An excellent final volume, or second volume in writing order, to a wonderful biography. There's very little to complain about: Stach does a great job, particularly in the final third. As in the other volumes, he's a bit too inclined to give Kafka every possible good quality and to deny him any bad one, but any decent reader will be able to put him/herself in the position of Kafka's friends, family and lovers, and imagine what a bloody nightmare it must have been to live with him, as well as a joy. Like pretty much everyone else, in that way, at least.

The last two pages were also a good reminder that Kafka, whom Stach often enough presents as the unluckiest human being to ever sink back into the earth (an astonishing presentation, given Kafka's economic and employment standing), was lucky in at least one way: few of those who survived him survived Auschwitz, Treblinka, or the war. ( )

As the last in Reiner Stach's magisterial 3-volume biography of Franz Kafka, "The Years of Insight" covers Kafka's last decade, the years 1914-1924. I opened it with some curiosity, and was quickly captivated by its prose. I love this work ! -- it gave me the insight into this odd, enigmatic author that I was seeking.

The time span covered in this biography includes Kafka's publication of his best-known, non-posthumous works. These include "The Metamorphosis" (published in 1915), "The Judgment" (1916), "In the Penal Colony" (1919), and "A Country Doctor" (1920). It also includes his re-engagement and 2nd breakup with his fiancé Felice Bauer; his contraction of tuberculosis; his relationships with Julie and Milena, and finally Dora, who was with him until he died (of TB) at the early age of 40.

I found "The Years of Insight" to be brilliant, insightful, beautifully written (and therefore, beautifully translated into English), engaging, and entertaining. Despite being 570 pages (with another 65 pages of notes), for me it never dragged, and I looked forward each night to being able to pick up where I'd left off. I underlined passages, made marginal notes, bent down page corners, stick post-it notes at places to go back to -- this is a book that I consumed, and plan to refer to in the future.

This volume and the others have been criticized on the grounds that the author goes too far beyond the written record to infer what Kafka must have been thinking at given times, and reasons for his actions. This criticism has some merit; but in light of the extensive written record provided by Kafka's voluminous, daily correspondence, as well as his writings, diaries, and the reminiscences of his friends, Reiner Stach's inferences appear on the whole to be well-founded. Another potential criticism is that the book gives little insight into the meaning of his various literary works. This point is off-the-mark in my view. Analyses of Kafka's writing has occupied literary critics for many decades and has yielded many thousands of works and a wide diversity of views. This biography offers insight into his writings by presenting the circumstances under which they were written. In that respect, it meets the goal of a literary biography, while leaving quarrels over meaning and significance to the self- appointed literary critics.

The muted language of my short review does not express my great enthusiasm for this magnificent work. Kafka studies cannot, or at least should not, ever be the same. It's an essential work. I loved reading it. ( )

This and Reiner Stach's earlier volume, Kafka: The Decisive Years, were easily the two best books I read in 2014. I'm still processing them, but I cannot recommend them enough to any serious Kafka reader. Kafka's life and work were intricately woven together, and reading about his life at this level of depth only serves to enhance our reading of his original texts. While they are notoriously resistant to interpretation, and often even mystified their creator, there is still so much to glean from them and Stach's ongoing biographical project provides an essential tool to discovery. ( )