A century after his death, Franz Kafka’s literary legacy continues to influence contemporary creative works. This program will highlight three individuals—an artist, a writer, and a playwright—who have found inspiration in Kafka’s personal narrative and his writings: Joshua Cohen’s short story Return to the Museum (2024), Maira Kalman’s illustrations and stories from Still Life With Remorse (2024), and Josh Luxenberg’s theatrical adaptation of A Hunger Artist. Join the creators for a lively program featuring the back-stories of these works, as well as discussion and performance.
Joshua Cohen has been called "a major American writer" by the New York Times, and "an extraordinary prose stylist, surely one of the most prodigious at work in American fiction today" by the New Yorker. He the author of ten books, most recently the novel The Netanyahus, which won the National Jewish Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Josh Luxenberg is an acclaimed playwright, director, photographer and co-Artistic Director of the New York-based theater company Sinking Ship Production. At SSP, Luxenberg is a part of a core group of Associate Artists that create productions which combine physical theater, puppetry, music and movement in delightful, strange and unexpected ways. Luxenberg wrote the text for SSP’s production of A Hunger Artist, which had its world premiere in June 2017, and has since been nominated for two Drama Desk Awards and was awarded with the Summerhall’s Lustrum Award for Excellence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Maira Kalman is the critically acclaimed illustrator, designer, and author of the bestsellers The Principles of Uncertainty, Women Holding Things, and The Principles of Uncertainty. Kalman’s latest release, Still Life with Remorse (2024), is considered to be her most autobiographical and intimate work to date. The collection combines personal stories tracing Kalman’s family history with fifty full-color paintings that accompany her reflections on the complex relationship between recollection, regret, happiness, and heritage. In addition to vignettes exploring Kalman’s Israeli and Jewish roots, Still Life with Remorse also features short stories about other great artists, writers, and composers, including Leo Tolstoy, Franz Kafka, Gustav Mahler, and Robert Schumann.
This program takes place in Gilder Lehrman Hall on the Ground Floor. Doors to the Hall will open 30 minutes before the concert begins. Seating is general admission. Franz Kafka will be open to visitors before the program.
Please e-mail public_programs@themorgan.org with questions about accessibility.
Franz Kafka, 2015 by Maira Kalman