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Only yesterday, Gregor Samsa was a meek salesman, browbeaten by his
unappreciative employer and depended on fiercely by his ungrateful
family. This morning, Gregor awakens to discover that, overnight,
he has been transformed into a monstrous insect. As Gregor
frantically tries to conceal his predicament, neither his family
nor his unsympathetic employer accept that a terrible metamorphosis
has upended his existence. Is Gregor’s condition only temporary?
Will he eventually revert back to the person he was and resume his
normal life? Or might he have to accept that his transformation is
only an outward expression of how he—and those in his
life—actually see him? First published in 1915, Kafka’s
best-known tale has inspired numerous interpretations for more than
a century and helped to establish the term “Kafkaesque†as a
reference to a bizarre and nightmarish experience. This collection
of his short fiction, in a new translation, includes more than 30
of his short stories and sketches, including “In the Penal
Colony,†“The Stoker,†“The Judgment,†“A Country
Doctor,†“A Hunger Artist,†and more. Â
Like George Orwell, Franz Kafka has given his name to a world of
nightmare, but in Kafka's world, it is never completely clear just
what the nightmare is. The Trial, where the rules are hidden from
even the highest officials, and if there is any help to be had, it
will come from unexpected sources, is a chilling, blackly amusing
tale that maintains, to the very end, a relentless atmosphere of
disorientation. Superficially about bureaucracy, it is in the last
resort a description of the absurdity of 'normal' human nature.
Still more enigmatic is The Castle. Is it an allegory of a
quasi-feudal system giving way to a new freedom for the subject?
The search by a central European Jew for acceptance into a dominant
culture? A spiritual quest for grace or salvation? An individual's
struggle between his sense of independence and his need for
approval? Is it all of these things? And K? Is he opportunist,
victim, or an outsider battling against elusive authority? Finally,
in his fables, Kafka deals in dark and quirkily humorous terms with
the insoluble dilemmas of a world which offers no reassurance, and
no reliable guidance to resolving our existential and emotional
uncertainties and anxieties.
The story itself, Kafka's most famous, hardly needs describing -
a travelling salesman, Gregor Samsa, wakes up one morning to find
he has been transformed into an enormous bug - but Faber Finds is
offering something rare, the very first English translation which
has been out of print for over sixty years.
This pioneering translation by A. L. Lloyd was first published
in 1937. A. L. Lloyd was multi-talented: ethnomusicologist,
journalist, radio and television broadcaster, and translator. In
this his centenary year (2008) Faber Finds is celebrating him in
his first and last roles. His major work, Folk Song in England, is
being reissued as are his Lorca and Kafka translations. As well as
both being published in 1937 both were firsts; has anyone else had
Spanish and German translations published in the same year?
It should also be mentioned that A. L. Lloyd was a lifelong
communist. It is a delicious irony therefore that one of the first
reviews of the Kafka was by Evelyn Waugh in the short-lived "Night"
"and Day"; it was a good one too.
Kafka first made the acquaintance of Milena Jesenska in 1920 when
she was translating his early short prose into Czech, and their
relationship quickly developed into a deep attachment. Such was his
feeling for her that Kafka showed her his diaries and, in doing so,
laid bare his heart and his conscience. Milena, for her part, was
passionate and intrepid, cool and intelligent in her decisions but
reckless when her emotions were involved. Kafka once described her
as living her life 'so intensely down to such depths'. If she did
suffer through him, it was part of her great appetite for life.
However while at times Milena's 'genius for living' gave Kafka new
life, it ultimately exhausted him, and their relationship was to
last little over two years. In 1924 Kafka died in a sanatorium near
Vienna, and Milena died in 1944 at the hands of the Nazis, leaving
these letters as a moving record of their relationship.
Superb collection by modern master explores the complexity, anxiety and futility of modern life. Excellent new English translations of the title story (considered by many critics Kafka's most perfect work), plus "The Judgment," "In the Penal Colony," "A Country Doctor" and "A Report to an Academy." Note.
Franz Kafka's letters to his one-time muse, Milena Jesenska - an
intimate window into the desires and hopes of the
twentieth-century's most prophetic and important writer Kafka first
made the acquaintance of Milena Jesenska in 1920 when she was
translating his early short prose into Czech, and their
relationship quickly developed into a deep attachment. Such was his
feeling for her that Kafka showed her his diaries and, in doing so,
laid bare his heart and his conscience. While at times Milena's
'genius for living' gave Kafka new life, it ultimately exhausted
him, and their relationship was to last little over two years. In
1924 Kafka died in a sanatorium near Vienna, and Milena died in
1944 at the hands of the Nazis, leaving these letters as a moving
record of their relationship.
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The Trial (Paperback)
Franz Kafka; Contributions by Mint Editions
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On the day after his thirtieth birthday, Josef K, a bank teller, is
arrested by two mysterious agents of an unspecified organization.
Confused and shocked, Josef inquires about the crime he is being
accused of, but the agents will not answer, leaving Josef to decide
what he feels most guilty for. Though he is not imprisoned, Josef
is told to await further instructions. Tortured by the unknown,
Josef returns to his home and tries to guess what he could be
charged for. His landlady, Frau Grubach, feels amicably about Josef
despite the arrest and wishes to help. She speculates that he is
likely being punished for his promiscuous behavior involving one of
his neighbors. Josef is unable to confirm this, but he does go to
his neighbor, Fraulien, for comfort. While she does accept his
affection and kiss at first, Fraulien later rejects Josef's
advances. When he returns home, he is given unclear instructions
for his court appearance. With an address, but not a specific
report time, Josef arrives late to his trial, angering the
assembly. When Josef vents his frustrations about the absurdity of
the trial, he upsets the court even more. Still unclear on the
charges he faces and the possible punishment, Josef feels the
weight of guilt and the immeasurable high stakes as the trial
proceeds. While he is thrown in a whirlwind of chaos and
uncertainty, Josef pleas his innocence as he still investigates
what crime he is being tried for. Through brilliant symbolism and
excellent characterization, The Trial by Franz Kafka is an
intelligent and intriguing perspective on the innerworkings of the
justice system, told from the point of view of the guilty or
accused. Published posthumously in 1925, The Trial has become one
of Franz Kafka's most popular works, and has been adapted for film,
radio, and theater. With several interpretations and possible
meanings, Franz Kafka's The Trial provides a thrilling and
thought-provoking reading experience for contemporary audiences.
This edition of The Trial by Franz Kafka is accessible for modern
readers with features such as its new, striking cover design and
the stylish, readable font it is printed in.
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Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka; Translated by Will Aaltonen Pearson; Introduction by Will Aaltonen Pearson
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R238
R217
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Metamorphosis (Hardcover)
Franz Kafka, Michael Hoffman
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R307
R249
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Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions
of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest
writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.
Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take
us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England
to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on
the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and
printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile
cloth and stamped with foil. One morning, ordinary salesman Gregor
Samsa wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant cockroach.
Metamorphosis, Kafka's masterpiece of unease and black humour, is
one of the twentieth century's most influential works of fiction,
and is accompanied here by two more classic stories. 'He is the
greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such
novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison
to him' - Vladimir Nabokov
Franz Kafka s 1915 novella of unexplained horror and nightmarish
transformation became a worldwide classic and remains a century
later one of the most widely read works of fiction in the world. It
is the story of traveling salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one
morning to find himself transformed into a monstrous insect. This
hugely influential work inspired George Orwell, Albert Camus, Jorge
Louis Borges, and Ray Bradbury, while continuing to unsettle
millions of readers. In her new translation of Kafka s masterpiece,
Susan Bernofsky strives to capture both the humor and the humanity
in this macabre tale, underscoring the ways in which Gregor Samsa s
grotesque metamorphosis is just the physical manifestation of his
longstanding spiritual impoverishment."
'The supreme fabulist of modern man's cosmic predicament' John
Updike 'The stories are dreamlike, allegorical, ghoulishly
detached, exquisitely comic, numinous, and prophetic' New York
Times The essential stories of one of the twentieth century's
greatest and most influential writers No one has captured the
modern experience, its wild dreams, strange joys, its neuroses and
boredom, better than Franz Kafka. His vision, with its absurdity
and twisted humour, has lost none of its force or relevance today.
This essential collection, translated and selected by Alexander
Starritt, casts fresh light on Kafka's genius. Alongside brutal
depictions of violence and justice are jokes and deceptively
slight, mysterious fables. These unforgettable pieces reflect the
brilliance at the core of Franz Kafka, arguably most fully
expressed within his short stories. Together they showcase a writer
of unmatched imaginative depth, capable of expressing the most
profound reality with a wry smile. Part of the Pushkin Press
Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature,
hand-picked from around the globe Translated by Alexander Starritt
Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was born to Jewish parents in Prague and
wrote in German. He published only a few story collections and
individual stories in literary magazines during his lifetime. The
rest of his work was published posthumously. He is now considered
one of the most influential authors of the twentieth century.
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Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka; Translated by Will Aaltonen Pearson; Introduction by Will Aaltonen Pearson
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R349
R286
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A collection of Kafka's greatest short fiction, translated by
Michael Hofmann Kafka's masterpiece of unease and black humour,
Metamorphosis, the story of an ordinary man transformed into an
insect, is brought together in this collection with the rest of his
works that he thought worthy of publication. It includes
Contemplation, a collection of his earlier short studies; The
Judgement, written in a single night of frenzied creativity; The
Stoker, the first chapter of a novel set in America; and an
eyewitness account of an air display. Together, these stories,
fragments and miniature gems reveal the breadth of his vision, his
sense of the absurd, and above all his acute, uncanny wit.
Translated with an introduction by Michael Hofmann
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The Lost Writings (Hardcover)
Franz Kafka; Edited by 'Reiner Stach; Translated by Michael Hofmann
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R491
R408
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Selected by the preeminent Kafka biographer and scholar Reiner
Stach and newly translated by the peerless Michael Hofmann, the
seventy-four pieces gathered here have been lost to sight for
decades and two of them have never been translated into English
before. Some stories are several pages long; some run about a page;
a handful are only a few lines long: all are marvels. Even the most
fragmentary texts are revelations. These pieces were drawn from two
large volumes of the S. Fischer Verlag edition Nachgelassene
Schriften und Fragmente (totaling some 1100 pages). "Franz Kafka is
the master of the literary fragment," as Stach comments in his
afterword: "In no other European author does the proportion of
completed and published works loom quite so...small in the overall
mass of his papers, which consist largely of broken-off
beginnings." In fact, as Hofmann recently added: "'Finished' seems
to me, in the context of Kafka, a dubious or ironic condition,
anyway. The more finished, the less finished. The less finished,
the more finished. Gregor Samsa's sister Grete getting up to
stretch in the streetcar. What kind of an ending is that?! There's
perhaps some distinction to be made between 'finished' and 'ended.'
Everything continues to vibrate or unsettle, anyway. Reiner Stach
points out that none of the three novels were 'completed.' Some
pieces break off, or are concluded, or stop-it doesn't
matter!-after two hundred pages, some after two lines. The gusto,
the friendliness, the wit with which Kafka launches himself into
these things is astonishing."
"Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the
predicament of modern man."-W.H. Auden "The common experience of
Kafka's readers is one of general and vague fascination, even in
stories they fail to understand, a precise recollection of strange
and seemingly absurd images and descriptions-until one day the
hidden meaning reveals itself to them with the sudden evidence of a
truth simple and incontestable." -Hannah Arendt With the profoundly
unsettling story of Gregor Samsa's transformation into a gigantic
insect, The Metamorphosis (1915) is Franz Kafka's best-known work
and one of the most influential pieces of 20th century literature.
Without ever leaving the setting of a single apartment, the notion
of a vast disaffection takes on universal truths about the tolls of
modern work and the mind-body divide. In the defining opening, "As
Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself
transformed in his bed into a giant insect.", Franz Kafka begins
what is one of the most analyzed and debated works of existential
dread. As Gregor becomes acquainted with his new form, his boss
arrives to reprimand him on his tardiness at work, and his family
discovers the horrifying truth of his shocking condition. Although
his sister takes measures to care for Gregor, eventually his family
resents his existence as the reader is inexplicable drawn into his
terrifying state of isolation. Both humane and repulsive, The
Metamorphosis is an essential read of the modern classics.
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The Trial (Paperback)
Franz Kafka; Translated by Idris Parry; Introduction by Idris Parry
1
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R247
R201
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A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an
ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a
crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to
him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a
regular basis - an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever
resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life
- including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and
a young woman who lives next door - becomes increasingly
unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in
accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral.
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The Trial (Hardcover)
Franz Kafka; Contributions by Mint Editions
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R393
Discovery Miles 3 930
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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On the day after his thirtieth birthday, Josef K, a bank teller, is
arrested by two mysterious agents of an unspecified organization.
Confused and shocked, Josef inquires about the crime he is being
accused of, but the agents will not answer, leaving Josef to decide
what he feels most guilty for. Though he is not imprisoned, Josef
is told to await further instructions. Tortured by the unknown,
Josef returns to his home and tries to guess what he could be
charged for. His landlady, Frau Grubach, feels amicably about Josef
despite the arrest and wishes to help. She speculates that he is
likely being punished for his promiscuous behavior involving one of
his neighbors. Josef is unable to confirm this, but he does go to
his neighbor, Fraulien, for comfort. While she does accept his
affection and kiss at first, Fraulien later rejects Josef's
advances. When he returns home, he is given unclear instructions
for his court appearance. With an address, but not a specific
report time, Josef arrives late to his trial, angering the
assembly. When Josef vents his frustrations about the absurdity of
the trial, he upsets the court even more. Still unclear on the
charges he faces and the possible punishment, Josef feels the
weight of guilt and the immeasurable high stakes as the trial
proceeds. While he is thrown in a whirlwind of chaos and
uncertainty, Josef pleas his innocence as he still investigates
what crime he is being tried for. Through brilliant symbolism and
excellent characterization, The Trial by Franz Kafka is an
intelligent and intriguing perspective on the innerworkings of the
justice system, told from the point of view of the guilty or
accused. Published posthumously in 1925, The Trial has become one
of Franz Kafka's most popular works, and has been adapted for film,
radio, and theater. With several interpretations and possible
meanings, Franz Kafka's The Trial provides a thrilling and
thought-provoking reading experience for contemporary audiences.
This edition of The Trial by Franz Kafka is accessible for modern
readers with features such as its new, striking cover design and
the stylish, readable font it is printed in.
|
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