Letter to His Father

E97618

Letter to His Father is a long, unsent autobiographical letter by Franz Kafka in which he confronts and analyzes his fraught relationship with his domineering father.

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Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf autobiographical letter
literary work
addressesTo Hermann Kafka NERFINISHED
author Franz Kafka NERFINISHED
contains attempts to explain Kafka's emotional distance
criticisms of Hermann Kafka's behavior
detailed recollections of childhood experiences
reflections on Kafka's sense of inferiority
countryOfOrigin Austria-Hungary NERFINISHED
dateWritten 1919
documentType personal correspondence
firstPublicationDate 1952
form unsent letter
genre autobiographical writing
epistolary literature
hasTranslation Carta al padre (Spanish translation) NERFINISHED
Letter to His Father (English translation) NERFINISHED
Lettera al padre (Italian translation) NERFINISHED
Lettre au père (French translation) NERFINISHED
influenced biographical studies of Franz Kafka
psychoanalytic readings of Kafka's work
language German
literaryPeriod early 20th century literature
literarySignificance important source for interpreting Kafka's fiction
key document for understanding Franz Kafka's life
mainSubject Franz Kafka's relationship with his father
Hermann Kafka NERFINISHED
movement modernist literature
narrativePerspective first-person
originalTitle Brief an den Vater NERFINISHED
placeOfOrigin Prague NERFINISHED
posthumousPublication true
publisherOfFirstEdition Schocken Verlag NERFINISHED
relatedWork The Judgment NERFINISHED
The Metamorphosis NERFINISHED
The Trial NERFINISHED
theme Jewish middle-class life in Prague
authority and domination
family dynamics
father–son conflict
fear and anxiety
guilt and shame
power imbalance
psychological trauma
self-analysis
tone accusatory
analytical
confessional
wordCountApproximate about 45 pages in length
writtenIn 1919

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Hermann Kafka describedIn Letter to His Father
Franz Kafka notableWork Letter to His Father