Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors is a book collecting some of Franz Kafka's letters from 1900 to 1924. The majority of the letters in the volume are addressed to Max Brod. Originally published in Germany in 1959 as Briefe 1902-1924, the collection was first published in English by Schocken Books in 1977. It was translated by Richard and Clara Winston.
Julie and Hermann Kafka - parentsElli Hermann, née Kafka - sisterValli Pollak, née Kafka - sisterOttla Davidová, née Kafka - sisterJosef David - Ottla's husbandSiegfried Löwy - uncleOther letters to the family are collected in Letters to Ottla
Kafka's long, undelivered letter to his father was published separately. It also appears in Dearest Father and The Sons.
Oskar Pollak - Childhood friend and art historian; a 1902 letter to him includes Kafka's oldest surviving work of fiction - "Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart"Max Brod - Closest friend; writer and Kafka's literary executorElsa Brod, née Taussig - Brod's wifeSophie Friedmann, née Brod - Brod's sisterEmmy Salveter - Max Brod's friend and possible loverFelix Weltsch - Classmate; philosopher and ZionistLise Kaznelson, née Weltsch - Weltsch's cousinIrma Weltsch - Weltsch's wifeOskar Baum - Author, music teacher, and organistLeo Baum - Baum's sonRobert Klopstock - Close friend, stayed with Kafka through his illnessSelma Kohn RobitschekHedwig W. - a letter from 1907 includes a poem Kafka claims he wrote "years ago."Minze EisnerTile RösslerThe letters to Milena Jesenská and Felice Bauer are collected in respective volumes. Letters to Felice also includes Kafka's letters to Grete Bloch.
Publishers, Writers and Artists
Ernst Rowohlt - PublisherWilly Haas - Prague-born writer and journalist, editor of Herder-Blätter magazineOtto Stoessl - Austrian writerKurt Wolff - PublisherMartin Buber - Philosopher and religious writerRobert Musil (debatable) - WriterAlfred Kubin - Graphic artist and illustratorRené Schickele - Alsatian writer and pacifist; editor of Die Weissen Blätter during the war years.Ernst Feigl - Prague-born poet and writerGottfried Kölwel - PoetJosef Körner - Literary historian and criticJohannes Urzidil - Prague-born writer and journalist, managing editor of Der MenschJulie Wohryzek's sister (unnamed) - Sister of Kafka's former fiancéeCarl Seelig - Writer, critic, and editor (e.g. Robert Walser)Director Eisner - Department head at Assicurazioni Generali, where Kafka workedGertrud Thieberger - Sister of Kafka's Hebrew teacher, future wife of Johannes UrzidilYitzhak Löwy - ActorLudwig Hardt - Reciting artist, included some of Kafka's writing in his workHugo Bergmann - Former classmate; Philosopher and ZionistElse Bergmann - Hugo Bergmann's wifeBoth German and English editions of the book include a selection from the slips of paper Kafka used to communicate during the last few weeks of his life, when he was advised not to speak.
