When Kafka came to Leipzig for the first time, on June 28, 1912, it was a time of upheaval for both the writer and the city. Kafka, who had not yet published any books, had begun work on his first novel in the spring, and with him he had a few stories published in magazines that could be turned into an anthology – the Prague insurance employee’s decision to now also appear as a writer , was certain, especially at the instigation of his friend Max Brod, who was already established in literature. He had taken a week’s vacation specifically to come to Germany. Before Kafka’s spa stay in the Harz Mountains, a joint pilgrimage to Weimar was planned: in Goethe’s footsteps. And he had studied in Leipzig. So a stopover there was obvious. The fact that it was also the German publishing capital played into Brod’s ambition. He was looking for a new literary home for himself and a first for Kafka. In Leipzig he sensed similarly ambitious publishers.
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