Editing Franz Kafka (section)

=== After-death biographies and critiques ===

After his death, [[Rudolf Kayser]] wrote an article titled "Anmerkungen zu Franz Kafka" for the ''[[Neue Rundschau]]'', and Manfred Sturmann wrote a biographical essay titled "Erinnerungen an Kafka" for the ''[[Allgemeine Zeitung]]''.{{sfn|Ackermann|1950|p=106}} In 1935, Brod wrote a biography. "Since this work was written in German, however, it was not available to the majority of English critics".{{sfn|Ackermann|1950|p=108}}

From 1924 to 1927, Brod arranged for the publication of Kafka's three unfinished novels and otherwise promoted Kafka's works. During this period, many analytical essays were written about his work. In the late 1920s, 55 articles were written about Kafka's work, most of them reviews and references. Examples include Heinrich Jacob's "Kafka oder die Wahrhaftigke" for ''Der Feuerreiter'' in 1924 and Brod's "Infantilismus Kleist und Kafka" in 1927.{{sfn|Ackermann|1950|pp=106-107}}

Kafka's work was translated to English in the 1930s, and American journals and magazines such as ''[[The New Yorker]]'', ''[[The Nation and Athenaeum]]'', ''[[The Nation]]'', ''[[Scribner's Monthly|Scribners]]'', ''[[New York Tribune]]'', and ''[[The Bookman (New York City)|The Bookman]]'', wrote reviews about his books. ''The Castle'' was specially very well reviewed. But afterwards, until 1937, only three articles were written.{{sfn|Ackermann|1950|pp=107-108}}

At the same time, in Germany, in 1930 only four articles were written, and the following year saw eight articles. But in 1932, only one article was published, possibly because of the rise of the [[National Socialist]] party, as there was a strong antisemitic bias at a time. In [[Nazi Germany]], between 1933 and 1937, only 11 articles about Kafka were published, mostly by Jews in periodical such as ''[[Der Morgen]]'', ''[[Frankfurter Zeitung]]'', ''[[Jüdische Rundschau]]'', and ''[[Hochland (magazine)|Hochland]]''. From 1937 to 1939, no articles were written.{{sfn|Ackermann|1950|p=107}}

In 1937, ''The Trial'' was translated to English. There were 12 reviews in the United States, but the book was reviewed 20 times in other languages, including in France and Brazil. The reviews were mixed, with ''[[The New York Times]]'' reviewer stating that "it is beyond me" and other reviewers stating that Kafka was "one of the most extraordinary writers of our time".{{sfn|Ackermann|1950|p=109}}

In the following year, ''Amerika'' was translated to English and generally well received by four English and two American reviewers. In the same year, ''Das Schloss'' was translated into French and received five reviews.{{sfn|Ackermann|1950|p=108}}

In 1939, Kafka's work was reviewed in many countries, including in the periodicals ''[[The Southern Review]]'', ''[[The Kenyon Review]]'' and ''Expressionism in German Life''. In 1940, ''The Southern Review'' published a religious interpretation of ''The Trial''. In 1941, eleven reviews and articles were published, including "a doctor's dissertation at the [[University of Zürich]]" by Herbert Tauber, entitled "Franz Kafka, eine Deutung seiner Werke". Other countries whose writers showed interest in Kafka's work were Peru, Cuba, and Brazil.{{sfn|Ackermann|1950|pp=108-109}}

In the first years of [[World War II]], interest in Kafka's work diminished in the United States, with only two articles published. In 1943, four articles were published, with one that "criticized Kafka as a symbol of the social decadence which was responsible for the failure of the [[Weimar Republic]]". But in the following year, interest in his work increased again, with six articles published. As World War II drew to a close, interest in Kafka grew once again, with 16 articles appearing in various countries' periodicals, including ''Focus One'', ''[[Quarterly Review of Literature]]'', and ''[[Les Cahiers du Sud]]'', as well as in the book ''Freudism and the Literary Mind''. Many intellectuals grew interested on Kafka's work, with articles by [[Parker Tyler]] in ''Accent'', [[Albert Camus]] in ''Hope and Absurdity'', and [[Jean Wahl]] in ''Kierkegaard and Kafka'' tying his work to [[existentialism]]. In 1946, Kafka's work was popular, with 21 articles on it written that year.{{sfn|Ackermann|1950|p=109}}