Michael Kumpfmüller: "The Glory of Life"
of Franz Kafka is larger than life his posthumous fame as a writer seemingly bought at the price of a largely unhappy life. But now, author Michael Kumpfmüller a bright, almost cheerful light on the famous writer, lovingly and discreetly portraying a man who, in his final year, finds true love and takes control of his life before it is too late. In the summer of 1923, the tubercular Franz Kafka, known as a writer only to a select few, meets the 25-year-old cook Dora Diamant at a Baltic Sea resort. And within a few weeks, he does what he never thought possible: he decides to live with a woman, sharing his table and bed with Dora. In Berlin, amidst the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic, he embarks on a life with her. Despite the ever-increasing prices, the constantly changing sublet accommodations, and the suspicious parents: Franz Kafka and Dora Diamant would, with the exception of a few days, never separate again until his death in June 1924.
From this true story, author Michael Kumpfmüller crafts a subtle, sensitive, and insightful love story. He is intimately familiar with Kafka's diaries, letters, and final writings, and weaves them delicately into the narrative. But he devotes equal attention to Dora's perspective, the gaze of the young woman in love upon her enigmatic, dying husband. And so Kumpfmüller succeeds in creating a profoundly moving parable about life and love, writing and death.
Michael Kumpfmüller, born in Munich in 1961, lives as a freelance writer in Berlin. His novel "The Glory of Life" was adapted into a film by Georg Maas and Judith Kaufmann (Germany/Austria 2024 / 99 min.).