Fascinating how conservatives are so committed to maintaining an image of the past as a world more saintly and ethical than today's. Their ability to lie to themselves in the pursuit of this fiction remains the single greatest obstacle to the realization of a truly "better world".

Gary Williams, Kamloops, Canada

The 'Kafka industry'?

Now THAT'S Kafkaesque!!

Janice Gray, Playas del Coco, Costa Rica

"emphasises his total admiration for the literary Kafkaesque genius" - Kafka was Kafkaesque? You learn something new every day.

Dave R, Bristol,

This only increases my love for Franz Kafka. I first discovered his writing in 1982, when I was 11. By age 14, I just *knew* Kafka had some seriously twisted sexual proclivities- and I was still a virgin! His writing excited me, though, and I couldn't have explained why if asked...

White Female, Londonderry, NH, USA

Anyone who finds Kafka's pornography shocking and perverse clearly has not understood a thing he wrote.

Tim, Xalgary, Canada

So he read porn, so what? He was a human being. They do that. I think you'll find a lot of academics do too, them being human too an' all. What is the matter with people.

I tell you I think? I think they protest too much. :)

Phil South, Frome, UK

what is the big surprise? has anyone ever given a moment's thought to the animalistic sex scenes in kafka? how these beings fall to devour each other? adorno noted that kafkaesque sex was the norm of the modern age, disapprovingly.

michael roloff, seattle , usa

This might come as a shock to some, but most guys look at porn, lots of porn.

Karl, Philadelphia,

I already knew.... kafka's porn wasn't a mistery

John Smith, London,

Why are all these academics in a tizzy?
Do you think there haven't been artists who work with nudes and haven't at times been all horny about it?
Or is it only us, the lowly audience who make clear distinctions between things like art, erotica and pron?
It's Life baby!
Dig It!

Paul, durham, ontario

Do these people understand how popular pornography is and always has been?
I would think it would be more atypical if a guy like Kafka didn't have a stash or porn.
And why are you trying to control his image?
That's so dishonest, judgemental and immature.

Why the Fear?

Paul, durham, ontario

I don't understand why the image of Kafka is changed by this. We've learned before he went in brothels and other entries in his diary are almost unambiguously sexual.
The news already published isn't so astonishing and I don't think the pics should be published. Let the dead have some privacy.

Algon, Zagreb, Croatia

Is it only me who finds Mr. H's equation of "animal fellatio" and lesbian sex quite disturbing? I know those pictures - with the same right you could say that Ovids Metamorphosis was harcore animal porn. I am rather interested in the numerous porn IN Kafkas writing.
Tina, Cologne,Germany

Tina Pusse, Cologne, Germany

Contrary to popular belief, knowing almost everything about anybody is no longer a question of debatable ethics, but undeniable reality. It's the end of privacy as we know it. Lament is futile, considerate adaption is vital.

Helmut Koch, Graz, Austria

Comparing Kafka's explorations into his sexual fantasies and fears to pornography through his drawing, seems peurile and shallow in the extreme! Read Ernst Pawel' superb biography of Kafka, "The Nightmare of Reason", to understand how extraordinary these drawings are, akin to his writing.

Rosie Houldsworth, Chipping Norton, England

Kafka is a saint. And saints are humans. It`s just easier to hate a human so to cover our deficiancy.

Anton, Sofia, Bulgaria

kafka's pornography? read the descriptions of the woman in fur in the 2nd paragraph of "the metamorphosis." the sexualized way in which she is described, her physical dominance over gregor, her residing in the gold gilt frame he spent days making... k's porn stash is intereresting, but not shocking.

Jennifer, Barnard, VT, USA

90% and more of young people use and enjoy porn. Describing porn as "nauseating" is far stretched.

Sneve, Jakarta, Indonesia

Porn is nauseating, no matter who reads it. And in Kafkas time, it was not widely accessible,. It was a more normal, safer world back then, naive as that may sound. Kafka was a disturbed person, and that was the key to his originality. It is a greater achievement to be original, yet a whole person.

Fosse, Oslo, Norway

We have become worse than the Victorians ever were! (And I say that as a scholar of Victorian lit.) The combination of prurient invasion of privacy and hypocritical condemnation is more revolting than any pornography could ever be. Everyone has private fantasies, some are weird. So what?

Carol Siegel, Portland, USA

I love Kafka, and I would definitely pay to read his porn, especially if it's dark and unpleasant. I really hope that this material will be widely released in my lifetime.

Jenna, Tampa,

I don't see what the massive deal here is. As far as some of the material being quite dark, Kafka seemed to be a guy with some pretty dark places anyway. His sexuality wouldn't likely be much different. "Nothing but a pervert" is, I think, inaccurate and unfair.

Laura, Some,

Kafka wrote a load of overrated cobblers. That he was one of the worlds first porno pervs just shows how the academic world of literature is led by the emporers new clothes. It is about time someone dismantled all these great early icons of literature & show'd them to be all human beings not gods.

kevin, Lincoln, UK

Kafka might have been a great Author of his time, but now it has been found that he was nothing but a pervert. For Edwins information, millions if not billions) of normal people do not indulge in porn, a small minority do as they can not get their kicks any other way.

Stone, Enger, Germany

To call them "journals" makes them sound like smutty self-penned diaries. 'Amethyst' (1905-6) and 'The Opals' were two different small-press erotic literary magazines, published by subscription by Hans von Weber. Kafka's friend Franz Blei was simply the editor, not the publisher.

Bert Hardy, Stone, UK

I think it's a wonderful find. It gives us a view into another facet of his life, making ever more human. The Kafka industry shouldn't call itself so if they choose to admire only slices of him that suit their judgement. It would be disrespectful- and bad academia-- to ignore part of who he was.

Julia, london, uk

Having read much Kafka, whilst I would be genuinely intrigued to see it, and whilst the type of porn might shed some new light on this unique and gifted man, I cant help thinking that it will be about as usefull in illuminating his great works, as the discovery of one one of his turds.

Lucas Tatek, Herts., uk

Perhaps this says more about us and our preocupations than it does about the great man himself?

Lucas Tatek, Herts., uk

Never heard of Kafka. That's how famous he his/was !

John Fisher, Edinburgh,

Has Woody Allen offered for it yet?

T. J. Cassidy, Arlington, Virginia, U.S.A.

Let's not slag this academic off. This is an interesting and significant find. It could change our perception of Kafka's influences, could even change the way we interpret his work, his imagery, his use of metaphor.

And whatever else this is, it isn't intrusive. Dead people don't need privacy.

Joe, Leeds,

Dead or alive, this is a gross invasion of a man's privacy.

mick, Cork, Ireland

I don't mind. In my opinion Franz Kafka is one of the greatest novelists of all times and I do belive if one wants to be a writer, wil try all different genders to start with.

Vaclav, Prague, Czech Republic

Good Grief, how pointless.

I hope I never get to be famous and have the cultural cockroaches pick over every tiny morsel of my life, I don't doubt that some respected researcher is, as I type, combing the space between his floorboards looking for discarded toenail clippings

Richard DP, Hastings,

As Kafka's will had ordered all his unpublished work to be burnt, it's fair to say he would not have approved of most of his literature becoming public knowledge, let alone his jazz mags.

Paul, Taunton, UK

I quite agree with Samantha. Daniel,France

Daniel, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France

Why should there be any trepidation about revealing Kafka's porn stash? I've indulged in porn from time to time in my life, like millions (if not billions) of other people. It doesn't define me. I'm sure there is more to Kafka than porn, and that his reputation will survive.

Edwin , Salt Lake City, USA

Is it really necessary to go over a person's life with a magnifying glass in order to reveal things he might have wanted to kept hidden? Contrary to popular belief, we don't have the right to know everything about our idols. Would Kafka himself have approved of this becoming public knowledge?

Samantha, Peterborough, UK

Anything that gives a better insight into one of the twentieth century's greatest writers should be welcomed.

Ian, Frederick, USA

So what!

scott, dublin, ireland

As long as the pictures are not of colossal copulating cockroaches, what's the big Trial about?

Edo, Dordrecht, The Netherlands