Court orders Kafka scripts moved to Israel library
October 15, 2012(Mainichi Japan)
JERUSALEM (AP) -- After a long, tangled journey that Franz Kafka could
have written about himself, an unseen treasure of writings by the
surrealist author will be put on display and later online, an Israeli
court ruled in documents released Sunday.
Ownership of the papers had been in dispute after the Israeli National
Library claimed them, over the wishes of two sisters who had inherited
the vast collection of rare documents from their mother and insisted
on keeping them.
Friday's ruling by the Tel Aviv District Family Court ordered the
collection to be transferred to the library in Jerusalem, which had
argued that Max Brod, Kafka's close friend, had bequeathed the
manuscripts to the library in his will.
The two sisters, Eva Hoffe and Ruth Wiesler, had inherited the
documents from their mother, Brod's secretary, and had been storing
them in a Tel Aviv apartment and bank vaults.
Kafka, a Jewish Prague native who wrote in German, is known for his
dark tales of everyman protagonists crushed by mysterious authorities
or twisted by unknown shames. His works have become classics, like
"The Metamorphosis," in which a salesman wakes up transformed into a
giant insect, and "The Trial," where a bank clerk is put through an
excruciating trial without ever being told the charges against him.
The trove is said to include Brod's personal diary and some of Kafka's
writings, including correspondence the two kept with other notable
writers, which could shed new light on one of literature's most
influential figures.
The German Literary Archive was not part of the legal proceedings but
had backed the sisters' claims, hoping to purchase the manuscripts and
arguing that they belong in Germany.
Ulrich Raulff, who heads the archive, said the papers have drawn great
interest because they will likely reveal much about the years in
Kafka's life that the public knows very little about.
"I hope that the Israeli National Library will provide open access to
the material for the public as soon as possible," he said.
"Researchers have been waiting for the material with excitement for
years already."
Kafka gave his writings to Brod shortly before his own death from
tuberculosis in 1924, instructing his friend to burn everything
unread. But Brod instead published most of the material, including the
novels "The Trial," ''The Castle" and "Amerika."
Aviad Stollman, Judaica Collections Curator at the National Library,
said that the majority of the manuscripts are by Brod not Kafka, but
that they contained tremendous research and sentimental value.
"For decades these manuscripts were hidden and now we can display and
preserve them under proper conditions," he told Israel's Channel 2 TV.
"There are 40 thousand pages, a tremendous amount," he added. "Whoever
loves Kafka will be able to see his signature and notes and crossings
outs ... We hope the material will be on the library's website soon."
Despite the ruling, Hoffe will be entitled for royalties from any
future publication of the documents.
Professor Otto Dov Kulka, a self-described Kafkaphile and retired
professor of history at Israel's Hebrew University, supported the
court decision.
"The National library has taken care of Einstein's theory of
relativity, and we will now take care of the great works of Kafka," he
said.
October 15, 2012(Mainichi Japan)
