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The Complete Short Stories
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- GenresClassics
496 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1992
20 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Franz Kafka
3,213 books38.4k followersPrague-born writer Franz Kafka wrote in German, and his stories, such as "
The Metamorphosis
" (1916), and posthumously published novels, including
The Trial
(1925), concern troubled individuals in a nightmarishly impersonal world.
Jewish middle-class family of this major fiction writer of the 20th century spoke German. People consider his unique body of much incomplete writing, mainly published posthumously, among the most influential in European literature.
His stories include "The Metamorphosis" (1912) and " In the Penal Colony " (1914), whereas his posthumous novels include The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927).
Despite first language, Kafka also spoke fluent Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of the French language and culture from Flaubert, one of his favorite authors.
Kafka first studied chemistry at the Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague but after two weeks switched to law. This study offered a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father, and required a longer course of study that gave Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history. At the university, he joined a student club, named Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten, which organized literary events, readings, and other activities. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max Brod, a close friend of his throughout his life, together with the journalist Felix Weltsch, who also studied law. Kafka obtained the degree of doctor of law on 18 June 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts.
Writing of Kafka attracted little attention before his death. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories and never finished any of his novels except the very short "The Metamorphosis." Kafka wrote to Max Brod, his friend and literary executor: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread." Brod told Kafka that he intended not to honor these wishes, but Kafka, so knowing, nevertheless consequently gave these directions specifically to Brod, who, so reasoning, overrode these wishes. Brod in fact oversaw the publication of most of work of Kafka in his possession; these works quickly began to attract attention and high critical regard.
Max Brod encountered significant difficulty in compiling notebooks of Kafka into any chronological order as Kafka started writing in the middle of notebooks, from the last towards the first, et cetera.
Kafka wrote all his published works in German except several letters in Czech to Milena Jesenská.
Jewish middle-class family of this major fiction writer of the 20th century spoke German. People consider his unique body of much incomplete writing, mainly published posthumously, among the most influential in European literature.
His stories include "The Metamorphosis" (1912) and " In the Penal Colony " (1914), whereas his posthumous novels include The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927).
Despite first language, Kafka also spoke fluent Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of the French language and culture from Flaubert, one of his favorite authors.
Kafka first studied chemistry at the Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague but after two weeks switched to law. This study offered a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father, and required a longer course of study that gave Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history. At the university, he joined a student club, named Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten, which organized literary events, readings, and other activities. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max Brod, a close friend of his throughout his life, together with the journalist Felix Weltsch, who also studied law. Kafka obtained the degree of doctor of law on 18 June 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts.
Writing of Kafka attracted little attention before his death. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories and never finished any of his novels except the very short "The Metamorphosis." Kafka wrote to Max Brod, his friend and literary executor: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread." Brod told Kafka that he intended not to honor these wishes, but Kafka, so knowing, nevertheless consequently gave these directions specifically to Brod, who, so reasoning, overrode these wishes. Brod in fact oversaw the publication of most of work of Kafka in his possession; these works quickly began to attract attention and high critical regard.
Max Brod encountered significant difficulty in compiling notebooks of Kafka into any chronological order as Kafka started writing in the middle of notebooks, from the last towards the first, et cetera.
Kafka wrote all his published works in German except several letters in Czech to Milena Jesenská.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 30, 2025
Great collection of short stories.
January 24, 2024
A nightmarish journey... as it was described about Edgar Allan poe the word Arabesque and Grotesque were best suit to describe this absurd, exhausting, and madness in Kafka's works some are quiet confusing you just get out from it with your hair standing up in the sky.
I can't help it whether to say I like Franz kafka or I hate him...
Everyone has had moments when they feel that they cannot explain what has happened to them or feel that they are not in control of a particular situation in their lives...
It's hard to explain how you feel how you think like a gloomy fog blocking the way to you. You can't explain yourself nor understand it.
As I researched about Mr. Kafka's life I can understand the common theme that connects the stories and the characters; it was a way related to His helplessness with controlling his own life. With his helplessness he made a genius pieces ( I wondered if he was aware of it)
enabling the audience to question whether they have free will or are simply pawns in some farcical game.
However, regardless of the conclusion you can make by observation of his works, anything that comes after will remain absurd since there is no way of guaranteeing one’s degree of freedom,
as well in that it comes to observe the existential angst of one's reality all of this conflicts from trying to reach the fullest degrees of freedom to the full consciousness of the real world drives the individual into madness by losing their sense of their place in the world.
More like of how Mr. Kafka felt and many others did; the fact that I'm full awar of that most of his works aren't complete makes alot of sense...
On how hard it is to open the gate of your mind that had enough from this tough world.
I can't help it whether to say I like Franz kafka or I hate him...
Everyone has had moments when they feel that they cannot explain what has happened to them or feel that they are not in control of a particular situation in their lives...
It's hard to explain how you feel how you think like a gloomy fog blocking the way to you. You can't explain yourself nor understand it.
As I researched about Mr. Kafka's life I can understand the common theme that connects the stories and the characters; it was a way related to His helplessness with controlling his own life. With his helplessness he made a genius pieces ( I wondered if he was aware of it)
enabling the audience to question whether they have free will or are simply pawns in some farcical game.
However, regardless of the conclusion you can make by observation of his works, anything that comes after will remain absurd since there is no way of guaranteeing one’s degree of freedom,
as well in that it comes to observe the existential angst of one's reality all of this conflicts from trying to reach the fullest degrees of freedom to the full consciousness of the real world drives the individual into madness by losing their sense of their place in the world.
More like of how Mr. Kafka felt and many others did; the fact that I'm full awar of that most of his works aren't complete makes alot of sense...
On how hard it is to open the gate of your mind that had enough from this tough world.
October 1, 2025
quite a read! I mean metamorphosis, the country doctor, penal colony. even lesser known ones like investigations of a dog and the burrow were amazing! what an insight, what melancholy... just be patient, my advice. and read each line carefully... it's not Stephen King you're reading. also they will be felt long after being read... especially likes of the burrow and such, returning back to you... haunt you. reading experience will be slightly boring maybe and claustrophobic... ooh and the hunger artist... such an insight of psychology I say, for each individual story. after a month or two just revisit them all in your mind and you wouldn't be able to figure your favourite out of them... maybe least favourite is possible. if you're not reading it... you're missing something!
June 3, 2024
In mijn laatste droom zat ik gevangen in een gehucht tweehonderd meter buiten de ring van Brugge, rond mij een zwerm vierende dertigers, dronken en luidruchtig. Geen ontkomen aan, niemand die helpt, de bakker geeft de alcoholische bakfietsmuggen meer bier en de toeristische dienst heeft enkel geologische kaarten van de velden buiten het dorp. Dankje K.
June 23, 2024
Favorites from the short stories:
- The burrow
- The metamorphosis
- The village schoolmaster
- The warden of the Tomb
- A hunger artist
And from the shorter stories:
Poseidon, rejection, a dream, the next village, the bucket rider, the silence of the sirens, the vulture, fellowship, home-coming
- The burrow
- The metamorphosis
- The village schoolmaster
- The warden of the Tomb
- A hunger artist
And from the shorter stories:
Poseidon, rejection, a dream, the next village, the bucket rider, the silence of the sirens, the vulture, fellowship, home-coming
March 18, 2025
Pretty pedantic but overall enjoyable. It’s like 400+ pages but you only really need to read the metamorphosis, the penal colony, and the hunger artist tbh. The short short stories are basically poems and the longer incomplete ones will have suddenly say like [12 pages missing] on page three.
January 2, 2025
Beautiful collection of stories! Though some are confusing, it has been a great book and kafka always hits the spot :)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews