Kafka"s letter to his father is at once an exploration of his relationship to his father, his need to write, and the source of his fear--one that his father prompts in him but that is beyond the scope of Kafka"s memory and power of reasoning. There is no greater text about authority, the disfiguring effects of shame, and, in particular, Kafka"s lifelong need to have his father"s unobtainable approval.