Kafka: Metamorphosis of an Author. An Exhibition in Jerusalem.

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To mark 100 years since the passing of Franz Kafka, the National Library of Israel is displaying, for the first time, original items from the archive of one the most influential authors of the 20^th century.

The exhibition offers an experience that honours Kafka’s legacy and invites visitors to make their way through a literary labyrinth.

Among the items on display are Kafka’s famous will, in which he asked to burn all his writings after his death, the accusatory 100-page long “Letter to His Father”, original manuscripts of his well-known books The Trial, Amerika and The Castle, as well as his stories and novellas, including The Metamorphosis, first and rare editions, personal letters, as well as his drawings, photographs and Hebrew writing exercises.

The exhibition also includes materials that serve to show the massive influence Kafka’s work had in Israel and around the world, including adaptations in theatre, film, dance and the visual arts.

For this exhibition, works were commissioned from eight of the leading illustrators in Israel – Sergey Isakov, Eitan Eloa, Nino Biniashvili, Anat Warshavsky, Addam Yekutieli, Merav Salomon, Roni Fahima and Michel Kichka – who were asked to correspond with the works of Kafka and the figure of the author himself.

The National Library of Israel is one of three institutions worldwide that hold items from Kafka’s personal and literary archive. The exhibition “Kafka: Metamorphosis of an Author” will cover his life story, his works, and his relationships with his family, friends and loved ones, and will offer a deep examination of his attitudes towards Judaism, Yiddish and Zionism.

The exhibition will also trace the fascinating story of Kafka’s estate and how his literary works were eventually published by his friend Max Brod. This story begins before Kafka’s death and concludes in 2019 when Israel’s Supreme Court decided that Kafka’s archive was a cultural asset that was to be deposited at the National Library of Israel.

“Kafka: Metamorphosis of an Author” (December 2024 – June 2025) is on display in the Helen Diller Family Rotating Exhibitions Gallery at the National Library of Israel (Kaplan 1, Jerusalem) > Ticket

Based on the press release of NLI. Selected as relevant/shortened/lectured/edited by VonNaftali. Pic AI-generated. Symbolic.