What is it like to write in Franz Kafka’s home? As Prague ushers in the novelist’s 140th birth anniversary this week, an Indian author-journalist in the last leg of a literary residency shares his experience
A man walks past a bronze statue of Franz Kafka sitting on the shoulders of an imaginary person, located in the Old Town Square next to the house where Kafka was born. Pic/Getty Images
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Prague never lets you go…this dear little mother has sharp claws.
Franz Kafka
The novelist’s tempestuous relationship with Czech Republic capital where he was born, worked and buried after his death, remains an intriguing legacy. Fame didn’t matter to Kafka. When alive, he is believed to have destroyed a majority of his works. On his deathbed, he asked friend Max Brod to burn his novels once he was gone. Luckily, good sense prevailed and Brod published the works for the world to enjoy. Prague’s famous son would probably have shied away from popularity that it earned as a literary city, helped in great measure by his footprints that dot its corners and contours.
A bust of Kafka and a plaque were added to the new building. Across the street, there is a small exhibition that celebrates the writer. Kafka (1883-1924) was a Prague-born German-speaking Jewish writer whose novels express the alienation of 20th century
A city that boasts of over 200 libraries and one of Europe’s highest concentrations of bookshops, earned the title of UNESCO City of Literature in 2014. This tag places Prague in an elite list of Cities of Literature of the world including Dublin, Krakow, Lahore, Melbourne and Edinburgh. It offers residency stays to foreign writers and translators, which are instituted by organisations and private platforms belonging to Prague’s literary landscape.
Indian writer-journalist Ashutosh Bhardwaj was awarded the UNESCO-Prague City of Literature residency located at Kafka House, the birthplace of the novelist. While the home doesn’t exist in its original form, the renovated structure that stands on the same site bears a striking resemblance to the original, and retains Kafka’s bust and plaque. Bhardwaj returns to India later this month before which he hopes to finish his writing project and soak in as much of the city as he can.
Bhardwaj’s writing desk
Edited excerpts from the interview.
What has the experience been so far? Does being a resident writer in Kafka’s birth home inspire your process?
I arrived at the Kafka House with a few pending projects. The Municipal Library of Prague ensures that the space is given the finest possible care. Its renovated interiors carry a sublime elegance.
Soon after my arrival, I learnt about “Kafka’s spirit” which is said to pervade the place and possesses the desk of resident writers like myself. I came to second this sentiment within a week. In the preceding months before my arrival, I had been tormented by abstract images, images in search of an expression. I suddenly found my narrative prose venturing into unanticipated lanes. I can’t make any claim over the final output; quite possibly, as often happens, it might be nothing out of ordinary, prompting me to quietly send it to the trash bin. But I should nevertheless record with gratitude, the sudden and seamless fruition of ideas that this city has made happen.
Ashutosh Bhardwaj
Tell us about your personal discoveries in Prague.
The Prague of 2023 is not the 19th century Prague that had made an inglorious list of outsiders, including its famous German-speaking Jew author. The city now embraces thinkers from other continents. My co-resident at Kafka House is a playwright from Martinique [Caribbean island]. It’s also a city of classical music. Numerous young and old men and women are seen busking with clarinet, violin and saxophone on the streets. You cross the Vltava River hearing a Mozart composition only to realise that you will hear Four Seasons on Charles Bridge, a strand that merges with Wagner towards the castle.
Austrian novelist, poet, dramatist and biographer of Kafka, Max Brod published his works despite the reticent author friend telling him to burn his novels right before his death. Pic/Getty Images
The Old Town Square, where I live, is a marvel of medieval architecture and houses churches. On streets lined with Gothic and Baroque buildings, various periods and histories collapse and collide.
A photo of the original Kafka House is on display at the Kafka Museum
And there is an India connection too…?
Not many of my compatriots know that Prague holds a special place in Indian literature. It was here that the great writer Nirmal Verma arrived to learn the Czech language in 1959. He translated Milan Kundera and Ivan Klima into Hindi much before they were available in English. Many of his key works, including his first novel, Ve Din (Days of Longing, 1964), are located in Prague. With crucial experiences gained from the city during the Cold War, he became a phenomenal interlocutor of Europe for India. The Prague Years of Nirmal Verma is a book waiting to be written, a work that will explain and examine the journeys of a young Indian in a beleaguered continent.
The rebuilt Kafka House bears a similarity to the original structure
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