In 1916, Kafka writes of The Sugar Baron, a dime-store colonial adventure novel, ” { it } affects me so deeply that I feel it is about myself, or as if it were the book of rules for my life.” John Zilcosky reveals that this perhaps surprising statement-made by the sedentary, Prague-bound poet of modern isolation-is part of a network of remarks that exemplify Kafka’s ongoing preoccupation with popular travel writing, exotic fantasy, and travel technology. Taking this biographical peculiarity as a starting point, Kafka’s Travels elegantly re-reads Kafka’s major works (Amerika, The Trial, In the Penal Colony, The Castle) through the lens of fin de siegrave;cle travel culture. Making use of previously unexplored literary and cultural materials-travel diaries, train schedules, tour guides, adventure novels-Zilcosky argues that Kafka’s uniquely modern metaphorics of alienation emerge out of the author’s complex encounter with the utopian travel discourses of his day. The book offers a lucid, readable introduction into Kafka’s life and work, and sophisticated analysis of Kafka’ s major writings in relation to contemporary literary theory.