Completely Kafka: A Comic Biography

by Nicolas Mahler, Alexander Booth (Translator), Nicolas Mahler (Illustrator)

Overview

A delightfully witty and original graphic biography of Kafka, published to coincide with the centenary of the author’s death

This bold and sharply funny new look at Kafka is told through Nicolas Mahler's distinctive graphic novel style and minimalist illustrations. Full of fascinating details and witty, absurdist illustrations, it’s a delightful tribute to one of the world’s great writers.

Franz Kafka not only wrote prose, he was also passionate about drawing: at one time, he even said it satisfied him more than anything else. In this graphic biography, acclaimed artist Nicolas Mahler echoes Kafka’s own minimalist drawing style in a unique and surprising approach to the great writer’s life and work.

Drawing extensively on Kafka’s fiction, letters, and diaries, Completely Kafka illustrates the major and minor details that formed his life, from struggles with self-doubt and writer’s block to a failed plan for a series of cheap travel guides.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781805331582
Publisher:	Steerforth Press
Publication date:	06/25/2024
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	5.35(w) x 8.44(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Nicolas Mahler lives in Vienna, where he works as a comic artist and illustrator. His comic strips and cartoons have been published by leading German-language newspapers and magazines such as Die Zeit, NZZ am Sonntag and Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. He is the author of several graphic adaptations of classic literature, including works by James Joyce, Thomas Bernhard and Marcel Proust. Mahler has received numerous awards for his work, including the Max-und-Moritz Prize for Best German-Language Comic Artist, the Preis der Literaturhäuser and the Sondermann Prize.

Alexander Booth is an American poet and translator, who lives in Berlin. He works in English, German and Italian, and his translations include Friederike Mayröcker, Sandro Penna and Lutz Seiler.

Editorial Reviews

"If you are Nicolas Mahler, the writer and illustrator of a short but engaging graphic biography of the man, you’d see [Kafka] as a sort of blob of hair and eyebrows on a stick. The illustrations of Completely Kafka may look rudimentary, but they work. In fact they’re similar in style to the doodles Kafka himself would make in his notebooks."
— Spectator

"Much the best thing about the book are the charming black and white drawings. The best are the drawings of Kafka himself, drawn in thick brushstroke. Some are like cartoons, a few are more like Kafka’s own drawings, angular, isolated."
—Jewish Chronicle

From the Publisher

04/01/2024

Mahler's (creator of a graphic novel take on Proust's In Search of Lost Time) playful perspective and striking illustration result in an innovative and engaging overview of Franz Kafka's life and work. As a child, Kafka suffered from severe anxiety and insecurity about his appearance and intelligence and was burdened by feelings of inferiority and self-loathing. As an adult, he remained pretty much the same. At least, that's how Kafka presented himself in his diaries and letters. Rather than allowing Kafka to have the last word on the subject of himself, Mahler draws on diary entries, letters, and material quoted from interviews with Kafka's friends and contemporaries to create a compelling portrait of an artist whose inner life and outward expression seem to have rarely aligned. Yes, Kafka's associates agree, the writer could be grim, brooding, at times frighteningly intense and almost impossible to satisfy, but they also describe him as being quite charming, as well as handsome, intelligent, great at giving advice to those experiencing hardship, and possessing a wonderfully absurd sense of humor. VERDICT An uncommonly entertaining biography and reconsideration of Kafka's complex character, released to coincide with the centennial of his death.

Library Journal