Editing Franz Kafka (section)

=== Publishing history ===

[[File:Kafka Betrachtung 1912.jpg|thumb|upright|First edition of {{lang|de|[[Betrachtung]]}}, 1912|alt=A simple book cover displays the name of the book and the author]]

Kafka's stories were initially published in literary periodicals. His first eight were printed in 1908 in the first issue of the bi-monthly ''Hyperion''.{{sfn|Itk|2008}} [[Franz Blei]] published two dialogues in 1909 which became part of "Beschreibung eines Kampfes" ("Description of a Struggle").{{sfn|Itk|2008}} A fragment of the story "[[Die Aeroplane in Brescia]]" ("The Aeroplanes at Brescia"), written on a trip to Italy with Brod, appeared in the daily ''[[Bohemia (newspaper)|Bohemia]]'' on 28 September 1909.{{sfn|Itk|2008}}{{sfn|Brod|1966|p=94}} On 27 March 1910, several stories that later became part of the book {{lang|de|[[Betrachtung]]}} were published in the Easter edition of ''Bohemia''.{{sfn|Itk|2008}}{{sfn|Brod|1966|p=61}} In Leipzig during 1913, Brod and publisher [[Kurt Wolff (publisher)|Kurt Wolff]] included "{{lang|de|Das Urteil. Eine Geschichte von Franz Kafka.|italic=no}}" ("The Judgment. A Story by Franz Kafka.") in their literary yearbook for the art poetry ''Arkadia''. In the same year, Wolff published "[[Der Heizer]]" ("The Stoker") in the Jüngste Tag series, where it enjoyed three printings.{{sfn|Stach|2005|p=343}} The story "{{lang|de|[[Vor dem Gesetz]]|italic=no}}" ("Before the Law") was published in the 1915 New Year's edition of the independent Jewish weekly {{lang|de|Selbstwehr}}; it was reprinted in 1919 as part of the story collection {{lang|de|[[A Country Doctor (collection)|Ein Landarzt]]}} (''A Country Doctor'') and became part of the novel {{lang|de|Der Process}}. Other stories were published in various publications, including [[Martin Buber]]'s ''[[Der Jude]]'', the paper {{lang|cs|[[Prager Tagblatt]]}}, and the periodicals {{lang|de|[[Die neue Rundschau]]}}, ''Genius'', and ''[[Prager Presse]]''.{{sfn|Itk|2008}}

Kafka's first published book, {{lang|de|Betrachtung}} (''Contemplation'', or ''Meditation''), was a collection of 18{{nbsp}}stories written between 1904 and 1912. On a summer trip to [[Weimar]], Brod initiated a meeting between Kafka and Kurt Wolff;{{sfn|Brod|1966|p=110}} Wolff published {{lang|de|Betrachtung}} in the {{lang|de|[[Rowohlt Verlag]]}} at the end of 1912 (with the year given as 1913).{{sfn|European Graduate School, Articles|2012}} Kafka dedicated it to Brod, "{{lang|de|Für M.B.|italic=no}}", and added in the personal copy given to his friend "{{lang|de|So wie es hier schon gedruckt ist, für meinen liebsten Max{{nsmdns}}Franz K.|italic=no}}" ("As it is already printed here, for my dearest Max").{{sfn|Brod|1966|p=115}}

Kafka's novella ''Die Verwandlung'' (''The Metamorphosis'') was first printed in the October 1915 issue of {{lang|de|[[Die Weißen Blätter]]}}, a monthly edition of [[expressionist]] literature, edited by [[René Schickele]].{{sfn|European Graduate School, Articles|2012}} Another story collection, {{lang|de|Ein Landarzt}} (''A Country Doctor''), was published by Kurt Wolff in 1919,{{sfn|European Graduate School, Articles|2012}} dedicated to Kafka's father.{{sfn|Leiter|1958|pp=337–347}} Kafka prepared a final collection of four stories for print, {{lang|de|Ein Hungerkünstler}} ''(A Hunger Artist)'', which appeared in 1924 after his death, in {{lang|de|[[Verlag Die Schmiede]]}}. On 20 April 1924, the {{lang|de|[[Berliner Börsen-Courier]]}} published Kafka's essay on [[Adalbert Stifter]].{{sfn|Krolop|1994|p=103}}

==== Max Brod ====
[[File:Kafka Der Prozess 1925.jpg|thumb|upright|First edition of {{lang|de|[[The Trial|Der Prozess]]}}, 1925|alt=A simple book cover in green displays the name of the author and the book]]

At the time of his death, Kafka's works were probably known only to a small circle of Czech and German writers.{{sfn|Ackermann|1950|p=105}} Kafka left his work, both published and unpublished, to his friend and [[literary executor]] [[Max Brod]] with explicit instructions that it should be destroyed on Kafka's death; Kafka wrote: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me{{nbsp}}... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread."{{sfn|Kafka|1988|loc = publisher's notes}}{{sfn|McCarthy|2009}} Brod ignored this request and published the novels and collected works between 1925 and 1935. Brod defended his action by claiming that he had told Kafka, "I shall not carry out your wishes", and that "Franz should have appointed another executor if he had been absolutely determined that his instructions should stand".<ref>Diamant, Kathi, ''Kafka's Last Love: The Mystery of Dora Diamant'', p. 132.</ref>

Brod took many of Kafka's papers, which remain unpublished, with him in suitcases to Palestine when he fled there in 1939.{{sfn|Butler|2011|pp=3–8}} Kafka's last lover, [[Dora Diamant]] (later, Dymant-Lask), also ignored his wishes, secretly keeping 20{{nbsp}}notebooks and 35{{nbsp}}letters. These were confiscated by the [[Gestapo]] in 1933, but scholars continue to search for them.{{sfn|Kafka Project SDSU|2012}}

As Brod published the bulk of the writings in his possession,{{sfn|Contijoch|2000}} Kafka's work began to attract wider attention and critical acclaim. Brod found it difficult to arrange Kafka's notebooks in chronological order. One problem was that Kafka often began writing in different parts of the book; sometimes in the middle, sometimes working backwards from the end.{{sfn|Kafka|2009|p= xxvii}}{{sfn|Diamant|2003|p=144}} Brod finished many of Kafka's incomplete works for publication. For example, Kafka left {{lang|de|Der Process}} with unnumbered and incomplete chapters and {{lang|de|Das Schloss}} with incomplete sentences and ambiguous content;{{sfn|Diamant|2003|p=144}} Brod rearranged chapters, copy-edited the text, and changed the punctuation. {{lang|de|Der Process}} appeared in 1925 in {{lang|de|Verlag Die Schmiede}}. Kurt Wolff published two other novels, {{lang|de|Das Schloss}} in 1926 and ''Amerika'' in 1927. In 1931, Brod edited a collection of prose and unpublished stories as ''[[The Great Wall of China (collection)|The Great Wall of China]]'', including the titular short story [[The Great Wall of China (short story)|<!--Per [[WP:OFTHESAMENAME-->"The Great Wall of China"]]. The book appeared in the [[Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag]]. Brod's sets are usually called the "Definitive Editions".{{sfn|Classe|2000|p=749}}

==== Modern editions ====
In 1961 [[Malcolm Pasley]] acquired for the [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] [[Bodleian Library]] most of Kafka's original handwritten works.{{sfn|Jewish Heritage|2012}}{{sfn|Kafka|1998|loc = publisher's notes}} The text for {{lang|de|Der Process}} was later purchased through auction and is stored at the German Literary Archives in [[Marbach am Neckar]], Germany.{{sfn|Kafka|1998|loc = publisher's notes}}{{sfn|O'Neill|2004|p=681}} Subsequently, Pasley headed a team (including Gerhard Neumann, Jost Schillemeit and Jürgen Born) which reconstructed the German novels; {{lang|de|[[S. Fischer Verlag]]|italic=no}} republished them.{{sfn|Adler|1995}} Pasley was the editor for {{lang|de|Das Schloss}}, published in 1982, and {{lang|de|Der Process}} (''The Trial''), published in 1990. Jost Schillemeit was the editor of {{lang|de|Der Verschollene}} ({{lang|de|Amerika}}) published in 1983. These are called the "Critical Editions" or the "Fischer Editions".{{sfn|Oxford Kafka Research Centre|2012}}

In 2023, the first unexpurgated edition of [[Franz Kafka's Diaries|Kafka's diaries]] was published in English,<ref>Kafka, Franz, ''The Diaries'', translated by [[Ross Benjamin]], New York: [[Schocken Books]], 2023.</ref> "more than three decades after this complete text appeared in German. The sole previous English edition, with Brod's edits, was issued in the late 1940s".<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/books/kafka-diaries.html "The Kafka You Never Knew"] (Review by [[Dwight Garner]] of [[Ross Benjamin]]'s translation of Kafka's Diaries), ''[[The New York Times]]'', 11 January 2023.</ref> The new edition revealed that Brod had expunged homoerotic references, and negative comments about Eastern European Jews.{{sfn|Benjamin|2024}}

==== Unpublished papers ====
When Brod died in 1968, he left Kafka's unpublished papers, which are believed to number in the thousands, to his secretary [[Esther Hoffe]].{{sfn|''Guardian''|2010}} She released or sold some, but left most to her daughters, Eva and Ruth, who also refused to release the papers. A court battle began in 2008 between the sisters and the [[National Library of Israel]], which claimed these works became the property of the nation of Israel when Brod emigrated to [[British Palestine]] in 1939. Esther Hoffe sold the original manuscript of {{lang|de|Der Process}} for US$2&nbsp;million in 1988 to the German Literary Archive [[Museum of Modern Literature]] in Marbach am Neckar.{{sfn|''New York Times''|2010}}{{sfn|Buehrer|2011}} A ruling by a Tel Aviv family court in 2010 held that the papers must be released and a few were, including a previously unknown story, but the legal battle continued.{{sfn|Lerman|2010}} The Hoffes claim the papers are their personal property, while the National Library of Israel argues they are "cultural assets belonging to the Jewish people".{{sfn|Lerman|2010}} The National Library also suggests that Brod bequeathed the papers to them in his will.{{sfn|Rudoren|Noveck|2012}} The Tel Aviv Family Court ruled in October 2012, six months after Ruth's death, that the papers were the property of the National Library. The Israeli Supreme Court upheld the decision in December 2016.{{sfn|Glazer|2017}}