Franz Kafka Books

The photographs are excellent. And they give a picture of Kafka's world beyond what the imagination could conjure. The text is a reasonable introduction without going into great depths. This is a good companion volume especially for those for whom Kafka is a lifetime friend and spiritual guide.

This is an interesting picto-biography of Kafka replete with a lot of good, informative and well-printed photographs and solid information about Kafka's life and writing. There is also a wealth of background information on Prague as the "Eastern center" of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. There is no index, but the bibliography is thoughtful and well-rounded. The text is pretty pedestrian actually, and the excerpts from Kafka's letters and diaries seem a bit lacking. The layout is odd, too, and the book suffers greatly from a rash of bad hyphenation which impedes readability.

I have now read several of the books collected in the Overlook Illustrated Lives series. None of the additions to these books will hardly be mistaken for a definitive treatment of the particular subject, but through their lavish use of illustrations and photographs they provide a much more tactile introduction to an author than is normal. It is one thing to read of an author that he or she lived at such and such a place, was inspired in their writing by this location, or worked for a specified period of time in a certain building, and quite another to see a superbly reproduced period photograph of the site. I had read about Kafka before, but I realize now that I had always imagined his world as scruffier and dirtier and less elegant than it in fact was. This is significant, because Kafka writes very much about the world he inhabited, taking concrete experience as the basis for some of his tortured fantasies, so that having a more precise image of his world is an advantage indeed.

The text does not quite match the extraordinary beauty of the illustrations. Adler does not give a poor introduction to Kafka's life, but it is a spotty introduction. Some of the truly big questions in Kafka's life are left undiscussed, while others are dealt with quite satisfactorily. For instance, hints are given that Kafka's political beliefs were decidedly leftist, but no substance is given to them. Adler writes of his association with Zionist writers and of his sympathy with Zionist ideas, but to what degree did Kafka subscribe to them? Relatedly, Adler somewhat ignores Kafka's metaphysics for his psychology. One does not catch the bleakness of Kafka's sense of life by reading Adler. In contrast, compare this passage from Kafka's closest friend Max Brod: "'We are nihilistic thoughts, suicidal thoughts that come into God's head,' Kafka said. This reminded me at first of the Gnostic view of life: God as the evil demiurge, the world as his Fall. 'Oh no,' said Kafka, 'our world is only a bad mood of God, a bad day of his.' 'Then there is hope outside this manifestation of the world that we know.' He smiled. 'Oh, plenty of hope, an infinite amount of hope--but not for us." One gains a great sense of the way that Kafka thought and felt from that brief passage than in Adler's entire biographical essay. Nonetheless, while just lacking as an in depth study of Kafka, one will in conjunction with the wonderful photographs, which are tied closely to the text (compare this to the same series' biography of Proust, where the illustrations frequently have only a very loose connection to either Proust or the narrative) gain a increased appreciation for Kafka's world. I have read Max Brod's memoir/biography and much in Ronald Hayman's more recent biography, but neither gave me such a vivid impression of what Kafka's world was like.

I can't overemphasize just how fine the photographs in this book are. One finds pictures of all the crucial places and people in Kafka's life, and some assist marvelously in reading specific works. For instance, there is a great photograph of the castle in Friedland in northern Bohemia, where Kafka lived briefly in his capacity as representative of the Workers' Accident Insurance. The factory is in the foreground of the photograph, but behind it, up on top of a tor that rises suddenly above the surrounding land, is the castle that has been cited as a possible source for the one in Kafka's final novel.

If one attends to the dates of the deaths of many of the individuals in the photographs in the book--especially Kafka's relatives and his romantic attachments--one appreciates the degree to which WW II destroyed Kafka's world. Had he lived, one wonders if he would have stayed and died with his family and lovers, or if he would have fled with Max Brod to Palestine or elsewhere. It also, however, serves as a macabre confirmation that the horrific events in his novels and stories are not so terribly removed from reality. "The Penal Colony" was transformed by actual events into prophetic fiction or realism instead of nightmarish fantasy.

Metamorphosis was my first introduction to Kafka and I found his dark humour unsettling yet addictive. Samsa plagued and burdened with poverty and family responsibility, is in the end betrayed by himself and his loved ones in a dramatic turn of events. As a "useful" and able man, he was respected and cared for by his parents and loved by his sister. But after the metamorphosis, his family at first tolerated him, his sister perhaps pitied him, but towards the end, it turned to hate and disgust. They realised Samsa had become a burden and embarassment to the family. A useless vermin stuck to the family walls. Metaphor taken to great heights. Physically and intellectually an insect, but emotionally and spiritually still a man.

Translations are generally taken for granted.

Only recently have I been re-reading books translated by different authors to compare the interpretation of the author's orignial intent, mood and word choice. Kafka has been a longtime favorite and I have been using the same translation with every pass. Then I came across the audio version of this book.

When some of my favorite passages would come up I would be surprised at the change of words; sometimes an improvement, other times a disappointment.

In the introduction, a note on the translation explains the disparity of the various translations starting with his most famous story, The Metamorphosis. For example, the typical narrations begins by calling the newly transformed creature an ugly insect. However, when looking at the original German, translator Joachim Neugroschel changes it to "monsterous vermin," a significant difference. I can't remember the German words, but they look like the direct translation would be monstrous vermin, and clearly not "insect."

The authors extended discussion of the translation on the audio book made me feel better about his grasp of both languages, poetry and the intent of the author. So I can almost for give differences like "a pack of nobodies" being changed to "a bunch of nobodies." I prefer "pack" for its comparisons to wolves over "bunch" for its comaprison to bananas.

The translation should not be considered an "updated version" because that would imply simplification or modernization of the text. It still reads like it comes from Kafka's age. This version is great for a first time Kafka reader, a dedicated fan who wants to compare the language interpretations, or for someone who wants to re-experience the genius of Kafka.

I would give this book 5 stars if it were a complete collection of stories. Some of the ones that still haunt me are missing.

This was my first exposure to Kafka, and was actually in audiobook form, with a masterful narration by George Guidall. It was a very well-rounded collection, including The Metamorphosis, The Stoker, A Country Doctor, and Visit to a Penal Colony.

I won't pretend that I understood all of the political/religious symbolism, but was captivated by the dark humor and weird, despairing ambience of these character studies. There isn't a lot of conventional dramatic movement, but the power of these surreal images and bizarre viewpoints sneaks up on you. Kakfa has a narrative voice that is utterly unique. I found that it gained power upon re-reading(hearing), and promptly loaded up cassette one as soon as I reached the end.

Milena Jesenka is most known to the world through her connection to and correspondance with Kafka. Her friend Margerete Buber- Neumann tells her story with great insight and feeling. She tells especially of Milena, who imprisoned at Ravensbruck was a heroic helper of others there. This story inspires and saddens deeply because it shows the tragic and painful end of a truly noble and courageous human being.

Since the hardback edition of the new translation of Milena was published last year, Margarete Buber-Neumann, friend to the mistress of Kafka for four years at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, has died. She died old enough to see the collapse of the Stalinist system that imprisoned her in Siberia, old enough to feel the great hopes that the socialism she fought for will now at last sweep through Europe.

Milena Jesenska fought for the cause too, in her writing and through her actions, leading to her arrest and incarceration at Ravensbruck. She initially sought out Greta Buber to hear the truth about Stalin; what developed was a deep and passionate love. Though Buber-Neumann is no great stylist indeed the book at times fails to come alive because of her reverence for Milena this is a profoundly moving memoir, part biography, part autobiography and part love story, even if, as the subject predicted, told by an 'indulgent judge.' For Milena, on her deathbed, commissioned Buber-Neumann to write this book as a document of life in the camps. However, the camp is but the terrifying context for a tale about a beautiful girl who turned the eyes of the Prague Circle in the Twenties with her boyish looks and who began a painful love affair with Franz Kafka and of how she outlived him and of how 'the living fire' as Kafka described her was quenched.

This is a biography of Milena Jesenská, a Czech journalist who was, in a way, a great love of Kafka's. She was an unusual woman for her time. Highly intelligent and with a rebellious streak, she fashioned herself into a journalist and became well-regarded for her literary and political writing. In her 20s she came to know Kafka when she translated his work into Czech. This gave rise to an impassioned correspondence between them, although the connection didn't turn into a real-life love affair, partly because Milena was married, and partly because of Kafka's numerous anxieties and aversions in the male/female domain. Unfortunately, those interested in insights into Kafka will not get many from this book, as he comes and goes quite quickly in the narrative. Rather, the book is a loving tribute to Milena by Margarete Buber-Neumann, with whom she was imprisoned at the women's concentration camp at Ravensbrück. The two had planned to write a book together when they were freed, but Milena died of kidney failure in May 1944, so Margarete chose instead to tell her friend's story.

Woops, I gave away the plots!

This contains the best and most interesting short stories, including "The Stoker." Also, it has his best and most innovative work "Transformation" or "Metamorphosis." "The Stoker" became chapter one of his book "Amerika." It is a less traumatic and scarry story than most of Kafka's works - including most of the stories in the present collection. By the way, they are not all scarry or dark, but being "dark" is a Kafka theme running through many of his works.

The present book is a mixture of short and long works. The short works cover a huge range of subjects from very simple to gruesome. One has to be a little bit carefully in selecting a Kafka collection because not everyone is equal. Some are just 200 pages long. This is a bit longer.

The three main stories are dark stories - all in the Kafka tradition. Without giving away the plot details, some will find "The Penal Colony" a bit hard to digest. Similarly, The Judgement is a dark tale.

My favourites in this group are "Metamorphosis" and "The Stoker." After reading the latter book, I read Kafka's "Amerika" and felt a certain disappointment. "The Stoker" is the best part of that longer novel "Amerika."

Anyone reading this book should follow up and read one of Kafka's longer works to obtain a better overall understanding of his writings. I thought that "The Castle" was his best novel and the most interesting work, followed by the unfinished and more complicated "The Trial." His other novel "Amerika" is far behind the other two, and if you read "The Stoker" there is no need to waste time reading that novel.

This volume contains the works of Kafka published in his lifetime: The Metamorphosis, Meditation, The Stoker, The Judgment, The Hunger(Fasting)Artist, Airplanes of Brescia.
One of the pieces, the Metamorphosis (In this volume called ,"Transformation") is one of Kafka's most famous work. Gregor Samsa who woke one day to discover himself to be a crawling creature, and whose plight as insect is taken to be the family situation of Kafka is one of the major characters of twentieth - century Literature.
Kafka disturbs, and brings us to a level of fear and anxiety perhaps no other writer can. How he does this with sentences of incredible beauty is both chilling and mysterious.
His work is parabolic, symbolic and seems to suggest to us more about the imprisoned and lost situation of Mankind than we would somehow really like to know.
Perhaps reading him is not for everyone.
But for those ready to bear the uncanny weight of literary beauty this is the answer.

With no table of contents on the Amazon site, it's difficult to guess at what's inside. I've read Kafka's work with nearly no critical assistance, so finding this collection afterwards only stimulated me towards re-readings of his texts. Like the Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad (and unlike much within the Companions to Joyce or Beckett, for instance), this volume in the series guides both newcomer and veteran reader of an author whose symbolic, portentous themes may discourage first-timers.

The editor clearly introduces Kafka within his wider European context; David Constantine shows how we can read Kafka more open-endedly as opposed to the straightjacketed interpretations of scholars, and emphasizes a recurrent theme: K's search for truth demonstrates how his work must slip out of any closed meaning anyone can attempt to lasso around a slippery critter like Kafka.

Anne Fuchs tries, anyway, with a psychoanalytic take on "The Man Who Disappeared" [aka "Amerika"]; Rolf Goebel's exploration of the flaneur in the modern city of The Trial (I too prefer German connotations of the "Process" better as its title) works better to show off an element overlooked to many for a fresher interpretation than Fuchs' for her chosen text. Elizabeth Boa's examination of matriarchal household vs. patriarchal "Castle" provides a convincing look at Heimat, myth, and quest in that novel; Ruth Gross inevitably must cram too much in too little space for her dash past the short fiction, but her focus on the divided self of Kafka who must write to survive despite a job shows an author many of us can understand as truly one of us.

Stanley Corngold (whose translation of the Metamorphosis should be studied by all readers to compare against the Muirs' version)
offers a complex examination of the metaphysical division in the later prose and aphorisms; Bill Dodd revives the political aspects of Kafka to counterbalance the common religious-mystical readings, and places Kafka within the nationalist, Zionist, labor, and technological issues of his time, usefully reminding us of his occupation in the new field of worker's accident insurance and the clashes between the company's interests and those of the everyday claimant.

Iris Bruce for Jewish folkloric elements and Dagmar Lorenz for gender issues both explain well the relevance of these themes in accessible essays; Anthony Northey's examination of biographical myths vs. realities usefully suggests to non-specialists how we should revise the ideas that Kafka was some working man's crusader within the limits of his job, and how the Castle's women illuminate the place of the real women in K's life.

Osman Durrani's chapter on editions, translations, [stage] adaptations compresses fascinating issues arising from these three elements; Helen Hughes and Martin Brady's Kafka and film adaptations, however, suffers from its self-consciously clever style at the expense of detailed analysis (Welles' "The Trial" gets the best critique, but deserves more in-depth treatment); Iris Bruce's chapter on Kafka and popular culture likewise gives far too little detail and focus mainly on "The Fly" and "Naked Lunch"-type homages while barely noticing, say, the whole effect of K. on the tourist industry in Prague or the impact on a wider audience beyond these two movies and a R. Crumb comic biography.

All in all, worth a read; the jargon of these specialists should not detract from the insights which open up new depths for readers outside the classroom and the seminar as well.

"A Country Doctor" is one of Kafkas most masterful displays of the written word to date. No, doctors don't have it easy and we get a first hand account of "how it really is" from this amazing book. Kafka strips the scrubs and exhibits the doctors body in detail, describing how the doctor operates and reacts to troublesome patients. The A-septic method never struck me as being anything more than a method until now. Buy it, read it and don't forget to wipe.

I thought the book was great and I'd like to preview it

El gran personaje de este libro no es Kafka, sino su madre, quien poco a poco, sigilosamente, va develando, mediante una serie de gestos, recuerdos y reflexiones, el retrato de un hijo que se consume progresivamente bajo un impetu creativo febril y una relación materna casi corrosiva.

Si para la mayoría resulta irresistible analizar la personalidad kafkiana a partir la sombra del padre, Sealtiel Alatriste se arriesga a explorar el otro lado de la moneda y a perseguir el fantasma materno en el ánimo del escritor.

El mérito de "El daño" es abrir ventanas para una nueva lectura de obras como "La metamorfosis" o "América". Echando mano de pensadores tan disímiles como Borges, Canetti o Freud, esta novela no es menos que un arriesgado intento por arrojar luz al proceso creativo de un escritor que acunó un término que bien podría definir esta era... a estos tiempos kafkianos.

Posdata: Tengo noticia de que existen dos ediciones, una de Espasa y otra de Planeta. Yo recomendaría adquirir la de Espasa puesto que la obra es presentada en pasta dura, con separador y una portada mucho más cuidada que la de Planeta.

This is a study of Kafka's works. He discusses the short fiction in one chapter and the letters to Felice in another. Two final chapters are dedicated to The Trial and The Castle. The author has a good prose style and lucid thinking, and the book contains some genuine insights. The distracting element, for me anyway, was the constant reference to Gnosticism and Manicheaism. This interpretation, of which Kafka most likely had no intention, is a little much. Nevertheless, the author is persuasive if one is inclined to that sort of thing. His refutation of mainstream critics who see The Castle as a novel of religious allegory, similar to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, is on target.

this book is out of print. i have a copy in good condition.