Praguecity of many spires

Nearly unknown locally, at least during his all-too-brief life, the German-language Jewish writer Franz Kafka left behind a series of manuscripts that, years later, would deeply influence world literature. Behind the stories, always, stands his hometown of Prague, from the fortress in The Castle to the rituals of Old Town Jewish life in The Trial. While his writings may have traveled the globe, Kafka himself rarely left the city. “Prague doesn’t let you go,” he wrote. “This dear little mother has claws.” Today, the great writer’s connection to Prague sometimes seems like little more than a face on a souvenir T-shirt. But if you make it out to the under-touristed New Jewish Cemetery, you can pay your respects to a man who changed the way millions think about the fate of the individual in the modern world.