| 布罗德 | |||
| 马克斯·布罗德 | |||
阅读马克斯·勃罗德 Max Brod在小说之家的作品!!! | |||
马克斯·布罗德最为人们熟知的是他是弗兰茨·卡夫卡（Franz Kafka）的终身挚友，是其遗作整理出版者和影响力推动者，“卡夫卡热”的缔造者；他是发现卡夫卡写作天才和巨大价值的第一人。但除此之外，布罗德本人其实也是一位著作颇丰的作家，而且是门类广泛的评论家。
马克斯·布罗德简介
马克斯·布罗德(Max Brod，1884年5月27~1968年12月20日)，出生于今天捷克共和国的首都布拉格（当时属于奥匈帝国），犹太人。毕业于布拉格查理大学法律系，获法学博士。毕业后先后在布拉格财政局、邮政局和法院工作，又进行文学创作，并且是报刊的戏剧和音乐评论家。他1912年就参加过犹太复国运动，是一个坚定的犹太复国主义者。1939年捷克被纳粹德国吞并，布罗德被迫逃离布拉格去以色列，开始时任特拉维夫一家剧院的戏剧顾问，后来专事创作。1968年12月20日布罗德逝世于特拉维夫。
马克斯·布罗德最为人们熟知的是他是弗兰茨·卡夫卡（Franz Kafka）的终身挚友，是其遗作整理出版者和影响力推动者，“卡夫卡热”的缔造者；他是发现卡夫卡写作天才和巨大价值的第一人。将但除此之外，布罗德本人其实也是一位著作颇丰的作家，而且是门类广泛的评论家。
对于卡夫卡，这些年来国内介绍得不少，并先后出版了他的选集、文集和全集，各种评论文章也不断见诸期刊报端。但对于布罗德，国内过去介绍得很少，除了知道他是卡夫卡遗嘱的执行人和卡夫卡作品的出版者外，其他方面则知之甚少。其实，布罗德早从1906年起就开始发表作品，先后出版了中篇小说集《死亡属于死者》(1906)、《妓女之训练》(1909)，长篇小说《诺纳皮格宫》(1908)、《一个捷克女仆》(1909)、《犹太女人》(1911)等。他的早期作品有颓废和追求奇特的倾向。后来他也受到表现主义的影响，作品主人公大多陷于追求肉欲生活和精神反抗的矛盾之中，这时期较重要的作品是长篇小说《弗兰齐，又名二等爱情》(1922)、《被追求的女人》(1927)等，这些作品都比较怪诞、晦涩。艺术上较成功并使他获得殊荣的是历史小说三部曲《为真理而斗争》：第一部《蒂科 · 布拉赫走向上帝之路》(1916)，第二部《犹太人的君主雷本尼》(1925，获本年度国家奖)，第三部《伽利略在囚禁中》(1948)。这三部小说用宗教观点分别描述了三位著名人物的生活道路，但在内容上并无联系。1939年捷克为纳粹德国吞并，布罗德逃离布拉格去以色列，开始时任特拉维夫一家剧院的戏剧顾问，后来专事创作，作品内容也进一步转向宗教主题。重要的有长篇小说《我主耶稣》(1952)和《可怜的西塞罗》(1955)。1953年他还把卡夫卡的《城堡》改编成话剧上演。他的自传《反叛的心灵》(1957)、《迷雾中的青年时代》(1959)和《布拉格作家圈》(1966)，描写了在布拉格度过的青年和成年时期丰富多彩、充满友情的生活。
马克斯·布罗德与弗兰茨·卡夫卡
相识
卡夫卡和布罗德都是布拉格的犹太人，上的都是德语中学，都就读于布拉格查理大学法律系。
1902年，当时还在读大一的布罗德在一次“德语大学生阅读演讲厅”上作了一个题为《叔本华和尼采》的报告，这个报告引起了小小的震动。布罗德后来回忆说：“这是由于我当时是激烈的、狂热的叔本华信徒，任何对我奉若神明的这位哲学家的论点的哪怕微不足道的反对意见我都一概认为是亵渎神明；而尼采则被我一口咬定、不加掩饰地说成是个‘骗子’。”这个报告结束后，比布罗德大一岁的卡夫卡主动陪布罗德回家，一路上对布罗德的观点提出了不少反对意见——随后他们谈到了自己心爱的作家，并各自为自己所爱的作家辩护……两人的友谊由此开始。
相知
布罗德成名要比卡夫卡早，1906年他就出版了他的一本书。但是，那时卡夫卡还没有发表过任何作品。直到1909年卡夫卡第一次给布罗德朗读了他自己的作品（《乡村婚事》的开头部分）后，布罗德发现了卡夫卡写作的天才。从那以后，布罗德终其一生都在为卡夫卡作品的发表而努力。
卡夫卡是一个世界上少有的不愿意拿自己的作品来发表的作家（这也恰恰说明了他的天才），生前发表的许多作品都是在布罗德的鼓励和推荐下发表的。不仅如此，他们还经常在一起探讨文学、交流思想。布罗德也承认，卡夫卡对他的影响（包括文学上的影响）是很明显的，但是他强调这种影响是相互的：他也大大地丰富了卡夫卡。布罗德的主动性和精力旺盛是卡夫卡所羡慕的。
善意的背叛
卡夫卡于1924年去世后，布罗德是搜集、整理卡夫卡著作和遗著的热心人，也是当时惟一的出版人(在这一点上他违背了卡夫卡的遗愿)。在他的努力下，三十年代出版了卡夫卡著作六卷集，五十年代出版了九卷全集。与此同时，他对卡夫卡和卡夫卡作品进行了研究，发表了一系列关于卡夫卡的论著，重要的有《卡夫卡传》(1937)、《卡夫卡的信仰和教义》(1948)、《卡夫卡作品中的绝望和解救》(1959)，以上三个专著于1966年合集，书名为《论卡夫卡》。毫无疑问，布罗德的论著，确实提供了关于卡夫卡的许多第一手资料。但是也应该指出，布罗德的论著更多的是从民族和宗教的角度(犹太主义)，以宽恕和严惩两个极端，对卡夫卡的生平和创作进行阐释，就卡夫卡作品本身进行深入研究则比较少。尤其是在后期，布罗德拒绝接受文学研究中的新趋势、新方法，观点上保守、僵化，曾受到同行的批评。但是，布拉格德语文学所以在世界文学中占有一席之地，卡夫卡的作品所以能陆续发表流传于世，布罗德有着不可磨灭的功绩。可以这样说，如果没有布罗德的坚持不懈的努力和宣传推荐，也就没有卡夫卡的今天。
对于这个善意的背叛，布罗德曾这样为自己辩护：“如果他（指卡夫卡）真想烧掉所有手稿，就应该交由其他人去完成——他知道我不会那样做。”
布罗德之所以这样做，很可能和他观察到卡夫卡在生命的最后阶段产生的一些“变化”有关——就是他在他的《卡夫卡传》中提到的：“在这个意义上，我看到卡夫卡在他生命的最后一年中（这一年尽管他的病非常可怕，仍然使他得以圆满地结束一生）在正确道路上，在他的生活伴侣的伴随下确实感到幸福。他兴致勃勃地工作，把《矮女人》念给我听，写《地洞》，他也给我念了其中几个部分。当我把他介绍给“锻造”出版社领导人时，不须发挥长时间的说服艺术，他很快就同意发表四篇小说，他给它们（根据其中一篇的题目）起了个总题目（《饥饿艺术家》）。由于他这一根本上的转变，由于这一切转向生活的迹象，我后来才能鼓起勇气，将他给我的（在此很久以前写下的）禁止发表任何遗墨的叮嘱视为无效。”
卡夫卡给马克斯·布罗德的遗嘱
最亲爱的马克斯，我最后的请求是：我遗物里（就是书箱里、衣柜里、写字台里、家里和办公室里，或者可能放东西的以及你想的起来的任何地方），凡属日记本、手稿、来往信件、各种草稿等等，请勿阅读，并一点不剩地全部予以焚毁。同样，凡在你或别人手里的所有我写的东西和我的草稿，要求你，也请你以我的名义要求他们交给你焚毁。至于别人不愿意交给你的那些信件，他们至少应该自行负责焚毁。
你的弗兰茨·卡夫卡
Biography
Max Brod was born in Prague, then part of the province of Bohemia in Austria-Hungary, now the capital of the Czech Republic. At the age of four, Brod was diagnosed with a severe spinal curvature and spent a year in corrective harness; despite this he would have a hunchback his entire life. A German-speaking Jew, he went to the Piarist school together with his life-long friend Felix Weltsch, later attended the Stephans Gymnasium, then studied law at the German Charles-Ferdinand University (which at the time was divided into a German language university and a Czech language university; he attended the German one) and graduated in 1907 to work in the civil service. From 1912, he was a pronounced Zionist (which he attributed to the influence of Martin Buber) and when Czechoslovakia became independent in 1918, he briefly served as vice-president of the Jüdischer Nationalrat. From 1924, already an established writer, he worked as a critic for the Prager Tagblatt.
In 1939, as the Nazis took over Prague, Brod and his wife Elsa Taussig fled to Palestine. He settled in Tel Aviv, where he continued to write and worked as a dramaturg for Habimah, later the Israeli national theatre, for 30 years. For a period following the death of his wife in 1942, Brod published very few works. He became very close to a couple named Otto and Esther Hoffe, regularly taking vacations with the two and employing Esther as a secretary for many years; it is often presumed that their relationship had a romantic dimension. He would later pass stewardship of the Kafka materials in his possession to Esther in his will. He was additionally supported by his close companion Felix Weltsch. Their friendship lasted 75 years, from the elementary school of the Piarists in Prague to Weltsch's death in 1964. Brod died on December 20, 1968 in Tel Aviv.
Literary career
Unlike Kafka, Brod rapidly became a prolific, successful published writer who eventual published 83 titles. His first novel and fourth book overall, Schloß Nornepygge (Nornepygge Castle), published in 1908 when he was only 24, was celebrated in Berlin literary circles as a masterpiece of expressionism. This and other works made Brod a well-known personality in German-language literature. In 1913, together with Weltsch, he published the work Anschauung und Begriff which made him more famous in Berlin and also in Leipzig, where their publisher Kurt Wolff worked.
He unselfishly promoted other writers and musicians. Among his protégés was Franz Werfel, whom he would later fall out with as Werfel abandoned Judaism for Christianity. He would also write at various times both for and against Karl Kraus, a convert from Judaism to Roman Catholicism. His critical endorsement would be crucial to the popularity of Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Svejk, and he played a crucial role in the diffusion of Leoš Janáček's operas.
Friendship with Kafka
Brod first met Kafka on October 23, 1902, when both were students at Charles University. Brod had given a lecture at the German students' hall on Arthur Schopenhauer. Kafka, one year older, addressed him after the lecture and accompanied him home. "He tended to participate in all the meetings, but up to then we had hardly considered each other," wrote Brod. The quiet Kafka "would have been... hard to notice... even his elegant, usually dark-blue, suits were inconspicuous and reserved like him. At that time, however, something seems to have attracted him to me, he was more open than usual, filling the endless walk home by disagreeing strongly with my all too rough formulations."
From then on, Brod and Kafka met frequently, often even daily, and remained close friends until Kafka's death. Kafka was a frequent guest in Brod's parents' house. There he met his future girlfriend and fiancée Felice Bauer, cousin of Brod's brother-in-law Max Friedmann. After graduating, Brod worked for a time for the post office. The relatively short working hours gave him time to begin a career as an art critic and freelance writer. For similar reasons, Kafka took a job at an insurance agency involved in workmen's accident insurance. Brod, Kafka and Brod's close friend Felix Weltsch constituted the so-called "Der enge Prager Kreis" or "close Prague circle".
During Kafka's lifetime, Brod tried repeatedly to reassure him of his writing talents, of which Kafka was chronically doubtful. Brod pushed Kafka to publish his work, and it is probably owing to Brod that he began to keep a diary. Brod tried, but failed, to arrange common literary projects. Notwithstanding their inability to write in tandem—which stemmed from clashing literary and personal philosophies—they were able to publish one chapter from an attempted travelogue in May 1912, for which Kafka wrote the introduction. It was published in the journal Herderblätter. Brod prodded his friend to complete the project several years later, but the effort was in vain. Even after Brod's 1913 marriage with Elsa Taussig, he and Kafka remained each other's closest friends and confidants, assisting each other in problems and life crises.
Publication of Kafka's work
On Kafka's death in 1924 Brod was the administrator of the estate and preserved his unpublished works from incineration despite what was stipulated in Kafka's will. He defended this course by saying that when Kafka asked him to burn his papers, he told him he would not carry out this wish: "Franz should have appointed another executor if he had been absolutely and finally determined that his instructions should stand." Before even a line of Kafka's most famous work had been made public, Brod had already praised him as "the greatest poet of our time", ranking with Goethe or Tolstoy. As Kafka's works were posthumously published (The Trial arrived in 1925, followed by The Castle in 1926 and Amerika in 1927), this early positive assessment was bolstered by more general critical acclaim.
When Brod fled Prague in 1939, he took with him a suitcase of Kafka's papers, many of them unpublished notes, diaries, sketches, and so forth. Although some of these materials were later edited and published in 6 volumes of collected works, much of them remained unreleased. Upon his death, this trove of materials was passed to Esther Hoffe, who maintained most of them until her own death in 2007 (one original maunuscript of The Trial was auctioned in 1988 for $2 million). Due to certain ambiguities regarding Brod's wishes, the proper disposition of the materials is now being litigated. On one side is the National Library of Israel, which believes that Brod passed the papers to Esther as an executor of his actual intent to have the papers donated to the institution. On the other side are Esther's daughters, who claim that Brod passed the papers to their mother as a pure inheritance which should be theirs. The sisters have announced their intention to sell the materials to the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach, Germany.
Published work
Schloß Nornepygge (Nornepygge Castle, 1908)
Weiberwirtschaft (Woman's Work, 1913)
Über die Schönheit häßlicher Bilder (On the Beauty of Ugly Pictures, 1913)
Die Höhe des Gefühls (The Height of Feeling, 1913)
Anschauung und Begriff: Grundzüge eines Systems der Begriffsbildung, 1913 (together with Felix Weltsch)-->
Tycho Brahes Weg zu Gott (Tycho Brahe's Path to God 1915)
Heidentum, Christentum, Judentum: Ein Bekenntnisbuch (Paganism, Christianity, Judaism: A Credo, 1921)
Sternenhimmel: Musik- und Theatererlebnisse (1923, reissued as Prager Sternenhimmel)
Reubeni, Fürst der Juden (Reubeni, Prince of the Jews, 1925)
Zauberreich der Liebe (The Charmed Realm of Love, 1930)
Biografie von Heinrich Heine (Biography of Heinrich Heine, 1934)
Die Frau, die nicht enttäuscht (The Woman Who Does Not Disappoint, 1934)
Novellen aus Böhmen (Novellas from Bohemia, 1936)
Rassentheorie und Judentum (Race Theory and Judaism, 1936)
Annerl (Annie, 1937)
Franz Kafka, eine Biographie (Franz Kafka, a Biography, 1937, later collected in Über Franz Kafka, 1974)
Franz Kafkas Glauben und Lehre (Franz Kafka's Thought and Teaching, 1948)
Die Musik Israels (The Music of Israel, Tel Aviv, 1951)
Beinahe ein Vorzugsschüler, oder pièce touchée: Roman eines unauffälligen Menschen (Almost a Gifted Pupil, 1952)
Die Frau, nach der man sich sehnt (The Woman For Whom One Longs, 1953)
Rebellische Herzen (Rebellious Hearts, 1957)
Verzweiflung und Erlösung im Werke Franz Kafkas (Despair and Redemption in the Works of Franz Kafka, 1959)
Beispiel einer deutsch-jüdischen Symbiose (An Example of German-Jewish Symbiosis, 1961)
Die verkaufte Braut, translation of the Czech libretto of Prodaná nevěsta (The Bartered Bride, a comic opera by Bedřich Smetana), and numerous other translations of Czech opera libretti
Über Franz Kafka, (Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, 1974)
Music
Brod's musical compositions are little known. They include songs, works for piano and incidental music for his plays. He translated some of Bedřich Smetana's and Leoš Janáček's operas into German, and wrote the first book on Janáček (first published in Czech in 1924). Authored a study of Gustav Mahler, Beispiel einer deutsch-jüdischen Symbiose, in 1961.
Award
In 1948, Brod was awarded the Bialik Prize for literature.