Written during the winter of 1916-17 when Kafka was living in one of the tiny houses on Golden Lane (formerly Alchimistengasse) at Prague Castle, and published in spring 1920 by Kurt Wolff Verlag, the 14 short fictions comprising this volume are interconnected by a persistent exploration of identity, where even animals anthropomorphize into a new identity. "Before the Law," "A Country Doctor," and "A Report for an Academy" are among the most renowned stories he produced, and Kevin Blahut has rendered them in an English that is contemporary and fresh, capturing per... continue
Quizás la muestra más representativa de los escritos personales de Kafka, donde vida y literatura se confunden, sea esta Carta al padre, que es una carta privada, confidencial, conmovedora, pero es también, al mismo tiempo, una obra literaria perfecta.
A história de Josef K. atravessa os anos sem perder nada do seu vigor. Ao contrário, a banalização da violência irracional no século XX acrescentou a ela o fascínio dos romances realistas. Na sua luta para descobrir por que o acusam, por quem é acusado e que lei ampara a acusação, K. defronta permanentemente com a impossibilidade de escolher um caminho que lhe pareça sensato ou lógico, pois o processo de que é vítima segue leis próprias: as leis do arbítrio.
În ziua arestării sale, K. deschide uşa camerei lui pentru a afla ce se întâmplă cu micul dejun şi declanşează astfel un val de întâmplări care se sprijină, de-a lungul întregului roman, pe metafora uşii. Acuzat de o greşeală pe care nu o cunoaşte, de nişte judecători cu care nu se întâlneşte niciodată, conform unor legi despre care nimeni nu ştie nimic, el va deschide nenumărate uşi în încercarea de a lămuri această situaţie. "Procesul", piesă de referinţă în opera acestui geniu al absurdului care a fost Kafka, renunţ... continue
From the author of The Metamorphosis and The Trial—one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century—the haunting tale of K.’s relentless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority in order to gain access to the Castle. Translated and with a preface by Mark Harman. Arriving in a village to take up the position of land surveyor for the mysterious lord of a castle, the character known as K. finds himself in a bitter and baffling struggle to contact his new employer and go about his duties. The Castle's original manuscript was left unfinished by Kafka in 1922 and not published until 19... continue
“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first sentence, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetlelike insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing—though absurdly comic—meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most wi... continue
From its gripping first sentence onward, this novel exemplifies the term "Kafkaesque." Its darkly humorous narrative recounts a bank clerk's entrapment in a bureaucratic maze, based on an undisclosed charge.