Archive of Franz Kafka
MSS. Kafka 1-55
Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Description
From Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts
This is an extract only. For more information, see the catalogue record in Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts.
Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts contains descriptions of the Bodleian Libraries’ archival collections, including post-1500 manuscripts. Some manuscripts with records in other catalogues are also described here as part of a description of a larger archive. Learn more.
Title
Archive of Franz Kafka
Shelfmark
MSS. Kafka 1-55
Summary
Papers of Franz Kafka (1883-1924) comprising diaries and literary notebooks, with some loose fragments, correspondence and photographs, 1882-1924, and some family papers to 1940. Predominantly in German, some correspondence in Czech and vocabularies in Hebrew. Drawings by Kafka are also present.
Date
[1882]-1940, n.d.
Language
Czech
Hebrew
German
Physical extent
6.05 Linear metres
55 physical shelfmarks
Custodial history
The history and ownership of the Kafka papers are complex. Although Franz Kafka had asked his life-long friend Max Brod to burn all his manuscripts, Brod took the decision not to do so. For many years after Kafka's death, Brod looked after the manuscripts. In 1939 he removed them from Prague to Tel Aviv, and in 1956 sent most of them to Switzerland. The ownership was shared among Kafka's four nieces: Gertrude Kaufmann (the daughter of Kafka's sister Elli) - one third; Marianna Steiner (the daughter of Kafka's sister Valli) - one third, and two other nieces (the daughters of Kafka's sister Ottla) - one sixth each.
Other Kafka papers, including the manuscript of The Trial, are held in the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach. In 2015 Israel's Supreme Court awarded Kafka manuscripts that form part of Max Brod's archive to the National Library of Israel.
Acquisition
In 1961, Marianna Steiner (acting also on behalf of the other owners) placed most of the papers listed here on deposit with the Bodleian Libraries. This was done to facilitate the publication of the first critical edition of Kafka's writings under the direction of Sir Malcolm Pasley (see Das Schloss, Kritische Ausgabe, Apparatband, 1982, p. 15). The manuscript of Die Verwandlung (MS. Kafka 18A) was added by Marianna Steiner in August 1969. A box containing letters was deposited by her in 1970. With great generosity, Gertrude Kaufmann bequeathed her share to the Bodleian (1972), and Marianna Steiner hers (2001). A further group of papers was donated to the Bodleian by the Schocken family, through Professor Miriam Schocken (and Bodley's American Friends) in 1989 – now MSS. Kafka 52-55.
At present, the majority of the material is owned jointly by the Library and the children of Ottla's daughters. The letters to Ottla (MSS. Kafka 49-50) were purchased in 2011 jointly by the Bodleian Library and the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach as part of a collaborative partnership. The Bodleian owns the part of the collection that forms the Schocken gift.
Subject
Authors, German -- 20th century
Kafka, Franz , 1883-1924 -- Diaries
Literature
20th century
19th century
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