Kafka's Last Trial

Reviews / Votes

A literary battle that became Kafkaesque . . . remarkable . . . I warmly recommend this deeply absorbing book. * Daily Telegraph * [A] fascinating and forensically scrupulous account of the history of Kafka's papers. -- John Banville * Guardian * Balint fascinatingly examines how much was at stake for Germany and Israel in claiming Kafka as their man . . . [He] has minutely researched every twist and turn of this politico-legal saga, and tells it with even-handed seriousness. * Sunday Times * Balint's account of this saga is both a fine journalistic telling of that half century of courtroom drama, and a revealing examination of the writer and the relationships at its heart . . . Balint brings all of these forces and arguments to vivid life. * Observer * Absorbing . . . Not only does Mr Balint ask, "Who owns Kafka?" He explores the meaning of a writer's legacy in an age that, like Kafka's disorienting stories, puts identity and belonging in doubt. * The Economist * Dramatic and illuminating . . . raises momentous questions about nationality, religion, literature, and even the Holocaust. * The Atlantic * Kafka's Last Trial is a legal and philosophical black comedy of the first order, complete, like all the best adventure stories, with a physical treasure to be won or lost . . . : the absurdity of our modern obsession with 'authenticity' and 'ownership' * Spectator * The question of who owns Kafka is at the heart of Benjamin Balint's thought-provoking and assiduously researched Kafka's Last Trial. * Literary Review * Gripping and knotty. * New Statesman * Balint handles these complicated claims and counter-claims with great care. He has read widely in the literature about Kafka and provides a fascinating account of the Jewish world of early 20th century Prague, which formed Kafka and Brod . . . Above all, he brings Brod to life . . . Balint is an extremely interesting writer and critic. * Standpoint * Fascinating . . . Balint uses the three-way tug-of-literary-love to pose a series of philosophical questions about Kafka and the way culture is often conscripted to a cause. * Big Issue * The absurd and thrilling tale . . . Balint weaves the story together artfully * Prospect * A tale pitting two Goliaths against one octogenarian David, untangled in exacting, riveting detail . . . A must-read. * Slate * Thoughtful and provocative. * Wall Street Journal * 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 . . . [Balint's] research and lively intelligence deliver insights on every page. -- Nicole Krauss Who should inherit Kafka? . . . 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. -- Cynthia Ozick, Orange prize-shortlisted author of <i>Foreign Bodies</i>