A brilliant portrayal of the tormented, inspired writer who gave us the eerie and paranoid Metamorphosis, The Trial, and The Castle. This classic account of Kafka's life reveals how his unique body of work forces us to reconsider all our traditional assumptions about the divide between fiction and fact--and how Kafka used literature as a means of "putting himself on trial." ".a full biography which any Kafka reader will want to keep."--Observer. "Hayman.brings the jackdaw of Prague sharply to life."--The Times.