Von Briefen, die es nicht (mehr) gibt: Franz Kafka und die Puppe

Letters of a doll – written by Franz Kafka as a consolation for a girl who has lost her doll in a Berlin park and is crying? This episode passed down orally by Kafka's last companion Dora Diamant from the time they spent together in Berlin shortly before his death proves – despite or because of its unclear truth content – to be a source of literary-poetic inspiration for writers over a period of more than sixty years. This article explores this phenomenon and thus the literary response to a 'very different' Kafka in many of these texts.