[jacknates]

When I think Franz Kafka has no more secrets for me, I read Letter to his Father and lose myself in awe. This short letter, no longer than a novella, may well be Kafka?s most perfect work: short, clear, full of feeling, encompassing his pessimistic worldview, explaining his oeuvre.

In Kafka?s accusation of how his father?s authority and cruelty conditioned his entire life, there?s also an amazing work of introspection: the author goes through his life trying to find his self, without deceptions. And without fear, he describes himself as a pitiful, weak man without confidence in himself. He debases himself in every line, but the letter itself explains how he reached the point where he could be brutally honest with himself in ways few people ever are with themselves. This is possibly the greatest autobiographical piece ever written.

Kafka never sent this letter to his father; he gave it to his mother, who returned it to him without delivering it to his father. I have no idea what this meant to Kafka, but for literature it was best that it survived.