This volume presents Kafka as son, brother, student, friend, lover, writer, critic, and reveals his fascination for life in all its complex, absurd and tragic manifestations. Though aware of the precariousness of letter-writing, Franz Kafka entrusted to letters many of his thoughts, impressions, experiences and expectations. These letters - which follow Kafka's life from his student years through his experience as an insurance clerk to his final days, and explore his friendships with Max Brod, Felix Weltsch and Oskar Baum - confirm his place as one of the great letter-writers of the twentieth century.