Library and Literature

Our library is a place for encounters, inspiration and sharing, where you can read and learn the German language, discover German literature, films and music.

Library in Jakarta

© Goethe-Institut Indonesien
Library in Bandung

Foto: Ary Rustandi © Goethe-Institut Bandung

Streaming recommendations

We have compiled a fantastic selection of German films and series for you to enjoy that are currently available in the media libraries of the public broadcasters and on various streaming services in Germany.

Streaming recommendations © Goethe-Institut / Tobias Schrank

Onleihe: German Digital Library

The Onleihe is Goethe-Institut’s digital library. More than 20,000 German language eBooks, audio books, movies, materials for German language learners, magazines and newspapers are available for downloading from the Onleihe. You can use the Onleihe media on your PC, laptop and mobile devices (Android and iOS). Free of charge. Free of advertisements. Anytime and anywhere.

ONLEIHE © Goethe-Institut

Being Kafka Illustration by Roberto Majan

Being Kafka

Why does Franz Kafka’s spell remain unbroken a hundred years after his death? Why do we still perceive Kafka as so modern and contemporary? Because Kafka wrote such beautiful letters? Because we love drama queens? Because we feel that the world has never been more Kafkaesque than it is today? Join us as we step into Kafka’s world! Be Kafka!

Comics and graphic novels
Kafka in the realm of comics

Franz Kafka was himself a good illustrator and would surely have enjoyed these comics and graphic novels that were created by comic book artists from different parts of the world and all have one thing in common: the subject of Kafka.

© Moritz von Wolzogen, published by Nathalia Laue
Graphic novel
Kafka’s failed money-making scheme

On the hundredth anniversary of his death, Franz Kafka’s life and work are being celebrated and illuminated. In his new graphic novel, illustrator Nicolas Mahler gives them a colourful brilliance – although it’s almost all black-and-white.

© Suhrkamp / Canva
Nicolas Mahler
Draw Kafka for me

Nicolas Mahler is a comic illustrator whose book “Komplett Kafka” (Completely Kafka) is published in Kafka’s centenary year, and it will tour as an exhibition. Ulrich Fügener spoke with Nicolas Mahler – about comics, Kafka, humour and melancholy.

© Nicolas Mahler, Suhrkamp Verlag
Early pop culture
Kafka, the Cinephile

At the beginning of the 20th century, cinema was new and sensational – Franz Kafka was fascinated by it. There are numerous mentions of what Kafka had seen at the movies.

© Noom Peerapong / Unsplash
Kafka and TikTok
Why is everyone so obsessed with Franz Kafka?

The Czech writer died nearly a century ago, but is enjoying a renaissance on TikTok and X.

© Danny Howe / Unsplash
Tomáš Moravec
Whom does Franz Kafka belong to?

The question of whom Franz Kafka belongs to occupies many minds more persistently than is perhaps necessary.

© Verlag Klaus Wagenbach
Reiner Stach
Franz Kafka in the 21st century

Why do we continue to find Franz Kafka so compelling 100 years after his death? Why is Kafka still considered to be so modern and contemporary? What awaits us in Kafka’s anniversary year of 2024? Reiner Stach, Kafka’s most important biographer, provides us with some answers.

© Wagenbach Verlag (Art work: Tobias Schrank)
Everything’s well regulated
Bureaucracy

What’s the most effective way for a family to manage the children’s screentime? By enforcing rules – simple ones initially. It quickly takes on Kafkaesque proportions. Some observations on bureaucracy by Maximilian Buddenbohm.

Photo (detail): © mauritius images / STOCK4B / Felbert+Eickenberg
Kafka’s humour
The big laugher

Kafka is a writer of dark, nightmarish tales? – Perhaps, yes. But this is too superficial a view. Let us embark on a quest for the comical in Kafka.

© Verlag Klaus Wagenbach
Kafka and sport
The great swimmer

Most people know Franz Kafka as that brilliant author who wrote The Metamorphosis, “The Judgment” or “The Trial”. However, what many Kafka buffs don’t know: Kafka was a thoroughly physical person, Kafka was not just sporty, he was an all-out sports enthusiast.
Amelie Kahl
Franz had style

What do Kafka and fashion have in common? A feeling of always arriving too late. We chase after fashion and can escape it only to a limited degree. In a way, we are at its mercy. Because no matter how we dress or don’t dress, our outward appearance always says something about us.
Marie-Pierre Poulin
Booktube with Kafka

In her booktube video series Marie-Pierre Poulin, librarian at the Goethe-Institut Montréal, presents the timeless classic “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka.

Goethe-Institut Montréal