Franz Kafka was the poet of his own disorder. Throughout his life he struggled with a pervasive sense of shame and guilt that left traces in his daily existence - in his many letters, extensive diaries, and especially in his fiction. This stimulating book investigates some of the sources of Kafka´s personal anguish and its complex reflections in his imaginary world. In this biography, Saul Friedlander probes major aspects of Kafka´s life (family, Judaism, love and sex, writing, illness, and despair) that until now have been skewed by posthumous censorship. Contrary to Kafka´s dying request that all his papers be burned, Max Brod, Kafka´s closest friend and literary editor, published and edited the author´s novels and other works soon after his death in 1924. Friedlander shows that, when reinserted in Kafka´s works, deleted segments lift the mask of "sainthood" frequently attached to the writer and thus restore to sight previously hidden aspects of his individuality