Die Erzählungen aus dem Nachlaß

by Franz Kafka

Inhalt / Included stories
Geschrieben / written in 1903-1924

Beschreibung eines Kampfes
Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande
Der Dorfschullehrer
Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle
Die Brücke
Der Jäger Gracchus
Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
Der Schlag ans Hoftor
Der Nachbar
Eine Kreuzung
Eine alltägliche Verwirrung
Die Wahrheit über Sancho Pansa
Das Schweigen der Sirenen
Prometheus
Das Stadtwappen
Poseidon
Gemeinschaft
Nachts
Die Abweisung
Zur Frage der Gesetze
Die Truppenaushebung
Die Prüfung
Der Geier
Der Steuermann
Der Kreisel
Kleine Fabel
Heimkehr
Der Aufbruch
Fürsprecher
Forschungen eines Hundes
Das Ehepaar
Gib's auf!
Von den Gleichnissen
Der Bau

260 pages, Unknown Binding

About the author

Franz Kafka was a German-speaking writer from Prague whose work became one of the foundations of modern literature, even though he published only a small part of his writing during his lifetime. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kafka grew up amid German, Czech, and Jewish cultural influences that shaped his sense of displacement and linguistic precision. His difficult relationship with his authoritarian father left a lasting mark, fostering feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inadequacy that became central themes in his fiction and personal writings.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.

Reviews

[Kalkwiese · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was Kafkas Kurzprosa angeht, wurden seine besten Werke zu Lebzeiten veröffentlicht. Da präsentieren sich einem stilmäßig zwei Franz Kafkas: der penible, präzise, punktgenaue F. K. vom Urteil, der Verwandlung, In der Strafkolonie und weiteren. Und dann ist da manchmal der palavernde Franz Kafka, der vor sich hin mäandert und einfach nicht zum Punkz kommen will, nur gibt es den eher selten.
In der Kurzprosa aus dem Nachlass sind diese Verhältnisse genau umgekehrt. Es gibt ein paar wunderbare Kurzgeschichten (Vor dem Gesetz, Kleine Fabel, Poseidon, Gib's Auf!), die vielleicht nur drauf warteten, dass sie mit weiteren, noch zu schreibenden, in einem Erzählband gesammelt werden würden. Und dann ist da leider auch viel Leerlauf, der zumindest mich gar nicht interessieren konnte.

Die Tendenz scheint mir zu sein, dass je länger ein Kafka-Text ist, umso weniger Kraft darin steckt. Da gibt es natürlich Ausnahmen, allen voran Die Verwandlung. Nun zittere ich aber vor den Romanfragmenten ... Ob die vielleicht noch etwas bei mir reißen können? Wahrscheinlich bin ich nicht der Typ für eine heiße Affäre mit Daddy Kafka - aber ich wäre es gerne, ungelogen.

[Neele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beschreibung eines Kampfes (Hörbuch): 3,5/5
Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande (Hörbuch): 3/5
Der Dorfschullehrer: 4/5
Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle: 4/5
Die Brücke: 4,5/5
Der Jäger Gracchus: 4/5
Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer: 3/5
Der Schlag ans Hoftor: 4,5/5
Der Nachbar: 4/5
Eine Kreuzung: 4,5/5
Eine alltägliche Verwirrung: 5/5
Die Wahrheit über Sancho Pansa: 4,5/5; hab erstmal gar nichts verstanden, mit dem nötigen Hintergundwissen hat es dann Sinn ergeben
Das Schweigen der Sirenen: 4/5
Prometheus: 5/5
Das Stadtwappen: 4/5
Poseidon: 4,5/5
Gemeinschaft: 4,5/5
Nachts: 4/5
Die Abweisung (Hörbuch): 4,5/5
Zur Frage der Gesetze: 3,5/5
Die Truppenaushebung: 4/5
Die Prüfung: 4/5
Der Geier: 5/5; o_o (ich liebe Kafka)
Der Steuermann: 5/5
Der Kreisel: 4/5
Kleine Fabel: 5/5
Heimkehr: 5/5
Der Aufbruch: 4/5
Fürsprecher: 4/5
Forschungen eines Hundes: 3,5/5
Das Ehepaar: 4/5
Gib's auf!: 5/5
Von den Gleichnissen: 5/5
Der Bau: 4,5/5