ABSTRACT
Franz Kafka's enthusiastic response to the Yiddish theatre troupe which performed in Prague in the winter of 1911-12 must rank among the most important episodes in the history of interrelations between Yiddish literature and the literatures of Western Europe. Evelyn Torton Beck's informative account of the Yiddish players and their plays, and her thorough assessment of their impact on Kafka's literary work, may require the occasional amendment. The Yiddish theatre in general, and Yitskhok Levi's stories of Eastern Jewish life in particular, strengthened Kafka's sense of Jewishness, but also brought out its problematic character. Kafka's comments on symbolism and its incongruous material base bring out the intense awareness of the body which is also overwhelmingly apparent in his diary entries about the Yiddish theatre. It may be said that Kafka's encounter with the Yiddish theatre was a crucial moment in his literary development and in the growth of his self-understanding.
