Bodleian Libraries’ Kafka Archive Debuts in the US
Bodleian Library
The first page of The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung)
The Morgan Library & Museum will present Franz Kafka from November 22 through April 13, 2025 to mark the 100th anniversary of the author’s death, celebrating his achievements, creativity, and continued influence on new literary, theatrical, and artistic creations around the world.
Franz Kafka is presented in collaboration with the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford, whose major Kafka holdings will appear in the United States for the first time. The items on view include literary manuscripts, correspondence, diaries, and photographs, including the original manuscript of his novella The Metamorphosis.
The exhibition aims to set Kafka in the context of his times but also shows how his own experiences nourished his imagination, from his relationship with his family and the people closest to him to the places where he lived and worked, through to his last years of illness and his death.
Sal Robinson, Lucy Ricciardi Assistant Curator of Literary and Historical Manuscripts, said: “This exhibition, the first of its kind on Franz Kafka in the United States, will not only provide a unique opportunity to celebrate Kafka’s work and learn about his life, but will also engage with rarely emphasized aspects of both, from women like Ottla Kafka and Milena Jesenská, who played key roles in his life, to the very much ongoing afterlife of his works as they are translated into other languages and media.”
Highlights from the exhibition include:
the manuscripts of Kafka’s novels Amerika and The Castle
manuscripts of his major stories A Hunger Artist and Josephine the Singer
letters and postcards addressed to his favorite sister, Ottla
his personal diaries, in which he also composed fiction, including his literary breakthrough, the 1912 story The Judgment
unique items such as his drawings, the notebooks he used when studying Hebrew, and family photographs
Andy Warhol’s portrait of Kafka, part of his 1980 series Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century, and Vladimir Nabokov’s copy of The Metamorphosis
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Bodleian Libraries
Kafka with patients and staff, Sanatorium in Tatranske Matliary, where he was treated for tuberculosis
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Bodleian Libraries
Postcard of Jardins de Versailles, with Kafka's writing on picture side
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Bodleian Libraries
Postcard with six small drawings by Kafka entitled by him 'Ansichten aus meinem Leben' (Scenes from my life)
Visitors will be able to see a postcard to his brother-in-law in which Kafka jokes about his exceptional skiing skills despite being severely ill at the time, as well as his Hebrew notebook and his letter in Hebrew to his teacher demonstrating his dedication to learning the language that connected him to his family roots.
The Metamorphosis is a central focus of the exhibition. Alongside the original manuscript of the novella, the exhibition includes entomological illustrations that explore the possibilities of what the creature that used to be Gregor Samsa might have looked like, as well as modern reinterpretations of the story.
The exhibition also examines the deep resonance of Kafka’s work in the United States and further afield, looking at how the author’s works were translate into numerous languages and artistic responses in a variety of formats, with a particular focus on Asia and the modern-day interest in Kafka in Korea and Japan. Kafka’s influence on American arts and culture is represented by an annotated galley proof of Philip Roth’s essay I Always Wanted You to Admire My Fasting; or, Looking at Kafka from the Morgan’s collection.
The Morgan’s Katharine J. Rayner Director, Colin B. Bailey, said: “The Morgan was delighted at the opportunity to celebrate our centennial in conjunction with the Bodleian and to honor Franz Kafka and his enduring impact on literature. We are honored to be the sole American venue for this landmark literary exhibition.”
