Karel apek's brilliant comic and satirical novel of 1936 deals with the discovery of a sentient race of newts or salamanders, and their subsequent transition from fairground sideshow to forced labour to ferocious enemies of the human race. Along the way he pokes fun at a whole range of targets, from the superficiality of Hollywood to the arrogance of scientists. He also deals with serious subjects such as racism, imperialism and exploitation, and is positively prophetic on the threat of expansionism and the folly of appeasement. This handsome new edition from Benediction Classics uses the acclaimed 2002 translation from the Czech by David Wyllie, with original illustrations.

A fresh translation of Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" from David Wyllie.

The Metamorphosis was first published in 1915 and is one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century. The novel is the masterpiece of Franz Kafka, who is cited as a key influence for many of today's leading authors and is one of the most influential writers of the 20th Century. Traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, wakes to find himself transformed into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Gregor's transformation is never revealed, and as he attempts to adjust to his new condition he becomes a burden to his parents and sister, who are repelled by the horrible, verminous creature Gregor has become.

"Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K., he knew he had done nothing wrong but, one morning, he was arrested." From its gripping first sentence onward, this novel exemplifies the term ""Kafkaesque." Its darkly humorous narrative recounts a bank clerk's entrapment -- based on an undisclosed charge -- in a maze of nonsensical rules and bureaucratic roadblocks.
Written in 1914 and published posthumously in 1925, Kafka's engrossing parable about the human condition plunges an isolated individual into an impersonal, illogical system. Josef K.'s ordeals raise provocative, ever-relevant issues related to the role of government and the nature of justice. This inexpensive edition of one of the 20th century's most important novels features an acclaimed translation by David Wyllie.

The Trial (original German title: Der Process, later Der Prozess, Der Process and Der Prozess) is a novel written by Franz Kafka in 1914 and 1915 but not published until 1925. One of Kafka's best-known works, it tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed to neither him nor the reader. Like Kafka's other novels, The Trial was never completed, although it does include a chapter which brings the story to an end. Because of this, there are some inconsistencies and discontinuities in narration within the novel, such as disparities in timing. After Kafka's death in 1924 his friend and literary executor Max Brod edited the text for publication by Verlag Die Schmiede. The original manuscript is held at the Museum of Modern Literature, Marbach am Neckar, Germany. In 1999, the book was listed in Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century and as No. 2 of the Best German Novels of the Twentieth Centur

Franz Kafka (1883 - 1924) was born into a German speaking Jewish family in Prague. He wrote in German and is regarded as one of the most influential authors of the 20th century. His works examine the themes of transformation, alienation, bullying and the characters are given insuperable quests. This book contains two of his most famous stories - "Metamorphosis" and "The Trial." Metamorphosis begins like this: "One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked." The story is harrowing, but funny in a dark way, it explores the themes of alienation - the guilt, inadequacy and anguish of transformation. Samsa's predicament is perhaps the predicament we all face at times, and especially if we suffer illness or disability. This is one of the most influential books of all time. The Trail also starts with a stark problem: "Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K., he knew he had done nothing wrong but, one morning, he was arrested. Every day at eight in the morning he was brought his breakfast by Mrs. Grubach's cook - Mrs. Grubach was his landlady - but today she didn't come." We never find out what Josef K was arrested for, he is a respected worker in a bank and he has to defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. This is a terrifying tale but again is comic at times. It explores the nightmare of excessive bureaucracy, hold onto your hat because this book is a psychological roller-coaster.