November 23, 2013

 

“Let's travel with Kafka – not just a metaphorical journey."

 Guest Lecture by: Judita Matyasova

Our Special Guest Speaker Judita Matyasova is a journalist and author in Prague, Czech Republic, who has led her own Kafka Project for over a decade. She is a regular contributor to the major Czech newspaper Lidove Novini. Her most recent book, "Friendship in Spite of Hitler", exposes the stories and fates of eighty Jewish teenagers sent to rural Denmark in 1939 to escape the growing Nazi threat. Her work has been recognized by Yad Vashem in Israel, and supported by Embassies in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden and by Chapman University in CA.

Ms. Matyasova will share stories and photographs from her first book "Journeys of Franz K." which offers a different view of the iconic literary figure. The common idea that he lived only in Prague, and rarely traveled is not true at all. For her book, Judita researched all the places throughout Europe that Kafka visited or traveled to, and reconstructed his experiences there. Archival and historical photographs are presented alongside present day images to wave together the past and present.  A slide show of those will enhance her presentation.

  

"Gr8 event.... brought Kafka alive. It gives me hope there is enough time 4 demanding jobs and intellectual pursuits!" - tweeted by

Francheska

"Being at a Coffee with Kafka event is always such an amazing experience! Thank you both so much for having us over! Robert and I enjoyed Judita's lecture and talking with her after the presentation. We appreciated experiencing Kafka's travels through the photographs of the places that he had visited."

Elena Leholm