A review by ed_moore
Letter to the Father/Brief an Den Vater: Bilingual Edition by Franz Kafka

emotional sad slow-paced

4.5

“Dearest father, you asked me recently why I claim to be afraid of you. As usual, I could not give you an answer, partly because of my fear of you” 

Franz Kafka just needed a hug. His ‘Letter to the Father’ is a confessional introspective look at his fractured relationship with his father directed to the man himself, with the view not to blame him for the way things panned out but also to emphasise that he also isn’t as blameless as he imagines himself to be and it is equally a circumstance not the fault of Franz. In his personal writing you can see how self-deprecating Kafka was and how his parenting led himself to regard himself as a nobody and failure. It took just a page to get me crying as in Kafka’s words I could see my own paternal relationship and the type of things I want to be able to say but am simply too afraid to. Equally Kafka’s father never received the letter, it being withheld by his mother when Franz parted with it to be passed on. 

In so much of Kafka’s turmoil I could see myself, hence it wasn’t only a introspective glance into Kafka’s relationship and soul but also a harsh look at my own, where each of us acknowledge a lack of perfection in our relationships but also need to mature from feeling guilt and taking blame. It was so introspective, so emotionally raw, and I saw so much of myself in it. Oh Franz Kafka the man that you are.