Kafka's Porn Stash

John Coulthart alerted me to this: Franz Kafka’s porn brought out of the closet.

James Hawes, academic and Kafka expert, reveals some of Kafka's porn stash in Excavating Kafka, to be published this month. Hawes says his book "seeks to explode important myths surrounding the literary icon, a 'quasi-saintly' image which hardly fits with the dark and shocking pictures contained in these banned journals."

Even today, the pornography would be "on the top shelf", Dr Hawes said, noting that his American publisher did not want him to publish it at first. "These are not naughty postcards from the beach. They are undoubtedly porn, pure and simple. Some of it is quite dark, with animals committing fellatio and girl-on-girl action... It's quite unpleasant."

Since I'm all for looking at humans in their full complexity, I can't wait to see/read the book myself -- and will hold off on more comments until then.

(Then again, I've never read Kafka... Must I read him before the bio-outing? I guess that depends upon one's views; reading this to know of the man vs. the myth, risking future reading of his works, or having proper literary framework first.)

The article is excellent -- only out-done in read-worthiness by the comments; here are a few:

Porn is nauseating, no matter who reads it. And in Kafkas time, it was not widely accessible,. It was a more normal, safer world back then, naive as that may sound. Kafka was a disturbed person, and that was the key to his originality. It is a greater achievement to be original, yet a whole person.

Fosse, Oslo, Norway

We have become worse than the Victorians ever were! (And I say that as a scholar of Victorian lit.) The combination of prurient invasion of privacy and hypocritical condemnation is more revolting than any pornography could ever be. Everyone has private fantasies, some are weird. So what?

Carol Siegel, Portland, USA

I love Kafka, and I would definitely pay to read his porn, especially if it's dark and unpleasant. I really hope that this material will be widely released in my lifetime.

Jenna, Tampa,

I don't see what the massive deal here is. As far as some of the material being quite dark, Kafka seemed to be a guy with some pretty dark places anyway. His sexuality wouldn't likely be much different. "Nothing but a pervert" is, I think, inaccurate and unfair.

Laura, Some,

As Coulthart said when he sent me the link, "Can't wait to see the reaction when the book appears."

Related: Franz Kafka tribute of "recomposed photographs".