Max Brod

Max Brod (1884–1968) was a Czech-born Israeli writer, composer, and critic, born in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He is best known as Kafka's close friend and literary executor: defying Kafka's wish that his manuscripts be burned, he edited and published the posthumous works, bringing Kafka to the attention of world literature. In 1939 Brod fled to Palestine and later settled in Tel Aviv. A prolific author himself, he wrote novels, plays, and criticism, including the novel Arnold Beer: The Fate of a Jew, the ghost story The First Hour after Death, and an essay on the beauty of ugly pictures, as well as a biography of Kafka. His writing combines literary sensitivity with intellectual concern, and his role in preserving and interpreting Kafka's legacy has been deeply influential.