Max Brod's career as a writer of fiction began in 1905 with the novella "Die That" (The Action), published in the journal Die Gegenwart, and lasted until his death in 1968. Altogether, his narrative production comprised about 150 titles; yet his reputation as a fiction writer was overshadowed by his fame as Franz Kafka's friend, biographer, interpreter, and editor. By 1948 Brod's biography of Kafka was widely read, but hardly any of his own works of fiction were. This was not always the case. Around 1915, when Kafka had published little, Brod was considered an important representative of early expressionism, if not one of its initiators, and his 1908 novel, Schloß Nornepygge (Chateau Nornepygge), was hailed as "the most modern of modern books" by the Literarisches Zentralblatt. But when Kafka's fame began to spread during the early 1930s, mostly due to Brod's editorial activities and interpretative efforts on behalf of his deceased friend...