[neilk]

Side note, Max Brod claims to have told Kafka while he was alive that he had no intention of carrying out his instructions. Kafka did not make alternate arrangements.

I interpret Kafka’s statement as a kind of performative self-abnegation.

> Although Kafka stipulated that all of his unpublished works were to be burned, Brod refused. He justified this move by stating that when Kafka personally told him to burn his unpublished work, Brod replied that he would outright refuse, and that "Franz should have appointed another executor if he had been absolutely and finally determined that his instructions should stand."

– https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Brod

[starkd]

If he truly wanted them destroyed, there was also no reason it had to wait until after his death. Kafka could have easily done it himself. No need for another executor. It always seemed to me to be something of a legend.

[mdp2021]

> easily done it himself

No need to dispose of your property until the last moment - when you will probably be impeded.