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...