Franz Kafka’s “The Aeroplanes in Brescia” [“Die Aeroplane in Brescia”] is a self-published editorial from a Prague newspaper that remains a fascinating outlier amongst his more well-known works of short fiction. In this 1909 essay, Kafka chronicles his personal experience at the second ever air show in Europe. Written on the heels of Louis Bleriot’s famous first flight across the English Channel, and amidst the flurry of international acclaim with the Wright Brothers’ European debut, Kafka’s essay chronicles the technological breakthrough of powered-controlled flight as witnessed by tens of thousands in attendance. “The Aeroplanes in Brescia” enjoys the status of being the first published, German-language account of powered, controlled, heavier-than-air flight (Wagenbach 105), and is also the only non-fiction text to be published by Kafka in his lifetime. Despite capturing a burgeoning industry at a...
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Citation: Baumer, Jason. "Die Aeroplane in Brescia". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 August 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35004, accessed 09 June 2026.]
