Kafka

This biography of Franz Kafka can be recommended for the general reader in every way except one: it is not the best biography in English of Kafka or the one to read if you wish (as most people) to read only one. I preferred Ernest Pawel's "The Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka," which has more color and passion and comes closer to bringing Kafka to life as a three-dimensional figure. (It may be out of print, but it can easily be found on the secondary market.) Murray's biography is well-written, readable, and responsible, although a little dry and pedestrian. In addition to surveying Kafka's life satisfactorily -- via a somewhat artificial four-part structure (Prague, Felice, Milena, and Dora, the last three being the three women with whom Kafka had the longest and most meaningful relationships) -- Murray also discusses and properly places Kafka's literary works in the context of his life without ever engaging in academic literary exegesis. Thus, this is very much a biography for the general reader, and if the Pawel biography cannot be obtained, one need not hesitate about turning to Murray's.