What do you think?
Rate this book
The Burrow and Other Stories
A superb new translation by Michael Hofmann of some of Kafka's most frightening and visionary short fiction Strange beasts, night terrors, absurd bureaucrats and sinister places abound in this collection of stories by Franz Kafka. Some are less than a page long, others more substantial; all were unpublished in his lifetime. These matchless short works range from the gleeful miniature horror 'Little Fable' to the off-kilter humour of 'Investigations of a Dog', and from the elaborate waking nightmare of 'Building the Great Wall of China' to the creeping unease of 'The Burrow', where a nameless creature's labyrinthine hiding place turns into a trap of fear and paranoia.
240 pages, Paperback
First published July 4, 2019
30 people are currently reading
231 people want to read
About the author
Franz Kafka
3,169 books38.3k 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
November 15, 2023
Though Kafka’s enigmatic tales often centre on feelings of alienation and absurdity, this posthumously published collection of stories delivers some of his most imaginative and thought-provoking works. A few of them are concise sketches; some are unfinished; some sound like journal entries or transcriptions of dreams. Be it as it may, they have inspired prominent 20th-century authors such as Samuel Beckett, Gabriel García Márquez, Salman Rushdie, and W.G. Sebald.
Several stories probe the blurred lines between man and beast. In “A Crossbreed” (1917), Kafka presents a speaking hybrid creature, part pussy-cat and part lamb, who “almost wants to be a dog as well!” (Loc. 1300). Similarly, “Investigations of a Dog” (1922) follows a canine scientist who starts investigating different semi-metaphysical objects over and over—his place in the world, the cosmic sources of food, and so forth—without ever reaching any conclusion. Others still explore the thoughts and behaviours of inanimate or phantomatic objects: e.g. “Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor” (1915), “The Bridge” (1916), “In our Synagogue” (1920-22).
Other pieces explore the futility and bewildering oppressiveness of social life. “In the City” (1911, similar to “The Judgement”) shows a student struggling to tell his father a brilliant idea—the story ends without revealing what the idea is. Later, in “Advocates” (1922, a few years after The Trial), Kafka satirises labyrinthine legal systems where “the prosecutors, those wily foxes”, outmanoeuvre an unwieldy phalanx of lawyers (Loc. 1727). “Building the Great Wall of China” (1917) begins as an inquiry into why the wall was built in disconnected pieces. It concludes with the image of an imperial message travelling through endless palace chambers and never reaching its recipient.
Several stories also feature enigmatic or incomplete events. In “New Lamps” (1917), a man argues with his boss about lamps used in a mine—the dialogue takes a sharp, ironic turn when the boss threatens to convert the mineshaft into a drawing room where the miners can die “in patent leather slippers” (Loc. 1331). In “The Vulture” (1920), Kafka offers a harrowing vignette where the vulture’s victim (Prometheus?) appears to be shot in the mouth by a bullet-like raptor. Kafka also considers other myths and literary figures in “Hunter Gracchus” (1916, cf. the legend of the Flying Dutchman), “The Truth about Sancho Panza” (1917, cf. Don Quixote), “The Silence of the Sirens”, “Poseidon”(1917/1920, cf. The Odyssey), and “Our City Coat of Arms” (1920, cf. Genesis 11).
The collection’s crown jewel is the novella-length title story, “The Burrow” (1923-24, unfinished). The tale is narrated by a nameless rodent-like creature (a badger? or a mole?) who tirelessly excavates an elaborate underground labyrinth for safety. But the bunker intended as a refuge becomes a prison as phantom noises arouse his paranoia. Kafka’s biographer Reiner Stach suggests the claustrophobic atmosphere reflects the isolation Kafka felt while dying of tuberculosis when he wrote it. At any rate, the story progresses into a hallucinatory state where the narrator’s ruminations on securing his lair blend with a growing terror of the world around it. The story ends abruptly, mid-sentence.
Emerging from these tales into the light of day may leave you feeling that the earth has shifted under your feet.
Several stories probe the blurred lines between man and beast. In “A Crossbreed” (1917), Kafka presents a speaking hybrid creature, part pussy-cat and part lamb, who “almost wants to be a dog as well!” (Loc. 1300). Similarly, “Investigations of a Dog” (1922) follows a canine scientist who starts investigating different semi-metaphysical objects over and over—his place in the world, the cosmic sources of food, and so forth—without ever reaching any conclusion. Others still explore the thoughts and behaviours of inanimate or phantomatic objects: e.g. “Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor” (1915), “The Bridge” (1916), “In our Synagogue” (1920-22).
Other pieces explore the futility and bewildering oppressiveness of social life. “In the City” (1911, similar to “The Judgement”) shows a student struggling to tell his father a brilliant idea—the story ends without revealing what the idea is. Later, in “Advocates” (1922, a few years after The Trial), Kafka satirises labyrinthine legal systems where “the prosecutors, those wily foxes”, outmanoeuvre an unwieldy phalanx of lawyers (Loc. 1727). “Building the Great Wall of China” (1917) begins as an inquiry into why the wall was built in disconnected pieces. It concludes with the image of an imperial message travelling through endless palace chambers and never reaching its recipient.
Several stories also feature enigmatic or incomplete events. In “New Lamps” (1917), a man argues with his boss about lamps used in a mine—the dialogue takes a sharp, ironic turn when the boss threatens to convert the mineshaft into a drawing room where the miners can die “in patent leather slippers” (Loc. 1331). In “The Vulture” (1920), Kafka offers a harrowing vignette where the vulture’s victim (Prometheus?) appears to be shot in the mouth by a bullet-like raptor. Kafka also considers other myths and literary figures in “Hunter Gracchus” (1916, cf. the legend of the Flying Dutchman), “The Truth about Sancho Panza” (1917, cf. Don Quixote), “The Silence of the Sirens”, “Poseidon”(1917/1920, cf. The Odyssey), and “Our City Coat of Arms” (1920, cf. Genesis 11).
The collection’s crown jewel is the novella-length title story, “The Burrow” (1923-24, unfinished). The tale is narrated by a nameless rodent-like creature (a badger? or a mole?) who tirelessly excavates an elaborate underground labyrinth for safety. But the bunker intended as a refuge becomes a prison as phantom noises arouse his paranoia. Kafka’s biographer Reiner Stach suggests the claustrophobic atmosphere reflects the isolation Kafka felt while dying of tuberculosis when he wrote it. At any rate, the story progresses into a hallucinatory state where the narrator’s ruminations on securing his lair blend with a growing terror of the world around it. The story ends abruptly, mid-sentence.
Emerging from these tales into the light of day may leave you feeling that the earth has shifted under your feet.
May 7, 2019
EDIT: Now I see, after a bit of reading, that the ‘review’ I have below is a pretty terrible (and an irresponsible) one. It’s really hard to judge translations. I know I probably will never learn German, and Kafka is very important [for me, personally, but I hate talking about myself all the time], hence the torment of navigating through different translations. Grateful to have them all. I find something I like in each of these (and other) translations—often a sentence that’s better here or there than anywhere else. I could only try to imagine what Kafka really wrote. Sorry for not being so helpful.
the old ‘review’: On the different translations of Kafka’s stories (there are others):
Muir (Schocken): Actually quite good, it has maybe a few mistakes here and there, but that shouldn’t bother you too much. It is a bit ‘proper’ though.
Crick (Oxford Classics): I got the impression that Crick is Kafka’s most faithful translator, as far as closeness to the actual German text is concerned. On the other hand, the translation does feel a bit rigid, and readability does suffer a bit. I did find one or two mistakes, but those are editor’s mistakes. The question is, what would Kafka think if he was alive now?
Hofmann (The Burrow and Other Stories, Kafka’s unpublished stories, Penguin): If Kafka had written this now, in English, then this might be the closest translation to that. Hofmann may be least concerned about the implications of ‘rewriting’ Kafka’s sentences, but all translations are like that anyways. For the most part, his translation reads well, sometimes you run into weird sentences, then you’d have to consult the other translations. His Metamorphosis and Other Stories (translation of Kafka’s published work) might be slightly different, I’d have to look at that again. (I didn’t like his rendering of the well-known first sentence of Metamorphosis for example, the way he ended the sentence with “in his bed,” but that’s just one sentence.)
So there isn’t one translation that is better than all the others. Sometimes the Muirs’ translation of a particular sentence is the best; sometimes Crick’s, sometimes Hofmann’s. As far as overall ‘feel’ is concerned, these are quite different. I would say, if you only know the Muir translation, for example, do check out Hofmann especially. I would still be on the lookout for new translations.
NOTE: I’m so disappointed with these reviews of Kafka’s stories here and on Amazon, complaining about how some of these stories are ‘incomplete,’ as if these are plot-driven works that require neat endings. Kafka’s ‘unfinished’ work is far better than most contemporary fiction, as far as I am concerned. I think a lot of people see only what’s on the surface, i.e. reading a story through a character’s or the narrator’s eyes. Take a step back, and you would see that Kafka is a prankster, although deep down he is quite serious.
The first few sentences of ‘The Burrow’:
Muir: “I have completed the construction of my burrow and it seems to be successful. All that can be seen from outside is a big hole; that, however, really leads nowhere; if you take a few steps you strike against natural firm rock. I can make no boast of having contrived this ruse intentionally; it is simply the remains of one of my many abortive building attempts, but finally it seemed to me advisable to leave this one hole without filling it in.”
Crick: “I have fitted out the burrow and it seems to have turned out well. From the outside only a great hollow is actually visible, but this leads nowhere in reality, for after only a few steps you come up against solid natural rock. I won’t boast that I carried this stratagem out on purpose, rather it was the relic of my many failed attempts at building a burrow, but in the end it seemed useful to leave this one hollow uncovered.”
Hofmann: “The burrow is my own design, and I’m happy with the way it’s turned out. The only visible trace of it from outside is a big hole, but that in fact goes nowhere; after a couple of feet you encounter bedrock. I don’t want to claim it was done that way on purpose, it’s just what was left over from one of my many false starts, but in the end I thought it would be a good ruse to leave this one hole unfilled.”
the old ‘review’: On the different translations of Kafka’s stories (there are others):
Muir (Schocken): Actually quite good, it has maybe a few mistakes here and there, but that shouldn’t bother you too much. It is a bit ‘proper’ though.
Crick (Oxford Classics): I got the impression that Crick is Kafka’s most faithful translator, as far as closeness to the actual German text is concerned. On the other hand, the translation does feel a bit rigid, and readability does suffer a bit. I did find one or two mistakes, but those are editor’s mistakes. The question is, what would Kafka think if he was alive now?
Hofmann (The Burrow and Other Stories, Kafka’s unpublished stories, Penguin): If Kafka had written this now, in English, then this might be the closest translation to that. Hofmann may be least concerned about the implications of ‘rewriting’ Kafka’s sentences, but all translations are like that anyways. For the most part, his translation reads well, sometimes you run into weird sentences, then you’d have to consult the other translations. His Metamorphosis and Other Stories (translation of Kafka’s published work) might be slightly different, I’d have to look at that again. (I didn’t like his rendering of the well-known first sentence of Metamorphosis for example, the way he ended the sentence with “in his bed,” but that’s just one sentence.)
So there isn’t one translation that is better than all the others. Sometimes the Muirs’ translation of a particular sentence is the best; sometimes Crick’s, sometimes Hofmann’s. As far as overall ‘feel’ is concerned, these are quite different. I would say, if you only know the Muir translation, for example, do check out Hofmann especially. I would still be on the lookout for new translations.
NOTE: I’m so disappointed with these reviews of Kafka’s stories here and on Amazon, complaining about how some of these stories are ‘incomplete,’ as if these are plot-driven works that require neat endings. Kafka’s ‘unfinished’ work is far better than most contemporary fiction, as far as I am concerned. I think a lot of people see only what’s on the surface, i.e. reading a story through a character’s or the narrator’s eyes. Take a step back, and you would see that Kafka is a prankster, although deep down he is quite serious.
The first few sentences of ‘The Burrow’:
Muir: “I have completed the construction of my burrow and it seems to be successful. All that can be seen from outside is a big hole; that, however, really leads nowhere; if you take a few steps you strike against natural firm rock. I can make no boast of having contrived this ruse intentionally; it is simply the remains of one of my many abortive building attempts, but finally it seemed to me advisable to leave this one hole without filling it in.”
Crick: “I have fitted out the burrow and it seems to have turned out well. From the outside only a great hollow is actually visible, but this leads nowhere in reality, for after only a few steps you come up against solid natural rock. I won’t boast that I carried this stratagem out on purpose, rather it was the relic of my many failed attempts at building a burrow, but in the end it seemed useful to leave this one hollow uncovered.”
Hofmann: “The burrow is my own design, and I’m happy with the way it’s turned out. The only visible trace of it from outside is a big hole, but that in fact goes nowhere; after a couple of feet you encounter bedrock. I don’t want to claim it was done that way on purpose, it’s just what was left over from one of my many false starts, but in the end I thought it would be a good ruse to leave this one hole unfilled.”
December 5, 2016
'An unquiet mind, an uncertain sense of self, unclean appetites, bad habits': this quotation from the title story of the collection offers a summary of the quintessential Kafka.
Paranoia, unease and nightmares chart the weird contours of his imagination. From the thing that inhabits the burrow that shifts from secure sanctuary to potential trap, to the grotesque triumph of mutual destruction in The Vulture, these are dark and poisonous pieces of writing.
Some are stories, others mere fragments of writing, many unresolved - but they accumulate to provide a commentary on the psychic insecurity of twentieth century humanity.
Anyone new to Kafka would be better off going straight to either The Trial or Metamorphosis: this posthumous collection is strictly for fans.
Review from an ARC via Amazon Vine
Paranoia, unease and nightmares chart the weird contours of his imagination. From the thing that inhabits the burrow that shifts from secure sanctuary to potential trap, to the grotesque triumph of mutual destruction in The Vulture, these are dark and poisonous pieces of writing.
Some are stories, others mere fragments of writing, many unresolved - but they accumulate to provide a commentary on the psychic insecurity of twentieth century humanity.
Anyone new to Kafka would be better off going straight to either The Trial or Metamorphosis: this posthumous collection is strictly for fans.
Review from an ARC via Amazon Vine
Read
January 19, 2023reading kafka fragments is great because you can never tell if a story is unfinished or if that's just where it ends.
a great selection, special shoutout to "investigations of a dog" which is much longer and worse than every other story and achieves something kafka could never manage in any of his other work, actually making you feel like you are a kafka protagonist, dominated by thoughts of "surely this can't be the whole thing, it must be continuing for a reason, maybe i am in the wrong, when does it end" 10/10
a great selection, special shoutout to "investigations of a dog" which is much longer and worse than every other story and achieves something kafka could never manage in any of his other work, actually making you feel like you are a kafka protagonist, dominated by thoughts of "surely this can't be the whole thing, it must be continuing for a reason, maybe i am in the wrong, when does it end" 10/10
January 6, 2025
"I would be perfectly happy if only I could succeed in resolving my own inner turmoil. Once again, I allow myself to be drawn away by my passages, I come to others, even more remote, that I have not seen since my return and are still untouched by my scrabbling claws. "
Franz Kafka 'The Burrow'.
This quote sums up how I feel about Kafka's writing in this collection.
The words feel like they have been scrabbled together letter by letter by someone full of turmoil and anxiety. These pages ripple with dread. You feel it.
There are two main ways Kafka gets this across for myself:
1) Reducing human-made structures down to meaningless trivialities. He especially likes describing bureaucracy in nauseating detail to show how it's meaningless.
2) Describing how the behaviour of other animals is the same as us in a lot of ways. In the Investigations of a Dog and The Burrow especially.
I liked these philosophical messages, but the writing gets a bit repetitive for myself. A lot of the stories are simply too short as well.
It's worth having, but not exactly a page turner.
Franz Kafka 'The Burrow'.
This quote sums up how I feel about Kafka's writing in this collection.
The words feel like they have been scrabbled together letter by letter by someone full of turmoil and anxiety. These pages ripple with dread. You feel it.
There are two main ways Kafka gets this across for myself:
1) Reducing human-made structures down to meaningless trivialities. He especially likes describing bureaucracy in nauseating detail to show how it's meaningless.
2) Describing how the behaviour of other animals is the same as us in a lot of ways. In the Investigations of a Dog and The Burrow especially.
I liked these philosophical messages, but the writing gets a bit repetitive for myself. A lot of the stories are simply too short as well.
It's worth having, but not exactly a page turner.
November 1, 2022
These posthumously published short stories probably deserve a slightly lower rating, due to a lot of them feeling slightly dry, aimless and incomplete - although they were of course all literally incomplete. Nevertheless, even the weaker stories will at least make you smirk and/or marvel at Kafka’s writing ability.
There are also the stories that elevate the collection for me, which feel complete even in their incompleteness, and are incredibly amusing and intelligent.
Favourites:
-Blumfield an Elderly Bachelor (one of my favourite short stories)
-Building the Great Wall of China
-Investigations of a dog (though a bit boring)
-The Burrow
-Poseidon
-Vulture
There are also the stories that elevate the collection for me, which feel complete even in their incompleteness, and are incredibly amusing and intelligent.
Favourites:
-Blumfield an Elderly Bachelor (one of my favourite short stories)
-Building the Great Wall of China
-Investigations of a dog (though a bit boring)
-The Burrow
-Poseidon
-Vulture
July 20, 2023
4.5 stars | I really loved this book, although I’m slowly starting to realise I say that about every book I read. I wasn’t too familiar with Kafka’s actual writing style (I had only read Metamorphosis before this), but I really enjoyed it! The stories are all very creative and they also quite often make you think.
Some of the stories end abruptly; they were never finished by Kafka. But the truth is, you won’t even really know if a story was unfinished or intentionally finished there. I personally think that it even gives it a nice touch on some.
Overall a very great book and also a very great collection :).
Some of the stories end abruptly; they were never finished by Kafka. But the truth is, you won’t even really know if a story was unfinished or intentionally finished there. I personally think that it even gives it a nice touch on some.
Overall a very great book and also a very great collection :).
April 13, 2025
kafka's so paranoid, i loved him immediately 😆 (this book totally helped me replaced dostoyevsky) LMFAO but ngl, some stories are hard to get through esp the "investigations of a dog" wtf sir... but still, ily <33 looking forward to read more of his work (this is w posthumous respect)
January 26, 2022
It is a world of Kafka. In this "Kafkaesque" imaginary surrealistic world, anything can happen. Few stories like Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor, Building the Great Wall of China, The investigation of a Dog and the story, The Burrow itself. Brilliance of Kafka revealed once again.
April 10, 2019
Reading Kafka requires solitude, quiet, concentration: essentially, rare commodities in today's world. I consider myself a very focused reader, but it's foreseeable that I'll have to one day revisit the longer works in The Burrow (including the story of the same name, and Investigations of a Dog) to fully appreciate them.
Fortunately, the collection is balanced out with shorter pieces that encapsulate the bizarre starkness Kafka's known for, the dark performance-art comedy, the inconclusive and abrupt endings that linger like a wisp of smoke in the mind.
Fortunately, the collection is balanced out with shorter pieces that encapsulate the bizarre starkness Kafka's known for, the dark performance-art comedy, the inconclusive and abrupt endings that linger like a wisp of smoke in the mind.
December 4, 2023
Kafka is not Proust or Joyce or Cervantes or Shakespeare or even Dostoevsky, maybe, but at some points and at some aspects of life he is superior to all of them and truer to life.
What a man! I say, what a man! Or rather, maybe I am mistaken and he is not a man at all! He is an Übermensch, or maybe, also Untermensch. Well, at least in some of his stories and in most of the pages of this book, this underdog among the greats.
And a dog he is (Forschungen eines Hundes). And maybe even more than a dog, he is a vermin (Gregory Pansa), the father of the giant mole, despite the fact that mainly he describes the unbearable tightness of being (he, the denizen of the burrow).
But even more than all these he is an alien. Kafka you are an extra-terrestrial and your place is among the brightest stars (of literature).
Kafka creates atmosphere, which, like the true atmosphere, is not visible but it is there. Yes, he describes things but in fact describes his state of mind. One wouldn't even think that he or she reads a description of an actual world, but one also feels that it is the realism in its truest form. The absurd words "In a sense you have become my teacher too, and the mole is almost dear to me" cement the reality with their absurdity, or rather, completely serious tone or demeanour with which the absurd or contradictory reality is told or lived in it's nuances and described in an almost scientific (or deliberately pseudo-scientific) manner. In a manner also of a realistic writer which Kafka know he is not and doesn't want to be! And I must say that in this (and only few great critics have ever noticed this) Kafka is very Kafkaesque.
What a man! I say, what a man! Or rather, maybe I am mistaken and he is not a man at all! He is an Übermensch, or maybe, also Untermensch. Well, at least in some of his stories and in most of the pages of this book, this underdog among the greats.
And a dog he is (Forschungen eines Hundes). And maybe even more than a dog, he is a vermin (Gregory Pansa), the father of the giant mole, despite the fact that mainly he describes the unbearable tightness of being (he, the denizen of the burrow).
But even more than all these he is an alien. Kafka you are an extra-terrestrial and your place is among the brightest stars (of literature).
Kafka creates atmosphere, which, like the true atmosphere, is not visible but it is there. Yes, he describes things but in fact describes his state of mind. One wouldn't even think that he or she reads a description of an actual world, but one also feels that it is the realism in its truest form. The absurd words "In a sense you have become my teacher too, and the mole is almost dear to me" cement the reality with their absurdity, or rather, completely serious tone or demeanour with which the absurd or contradictory reality is told or lived in it's nuances and described in an almost scientific (or deliberately pseudo-scientific) manner. In a manner also of a realistic writer which Kafka know he is not and doesn't want to be! And I must say that in this (and only few great critics have ever noticed this) Kafka is very Kafkaesque.
December 20, 2018
Freedom! Freedom as it is on offer to us today is a wretched weed. But it's freedom of a kind, something to possess.
Concerning Kafka's posthumously-published short fiction in translation, there are two options in Penguin alone, both of which cover largely the same material. There's Malcolm Pasley's 1976 'The Great Wall of China and Other Short Works' and Michael Hofmann's 2017 'The Burrow - Posthumously Published Short Fiction'.
On this occasion I read Hofmann's, if only to have some continuity with his accompanying translation of Metamorphosis. It's a little shorter than Pasley's, mainly due to the deliberate exclusion of the 'Aphorisms' and some other pieces, for reasons outlined in his foreword.
As may be expected, much of this material is fragmentary and on balance I would not consider it as strong as that which Kafka deemed worthy (or at least worthier) of publication as collected in Metamorphosis. Even so, much of it exemplifies his unique authorial qualities.
The relatively diminutive mass of Kafka's bibliography is such that anyone with any real interest in him will want to read all of it, or at least all his prose. That being the case, this translation and collection is fit for purpose though I will leave it to the scholars and obsessives to intricately compare Hofmann's version with its forbears.
August 20, 2020
I saw an article the other day, titled 'how to read more books.' And it basically described how you had to make it a habit, and in order to do so, you ought to first read books that you like, and find easy to read.
Don't get me wrong, I liked his stories. But I can't say I liked the pages filled with an entire block of words. It was alright, but at points, the reading experience was a little tedious. I guess sometimes I just really had to hype myself up to read it.
I love Kafka's writing, though. Particularly the ones from an animal's perspective, I've come to find; Metamorphosis and the Burrow have both stuck out to me most. And I enjoyed both very much. But the some of the other short stories were a little meh.
I really ought to read his longer writings. I figured I might as well do with such little glimpses into Kafka's genuis, but it's unpolished, and I know there's better. So I'll make sure to read the Trial soon.
3 stars
Don't get me wrong, I liked his stories. But I can't say I liked the pages filled with an entire block of words. It was alright, but at points, the reading experience was a little tedious. I guess sometimes I just really had to hype myself up to read it.
I love Kafka's writing, though. Particularly the ones from an animal's perspective, I've come to find; Metamorphosis and the Burrow have both stuck out to me most. And I enjoyed both very much. But the some of the other short stories were a little meh.
I really ought to read his longer writings. I figured I might as well do with such little glimpses into Kafka's genuis, but it's unpolished, and I know there's better. So I'll make sure to read the Trial soon.
3 stars
August 26, 2018
This book excellently displays Kafka’s lively, vivid, and violent imagination. Some of his stories are hilarious, some are asphyxiating (“The Burrow” was a lengthy exercise in creeping unease and paranoia), while others were profoundly thoughtful and endlessly stimulating (“Building the Great Wall of China” and “Investigations of a Dog”). Even his extremely short—unfinished—works, some barely paragraphs, reveal an intricate, labyrinthine mind capable of spinning aloof, monumental, Escher-esque yarns out of the most improbable of ledes. Kafka was a master of world-building; often all he had to do was twist some small, insignificant aspect of reality to create new landscapes, as in the two bouncing balls which torment the elderly bachelor Blumfeld (the motif of pairs was intriguing). While perhaps not for the Kafka neophyte, a remarkable compilation nonetheless.
March 4, 2020
Kafka is not an easy read...nor did he mean to be! This collection plumbs the depths of the title story...36 pages which nearly buried me!...but rises to heights of literary brevity that border on genius...'The Troop Levy'... 'In Our Synagogue'...almost perfect.
That these were published after his death is hardly surprising; they feel like trial runs!
They have been smoothly metamorphosed into English by Michael Hofmann who clearly interprets their satirical intentions with due regard to Kafka's distorted perceptions of human foibles & weakness.
A slow progress is recommended.
That these were published after his death is hardly surprising; they feel like trial runs!
They have been smoothly metamorphosed into English by Michael Hofmann who clearly interprets their satirical intentions with due regard to Kafka's distorted perceptions of human foibles & weakness.
A slow progress is recommended.
July 17, 2024
“They didn't know what we can now sense from our contemplation of history, that the soul changes faster than life does, and that when their dog's life began to please them, they must already have had ancient souls, and they weren't as close to the starting point as maybe they thought, or as their eye, delighting in all those doggish joys, tried to convince them was the case. Who today can still speak of youth in any meaningful way?”
wszystko dobre, ale Investigations of a Dog >>
wszystko dobre, ale Investigations of a Dog >>
October 15, 2018
I liked the shorter stories most of all. I wasn't so sure about the longer ones but then reading the introduction you learn that Kafka possibly wrote the title story The Burrow in one night, towards the end of his life, knowing he was dying from pulmonary TB, and its toxic, paranoid, nightmarish tone
August 8, 2019
I love Kafka's short stories. They are concise, witty, and sketch out an idea or feeling with great skill. This book contains 10 (ten!) of Kafka's tales that I had never read before! Each one was fascinating. Well done to the editor and translator for unearthing these.
I would also recommend "Collected Stories", published by Everyman in a beautiful hardback edition.
I would also recommend "Collected Stories", published by Everyman in a beautiful hardback edition.
January 16, 2023
I found this interesting to gain a peek into his writing process and it was comforting to find some silly little stories that were hardly finished if not barely even started. However, some were a real pain to get through, like the “Investigations of a Dog.” My favorites were “Consolidation,” “Blumfield, An Elderly Bachelor,” and the title story “The Burrow,” which was amazingly paranoid.
August 19, 2023
as my first experience with kafka, i found myself enjoying the short stories a lot. generally, i don’t think short stories are my thing, but i don’t say that too maliciously — they were fine to me, but nothing i got emotionally attached to. his writing style did make up most of why i gave it four stars, in full honesty.
December 8, 2022
i want to own this book so bad in hardback and flip through it and read a small story when i'm angry at the world. I AM NOW ENLIGHTENED AND A BETTER PERSON TOO
thanks kafka for giving life meaning
even if there is none :( these slayed
thanks kafka for giving life meaning
even if there is none :( these slayed
August 30, 2024
The problem with a short story collection is that some of them aren’t going to work for you, and I hate to say it but a lot of these really didn’t work at all for me, even if I can appreciate what they were aiming for.
My favourite story was definitely Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor
My favourite story was definitely Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor
April 26, 2020
Absolutely brilliant, magical, remarkable, singular collection of short stories. I've never read anything like it. I think I finally get Kafka now. I'm going to have to reread the novels.
November 16, 2020
My favourite stories from this are 'The Bridge' and 'Poseidon'
September 5, 2022
V cool i didn't know the burrow was left unfinished 3.5 stars but idk how to put 3.5
November 7, 2023
astonishingly boring. it took me 11 months to read basically a collection of one-page short stories & for that i blame kafka's intensely dull prose
November 15, 2023
3.5
Best stories: Texts on the Hunter Gracchus Theme, Building the Great Wall of China, The Burrow.
Best stories: Texts on the Hunter Gracchus Theme, Building the Great Wall of China, The Burrow.
January 27, 2024
Kafka makes life with his writing.
September 12, 2024
kafka we get it u were miserable
January 14, 2025
the burrow it's a fever dream, so much paranoia.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews