Kafkas Son

A posthumously published Hungarian masterpiece that reflects on fragmented lives. Born in 1963, Szilrd Borbly emerged as one of the most important poets of post-communist Europe, exploring the themes of grief, memory, and trauma in his critically acclaimed work. Following the murder of his mother during a burglary in 2000, and the subsequent breakdown and death of his father, Borbly suffered from post-traumatic depression and tragically ended his own life in 2014. Among the manuscripts that Borbly left behind was Kafkas Son, a fragmentary work, rendered still more fragmented through the authors death. Through a series of haunting passages that explore early twentieth-century Prague, including the ruins of the ancient Jewish ghetto during the time of its demolition, Borbly inscribes the story of Franz Kafka and his father onto the city. We are used to hearing from Franz; here Hermann Kafka is also given a voice. The son, he tells us, is the life of the father. The father is the death of the son. By extension, then, this book is also an indirect telling of the story of Borbly and his father, and about sons and fathers in the Habsburg empire and the culture of brutality that defined Eastern Europe. A posthumously published Hungarian masterpiece, Kafkas Son now appears in English in award-winning translator Ottilie Mulzets sensitive translation, a fragmentary yet iridescent work inviting us to reflect on our fragmented lives.