Product Description

This volume contains all of Kafka's shorter fiction, from fragments, parables and sketches to longer tales. Together they reveal the breadth of Kafka's literary vision and the extraordinary imaginative depth of his thought. Some are well-known, others are mere jottings, observations of daily life, given artistic form through Kafka's unique perception of the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10229 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-03
• Original language: German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

From the Publisher
'Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man' W. H. Auden

About the Author
Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was born into a Jewish family in Prague. In 1906 he received a doctorate in jurisprudence, and for many years he worked a tedious job as a civil service lawyer investigating claims at the state Worker's Accident Insurance Institute. He never married, and published only a few slim volumes of stories during his lifetime. Meditation, a collection of sketches, appeared in 1912; The Stoker: A Fragment in 1913; The Metamorphosis in 1915; The Judgement in 1916; In the Penal Colony in 1919; and A Country Doctor in 1920. The great novels were not published until after his death from tuberculosis: America, The Trial, and The Castle.

Customer Reviews

Pieces of the Puzzle
If you want to see the blueprints for later classics the Trial and the Castle then look no further. This is a collection of Kafka’s musings, scribblings and snippets that were collected and written around the same time as his fuller, more important works. Not that this should be considered as a mere scrapbook, there’s some amazing stuff here. This a compendium of modern horror filled with the author’s central preoccupations. Isolation, alienation, guilt and paranoia are the order of the day... but there is also wit, poetry and more surprisingly, elements of black comedy. Kafka’s world is dark and foreboding, and that extends to his sense of humour. His greatness was in his ideas, the juxtaposition of normality against the backdrop of absurdity. But his writing is as, if not more impressive than many of his contemporaries. The use of prose, the contrasting styles of narration, the personal reflections of his own disintegrating life... yes much of it is downbeat, but the majority is completely beautiful. The author’s understanding of the worlds that he creates demonstrates a degree of intimacy that few writers can equate. This is truly magnificent. If you have already purchased the complete novels then I urge you to buy this as the most perfect companion piece. Many of the stories may be nothing more than more page-long scribbles, some even shorter than that... but as others have already stated; Kafka is able to do more in a few lines than some authors can do with three-hundred pages. This is easy to digest too, so if you’re looking for an easy way into Kafka (really, he’s one of the best) then this is it. Seriously, you won’t regret it.

Really excellent
Some people see Kafka as a rather scary, depressing read. Indeed, one of my literary friends said, when I told him I was reading this book, that he hoped I could get to sleep. Of course, he hadn't actually read it himself! You can, if you wish, take Kafka's stories at face value and simply follow, for example, his brilliant description of what it might be like to wake up one morning and discover you have unexpectedly become an insect. Or you can look for symbolism beneath the surface. Whichever way you look at it, Kafka is an absolute master with words, and if you aren't familiar with his work I urge you to put aside any worries you might have and give him a chance. You surely won't regret it!

Forget the novels, the treasure is here
The general rule of Kafka is: the fewer the pages, the greater the impact. Kafka can achieve in two paragraphs more sleep-reducing, mind-opening ideas than any other writer can with 800 pages. Including himself. Take, for example, Before The Law, a two-page version of The Trial that is perhaps the greatest work of fiction ever. A necessary presence on any respectful bookshelf, Kafka's vast array of ideas, fears, witticisms and philosophies will probably prove to be the most important book you've ever read. So read it.