''The Blue Octavo Notebooks'' (sometimes referred to as ''The Eight Octavo Notebooks'') is a series of eight notebooks written by

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ty ...

from late 1917 until June 1919. The name was given to them by

Max Brod Max Brod ( he, מקס ברוד; 27 May 1884 – 20 December 1968) was a German-speaking Bohemian, later Israeli, author, composer, and journalist. Although he was a prolific writer in his own right, he is best remembered as the friend and bio ...

, Kafka's literary executor, to differentiate them from the regular quarto-sized notebooks Kafka used as diaries. Along with the octavo notebooks, Brod also found a series of extracts copied out and numbered by Kafka. Brod named this brief selection "Reflections on Sin, Suffering, Hope, and the True Way" and included it in ''

The Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic group ...

''.

Publication

When Brod published Kafka's diaries in 1948 he decided to omit the octavo notebooks as he considered their contents more philosophical and literary than the regular diaries Kafka kept. The Octavo notebooks were later included in a volume of fragments and uncollected writings published in 1953, along with the numbered extracts. The notebooks first appeared in English in '' Dearest Father. Stories and Other Writings'' (

Schocken Books Schocken Books is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that specializes in Jewish literary works. Originally established in 1931 by Salman Schocken as Schocken Verlag in Berlin, the company later moved to Palestine and then the U ...

, 1954). Some English printings removed the extracts from their original place in the notebooks to avoid repetition. ''The Blue Octavo Notebooks'' were published in English in a single volume edition by

Exact Change Exact Change is an American independent book publishing company founded in 1989 by Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang who, outside of their publishing careers, were musicians associated with Galaxie 500 and Damon and Naomi. The company specialises i ...

(1991, ). This edition includes the complete notebooks, the numbered extracts, and Max Brod's original notes.

Analysis

Scholars have noted that from late 1917 until June 1919, Kafka stopped writing entries in his diaries, and instead wrote in these notebooks, the bulk of which were aphorisms. The notebooks contain fragments, but like much of Kafka's writings they allude to important themes about the human condition. The notebooks are recognized for expressing some of Kafka's interest in Judaic studies, though he continued to live a secular lifestyle. Kafka was reading Kierkegaard's ''

Fear and Trembling ''Fear and Trembling'' (original Danish title: ''Frygt og Bæven'') is a philosophical work by Søren Kierkegaard, published in 1843 under the pseudonym ''Johannes de silentio'' (Latin for ''John of the Silence''). The title is a reference to ...

'' during the time he wrote in these notebooks.Bound and Undetermined: Kafka, Abraham and the Meaning of Suffering. ST Shafer - ''Making Sense of Suffering'' - inter-disciplinary.net

External links

''Blue Octavo Notebooks'' Quotes

References

Books by Franz Kafka Books published posthumously 1991 non-fiction books {{nonfiction-book-stub