What do you think?
Rate this book
Clothes
- GenresClassics
Unknown Binding
1 person is currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Franz Kafka
3,212 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 19, 2018
okay
I haven't read much of Kafka's works but I can say this..... knowing him.... this short thing has nothing to do with clothes
I get the feeling that he means to say something a lot more deeper that that...it's in my head and heart but for some why I can't describe it in mere letters.
All I can say is....this Kafka lad is not easy....not easy at all...and he's not just anybody...a very special and gifted lad.
I haven't read much of Kafka's works but I can say this..... knowing him.... this short thing has nothing to do with clothes
I get the feeling that he means to say something a lot more deeper that that...it's in my head and heart but for some why I can't describe it in mere letters.
All I can say is....this Kafka lad is not easy....not easy at all...and he's not just anybody...a very special and gifted lad.
July 6, 2019
Well, I believe everyone has their own interpretation of a Kafka story...because he's somewhat unpredictable by himself. He leaves something for you to think about at the end of every story, and I find that amusing.
So here goes my interpretation of the short story.
Kafka here describes how beautiful and diverse clothes are, and how even the prettiest dresses get old and lose their beauty. And that's why, we don't usually wear a pretty dress everyday.
But there is a cloth that we have to wear every single day. We face the world with a smiling face, being polite, abiding by the rules, communicating with the ones around us, smiling and happy and everything courageous, and beautiful. Everyone else thinks they know who we are, and we let them believe they do.
But sometimes, only sometimes, a part of us breaks. We see our real reflections in the mirror, all worn out from being who we aren't, not knowing who we are, exhausted, clueless. That face that we put on everyday is now unwearable, worn out, recognized by too many people who never recognized it for real.
Kafka didn't say what happens next. He keeps you hanging with that awful feeling of a night when you're too tired to be who you've been all these times. And the feeling crushes you, you know it does.
So here goes my interpretation of the short story.
Kafka here describes how beautiful and diverse clothes are, and how even the prettiest dresses get old and lose their beauty. And that's why, we don't usually wear a pretty dress everyday.
But there is a cloth that we have to wear every single day. We face the world with a smiling face, being polite, abiding by the rules, communicating with the ones around us, smiling and happy and everything courageous, and beautiful. Everyone else thinks they know who we are, and we let them believe they do.
But sometimes, only sometimes, a part of us breaks. We see our real reflections in the mirror, all worn out from being who we aren't, not knowing who we are, exhausted, clueless. That face that we put on everyday is now unwearable, worn out, recognized by too many people who never recognized it for real.
Kafka didn't say what happens next. He keeps you hanging with that awful feeling of a night when you're too tired to be who you've been all these times. And the feeling crushes you, you know it does.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 21, 2021
I love this despite how short and seemingly nonsensical it is. So much is said with so little. A bit of writing worth pondering and rereading regularly.
December 26, 2025
an appearance of things may be temporary and worn out eventually but as human the mask one has to wear in society to be accepted, to be loved and to fit it, never wears off completely- one can only hope to find that peace of living and accepting oneself and being happy
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 28, 2024
I just started reading Kafka, I am just starting to know what all his story can mean.
December 28, 2025
Better on a reread
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews