Festival to review Kafka’s legacy

Visitors at the exhibition presented in Vietnamese and English, featuring a number of valuable photos and information on the novelist’s life and career.

Activities running from now until April 14, co-sponsored by a wide range of embassies and cultural partners, aim to help Vietnamese readers better understand Kafka’s life, vision, philosophy and career, said Czech Ambassador Vitezslav Grepl at a press briefing yesterday.

An exhibition entitled “Kafka — A Journey to Vietnamese Readers” will be on display at the East-West Cultural Space, Heritage Space and Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities until April 14.

The exhibition, presented in Vietnamese and English features a number of valuable photos and information on the novelist’s life and career, which were collected and presented worldwide by the Franz Kafka Society inPrague,Czech Republic. Before coming to Vietnamese readers, the exhibition was held in Hong Kong (2013),Bangkok(2014) and other Asian cities.

During the exhibition, a number of rare publications, such as translations of Kafka’s works and books about him, which have been printed in Vietnam since the 1960s, will also be displayed for visitors to grasp the legacy of Franz Kafka in Vietnam.

Cinema lovers can enjoy various films and documentaries includingWho Was Kafka?(Switzerland),Joseph Kilian(Czech Republic),The Castle(Germany andAustria) and The Trial(France,Germany andItaly).

Kafka’s Corners with souvenirs and books available at a discount are arranged in more than 20 cultural spaces in Hanoi.

Writer Kafka was born inPrague in theCzech Republic, in a German-speaking Jewish family. He wrote mostly in German. He travelled through many European countries, includingAustria,France,Germany,Switzerland andItaly. Many of his famous works were inspired by and written during his journeys.

Kafka is widely studied across the world. In literature, he is regarded as a critical influence on postmodern writers. But his work also contributed to many other literary schools and later philosophies such as irrationalism, magical realism and existentialism.

Accordingly, the Kafka Festival’s programming spans diverse events and spaces.

Kafka’s Corners with souvenirs and books available at a discount will be arranged in more than 20 different cultural spaces in Hanoi including East West Cultural Space, Heritage Space, NhaNambookstores, TPD Cinema Development Centre, Bluebirds’ Nest café and Tranquil Book café.

The screening of the filmWho Was Kafka?,which recreates the life of the author through stories and memories from his relatives, including his best friend Max Brod, fiancé Felice Bauer and lover Milena Jesenska, will be attended by Swiss Ambassador Beatrice Maser Mallor. She will share with audiences the importance of Kafka’s legacy to humanity in general as well as to the people ofSwitzerlandin particular – a country he loved and visited many times.

The Old Quarter Cultural Exchange Centre (50 Đào Duy Từ Street, Hoan Kiem district) will host a Kafka-inspired dance performance by dancers Charlotte Spitzer and Ziga Jereb (Austria).

An international conference entitled Perceptions of Kafka in Asia, Particularly in Virynam will gather many Vietnamese and foreign experts at the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities on April 14.

Another seminar, Franz Kafka - Life And Legacy will analyse Kafka’s Letter to His Father, a literary masterpiece, and an important document often used by researchers to explore the relationship between him and his father, which is often believed to have had a strong influence on his motivation to write.