In late 1919, at the age of 36 and following a heated argument with his parents, Franz Kafka writes this letter in an attempt to settle accounts with his authoritarian father, the man who appears to him as utterly tyrannical and omnipotent. The letter, which never reached its intended recipient, is the most complete and significant autobiographical testimony left by Kafka. It captures the psyche of the author, who examines with an utterly penetrating gaze the relationship with his father and its disastrous impact.

A personal, tender, and sensitive text that simultaneously possesses particular rhetorical and literary value, holding a unique place not only in Kafka's oeuvre but also in world literature.