the author had refrained from inserting his own opinions and judgements—for example, saying that Kafka was "handsome," and also guessing at the motives behind his behavior.
Also, the narrator mispronounces a lot of words, which is grating: Flaubert, Proust, Octave Mirbeau's Le Jardin des supplices, the german word for mother, "Mutter," etc.
Also, the narrator mispronounces a lot of words, which is grating: Flaubert, Proust, Octave Mirbeau's Le Jardin des supplices, the german word for mother, "Mutter," etc.
Want to read
June 30, 2008This interesting review by Zadie Smith brought Begley's book to my attention:
January 5, 2009
I'm sure there are better books on Kafka.
Read
January 10, 2011terrifyingly magnificent
January 3, 2012
a good, interesting, if not particularly trailblazing, observance of kafka and his work. most of what is here is no different than any lay scholar of kafka could accumulate
April 7, 2012
One of the best, most entertaining and so-much-to-learn-from biographies I've read!
February 20, 2013
I didn't finish, but I loved reading about his self loathing. :)
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