In the Golden Lane
- 24. März
- 2 Min. Lesezeit
The little house at 22 Golden Lane in the Prague Castle complex is probably one of the most famous places associated with Kafka in Prague. In mid-1916, Kafka and his sister came to this picturesque spot to find a writing retreat: “Just for fun, we inquired in the little lane. Yes, a cottage would be available to rent in November”.
Kafka generally spent the evening hours in the cottage on Golden Lane after he had finished his day’s work, writing by the light of a paraffin lamp. Despite the pleasant walk home to clear his head, Kafka dreamed of being able to stay in the cottage overnight. He was intending to set up an iron bed and a straw mattress down in the cellar, so that he could spend the nights “up there” in the coming summer. In the meantime, the lack of a bed made it impossible to sleep in the cottage, so he generally set off in the early hours of the morning or around “midnight down to the city by
way of the Old Castle Stairs”.
A whole series of prose pieces and fragments were created on Golden Lane from late autumn 1916 onwards, including the majority of the stories published in 1920 in the collection A Country Doctor.
And chin up, as we say in our lane.
Kafka to his sister Ottla
In everything: the lovely walk up there, the quiet there, only a thin wall separates me from my neighbour, but the neighbour is quiet enough; I carry my supper up there and am usually there until midnight; then the benefit of the walk home: I have to decide to stop, I then have the walk that cools my head for me. And life there: to have one’s own house is something special, to shut out the world, to lock not a room door, not an apartment door, but the door to the whole house, to simply step out of the front door into the snow in the quiet street.
Franz Kafka to Felice Bauer
