Reiner Stach's extensive biography of Kafka has a mesmerizing effect. In particular, the scene-based representation, which at times resembles the narrative forms of film, brings us very close to Kafka's private existence while simultaneously opening up the panorama of his time. This highly acclaimed volume covers the years from 1916 until Kafka's death in 1924—a period during which Kafka's familiar world collapsed, both politically and physically. He was now a German Jew with a Czech passport, and he suffered from an illness that made the literary existence he had dreamed of for years impossible. Both factors heightened his insight: for Kafka, these became the years of realization.