One of the most important personalities of the Czech and world literary scene in the book Franz Kafka. A man of his time, Radek Malý tries to present it without misleading exaggerations for young readers. Together with the illustrator Renata Fučíková, they have created a popular and educational publication that describes the complex personality and work with ease, but preserving everything from Kafka's work.
The authors offer significant biographical information that helps to understand Kafka as a real person. They also create a bridge to grasping and interpreting his work. It is the introduction of a complex work to younger readers that is a daunting challenge. But the authors of the publication have risen to it with aplomb, thanks to the black and white illustrations, which, while weighty in the spirit of the existential work, visualise the often unrealistic motifs of Kafka's literature in a comprehensible way. Thus, for example, Gregor Samsa comes to life on the pages, and the short stories The Change, Ortel or The Artist in Hunger are simplistically retold in comic form without losing the point.
The subtitle of the book, A Man of His and Our Time, reflects an effort to present the Czech great in his real, human form. This is why the book gives considerable space to refute the legends that have been created around Franz Kafka over the years. Whole chapters are devoted to his hobbies in technology, travel or sport, for example, a reality that is in stark contrast to the often reproduced image of a tame weirdo in a perpetually bad mood.
The writer's work is slightly neglected at the expense of this plastic representation of Kafka the man. I believe that a more thorough interpretation of the meanings and sub-motifs of the individual works could help to gain a deeper understanding of the work's central ideas and thus a greater interest in becoming acquainted with it.
Franz Kafka. A Man of His Time and Our Time is nevertheless an extraordinarily successful and colourful portrait of a man who has fascinated the world to this day. In addition to its extremely important educational position, it does much to set the writer's distorted image straight. As such, this is definitely not a read for youngsters only - it will both engage and enlighten regardless of age.
Adéla Šponerová
MALÝ, Radek–FUČÍKOVÁ Renáta. Franz Kafka. Člověk své i naší doby. Praha: Práh, 2017.
The review was created at the Department of Journalism of FSV UK under the supervision of PhDr. Jana Čeňková, Ph.D.
