There is a childhood photograph of Kafka, a rare and moving depiction of his "poor, brief childhood years." It was likely taken in one of those nineteenth-century studios, with their curtains and palm trees, their wallpapers and tripods, placing them somewhere between torture chambers and throne rooms. At around six years old, the child appears as if in a greenhouse, wearing a tight, lace-laden, nearly suffocating children's suit. Palm fronds are visible in the background. And as if to make these tropical drapings even more slimy and stifling, the model holds in his left hand a huge wide-brimmed Spanish-style hat. Terribly sad eyes dominate the landscape that has been pre-fabricated for them, and the lobe of a large ear seems to be listening to its sounds.