Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS v
3. Introduction 1
4. PROLOGUE: The Black Star 16
5. 1 At Home with the Kafkas 21
6. 2 Bachelors, Young and Old 42
7. 3 Actors, Zionists, Wild People 54
8. 4 Literature and Loneliness: Leipzig and Weimar 71
9. 5 Last Stop Jungborn 86
10. 6 A Young Lady from Berlin 94
11. 7 The Ecstasy of Beginning: “The Judgment” and “The Stoker” 108
12. 8 A Near Defenestration 119
13. 9 The Girl, the Lady, and the Woman 134
14. 10 Love and a Longing for Letters 145
15. 11 Exultant Weeks, Little Intrigues 159
16. 12 The Bauer Family 169
17. 13 America and Back: The Man Who Disappeared 175
18. 14 The Lives of Metaphors: “The Metamorphosis” 192
19. 15 The Fear of Going Mad 206
20. 16 Balkan War: The Massacre Next Door 226
21. 17 1913 231
22. 18 The Man Who Disappeared: Perfection and Disintegration 242
23. 19 Invention and Exaggeration 253
24. 20 Sexual Trepidation and Surrender 266
25. 21 The Working World: High Tech and the Ghosts of Bureaucracy 281
26. 22 The Proposal 297
27. 23 Literature, Nothing but Literature 324
28. 24 Three Congresses in Vienna 350
29. 25 Trieste, Venice, Verona, Riva 368
30. 26 Grete Bloch: The Messenger Arrives 379
31. 27 An All-Time Low 390
32. 28 Kafka and Musil 401
33. 29 Matrimonial Plans and Asceticism 413
34. 30 Tribunal in Berlin 433
35. 31 The Great War 444
36. 32 Self-Inflicted Justice: The Trial and “In the Penal Colony” 464
37. 33 The Return of the East 484
38. 34 The Grand Disruption 493
39. 35 No-Man’s-Land 508
40. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 517
41. TRANSLATOR’S NOTE 519
42. KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS 521
43. NOTES 523
44. BIBLIOGRAPHY 551
45. PHOTO CREDITS 563
46. INDEX 565
47. Photos 583