Kafka2024

On the occasion of the 140^th birthday in 2023 and the 100^th anniversary of Franz Kafka's death in 2024, the Goethe-Institut is dedicating its programme to the Prague-born German-language writer and his literary work in a variety of ways.

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Kafka's cultural legacy
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Franz Kafka is by no means “just a classic”. His social critiques and images of fundamental human experiences are highly topical even today. 2024 marks the 100^th anniversary of Kafka's death and 2023 would have been the 140^th birthday of the world-famous author. On the occasion of these anniversaries, the Goethe-Institut will take the opportunity to reflect on his work. You can expect a variety of formats that will show new ways to his texts and the author himself. From a German studies conference, literary readings and theatrical productions to a video game, we would like to offer you a variety of perspectives on Franz Kafka.

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Conference
Land Surveys. Kafka and the country side.

The Institute of German Studies at Charles University, in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut, is organising a conference from 30.03.-01.04.2023 entitled “Landvermessungen. Kafka und das Landleben”. Whether in Kafka's Castle, in The Country Doctor or in stories such as Children on the Country Road: time and again, Kafka's narrative turns to life in the countryside and movement over land.

Serious Game
Playing Kafka

Together with the indie game studio Charles Games and thanks to the support of the Czech Ministry of Culture, the Goethe-Institut is developing a video game that brings Kafka's literary world to life in virtual space.

CharlesGames.net

Art & Culture
Kafka Now

With partners from the arts and culture, we are planning numerous events reflecting on the author Kafka and his work in the anniversary years 2023/24: Conferences, workshops, theatre performances and much more. You can find current event announcements in our cultural calendar. We look forward to seeing you soon.

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Kafka's cultural legacy

Photo: Goethe-Institut

VR Metamorphosis: VRwandlung
Kafka in virtual reality

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” Thus begins the most well known novella of the twentieth century, Die Verwandlung or The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. In the “VRwandlung” theme room of Prague’s Goethe-Institut, with VR technology you can wake up as a huge insect in a room faithfully reproduced after the original.

German in the context of multilingual Prague
Franz Kafka’s Literary Language

For a long time, we were familiar with Franz Kafka’s German only because of Max Brod’s posthumous publication of Kafka’s works. However, in Kafka’s original texts, the spoken language clearly left its mark.

Foto: © artisteer/iStock

Literary canon
Nobody can avoid Kafka

Debates in feuilletons, a pragmatic approach in schools: required reading and how is it justifie.

Digital Library Reading Kafka...

Kafka was not only a prolific author himself. His literary legacy has inspired numerous academic and lyrical works. In our digital library “Onleihe”, more than 100 works written by, or about, Franz Kafka, are available to be borrowed for free.

Go to Onleihe

Partner & Sponsors

The serious game “Playing Kafka” is realised together with Charles Games and is funded by the National Reconstruction Plan, an initiative of the Czech Ministry of Culture, and financially supported by the European Union.