Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors is a book collecting some of
Franz Kafka's letters from 1900 to 1924. The majority of the letters in the volume are addressed to
Max Brod. Originally published in Germany in 1959 as Briefe 1902-1924, the collection was first published in English by
Schocken Books in 1977. It was translated by
Richard and Clara Winston.
Oskar Pollak - Childhood friend and art historian; a 1902 letter to him includes Kafka's oldest surviving work of fiction - "
Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart"
Max Brod - Closest friend; writer and Kafka's literary executor
Elsa Brod, née Taussig - Brod's wife
Sophie Friedmann, née Brod - Brod's sister
Emmy Salveter - Max Brod's friend and possible lover
Director Eisner - Department head at Assicurazioni Generali, where Kafka worked
Gertrud Thieberger - Sister of Kafka's
Hebrew teacher, future wife of Johannes Urzidil
Yitzhak Löwy - Actor
Ludwig Hardt - Reciting artist, included some of Kafka's writing in his work
Hugo Bergmann - Former classmate; Philosopher and Zionist
Else Bergmann - Hugo Bergmann's wife
Conversation Slips
Both German and English editions of the book include a selection from the slips of paper Kafka used to communicate during the last few weeks of his life, when he was advised not to speak.