What do you think?
Rate this book
Ein Landarzt
Dieser Band versammelt Erzählungen und Kurzprosa von Franz Kafka aus den Jahren 1916 bis 1924: die Sammlungen Ein Landarzt und Ein Hungerkünstler sowie die bedeutendsten kurzen Texte aus dem Nachlass.
112 pages, Hardcover
Published October 13, 2016
24 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Franz Kafka
3,224 books38.6k 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 - 20 of 20 reviews
Read
July 23, 2018Well that was stranger than I had expected.
Maybe a day when I pushed myself awake from a strange dream which featured Juche and I then spent much of the day waiting for buses which ran to their own timetables, in order to wait in hospitals for a Doctor to decide that what was needed, was some more waiting, was not the best day to start a collection of Kafka stories, or perhaps it was ideal, making the experience multi-sensory, a lot of Kafka can be summed up as being about waiting. At least I didn't feel that I was an ape, though that might have only been because no body offered me any fruit or a broad leafed tree to nest in, though to be fair I wasn't doing a lot of barring my teeth, or climbing the walls.
I get the feeling that there ought to be recommended limits to the amount of Kafka that one can safely consume within any 24 hour period, one probably doesn't want to reach a point of oneness with him in which his strangeness becomes natural and self-evident, in the absence of safety warnings from National or International councils for the responsible consumption of Literature I feel this little collection can be knocked back with no ill effects, though possibly not if operating heavy machinery or in an advanced state of pregnancy.
Although apparently an original collection released in Kafka's own lifetime, it felt a very mixed bag. The title story of the Country Doctor felt firmly to be in the territory of The Castle, both dream like and obsessive in its sense of sexual threat to the Doctor's maid, yet at the same time the conscious mind feels that probably was a real threat to the real women in Domestic Service, just in his story everything is dreamlike, or at least like my own dreams - a flowing narrative of what feels to be significant nonsense.
Before the Law for me put another nail in the coffin of reading Kafka as some kind of herald of 20th century totalitarianism Der Türhüter erkennt, daß der Mann schon an seinen Ende ist, und, um sein vergehendes Gehör noch zu erreichen, brüllt er ihn an: Hier konnte niemand sonst einlaß erhalten, denn dieser Eingang war nur für dich bestimmt. Ich gehe jetzt und schließe ihn(p.32). This is Kafka the mystical writer, specifically I guess in a central European Jewish mystical tradition, but no doubt open to be read by all of a suitably mystical inclination. All this waiting is about God, and presumably in the background is union with God. Naturally one can't say such a thing, so instead there is waiting for an inexpressible thing, and one is denied for reaching ones objective because one can't grasp how their is nothing preventing that union with the Divine save for one's own conception that one is not already in Divine union (or spiritual Brexit, as I will think of it from now on). Perhaps finding deep religiosity in Kafka is more shocking than trite totalitarianism.
The form of some of these stories seems incredibly brave, they are so elusive, so brief, literary equivalents to atonal music, or non-figurative art. Deliberately fragmentary, tending to convey a state of mind or feeling, words here dislocate rather than communicate, more than passing strange. Yet on a day spent waiting to be told to wait, life itself seems only a pale imitation of Kafka.
Maybe a day when I pushed myself awake from a strange dream which featured Juche and I then spent much of the day waiting for buses which ran to their own timetables, in order to wait in hospitals for a Doctor to decide that what was needed, was some more waiting, was not the best day to start a collection of Kafka stories, or perhaps it was ideal, making the experience multi-sensory, a lot of Kafka can be summed up as being about waiting. At least I didn't feel that I was an ape, though that might have only been because no body offered me any fruit or a broad leafed tree to nest in, though to be fair I wasn't doing a lot of barring my teeth, or climbing the walls.
I get the feeling that there ought to be recommended limits to the amount of Kafka that one can safely consume within any 24 hour period, one probably doesn't want to reach a point of oneness with him in which his strangeness becomes natural and self-evident, in the absence of safety warnings from National or International councils for the responsible consumption of Literature I feel this little collection can be knocked back with no ill effects, though possibly not if operating heavy machinery or in an advanced state of pregnancy.
Although apparently an original collection released in Kafka's own lifetime, it felt a very mixed bag. The title story of the Country Doctor felt firmly to be in the territory of The Castle, both dream like and obsessive in its sense of sexual threat to the Doctor's maid, yet at the same time the conscious mind feels that probably was a real threat to the real women in Domestic Service, just in his story everything is dreamlike, or at least like my own dreams - a flowing narrative of what feels to be significant nonsense.
Before the Law for me put another nail in the coffin of reading Kafka as some kind of herald of 20th century totalitarianism Der Türhüter erkennt, daß der Mann schon an seinen Ende ist, und, um sein vergehendes Gehör noch zu erreichen, brüllt er ihn an: Hier konnte niemand sonst einlaß erhalten, denn dieser Eingang war nur für dich bestimmt. Ich gehe jetzt und schließe ihn(p.32). This is Kafka the mystical writer, specifically I guess in a central European Jewish mystical tradition, but no doubt open to be read by all of a suitably mystical inclination. All this waiting is about God, and presumably in the background is union with God. Naturally one can't say such a thing, so instead there is waiting for an inexpressible thing, and one is denied for reaching ones objective because one can't grasp how their is nothing preventing that union with the Divine save for one's own conception that one is not already in Divine union (or spiritual Brexit, as I will think of it from now on). Perhaps finding deep religiosity in Kafka is more shocking than trite totalitarianism.
The form of some of these stories seems incredibly brave, they are so elusive, so brief, literary equivalents to atonal music, or non-figurative art. Deliberately fragmentary, tending to convey a state of mind or feeling, words here dislocate rather than communicate, more than passing strange. Yet on a day spent waiting to be told to wait, life itself seems only a pale imitation of Kafka.
November 4, 2025
Wunderlich-absurde Anekdoten mit Fragezeichen.
May 3, 2008
I read this fucker in German. Real Deutsch! It took almost 3 months.
October 24, 2022
Obwohl ich bekanntermaßen kein allzu großer Fan von Der Verwandlung bin, wollte ich Kafka noch eine Chance geben. Oder, eigentlich habe ich mich dazu genötigt gefühlt.
Ihr seht, ich war neulich als Graduation-trip in Prag und als wir dort die Burg besichtigt haben, sind wir auch durch die Goldene Gasse geschlendert. Im Häuschen Nummer 22 hat Kafka im Winter 1916/17 die Erzählungen, die später einmal Der Landarzt ergeben sollten, geschrieben. Und wenn sich schon einmal die Gelegenheit bietet ein Buch an dem Ort zu erwerben, an dem es einst entstanden ist, ergreift man sie natürlich. Ich habe es jedenfalls getan.
Zum Buch selbst:
Kafkas Schreibstil besteht aus sehr vielen kurzen, asyndetisch angeordneten Hauptsätzen oder aber ein einzelner Satz beinhaltet unzählige Gliedsätze. Und ohne seinen enormen Einfluss auf die Weltliteratur schmälern zu wollen, ich kann mit diesem Stil nichts anfangen. Einerseits fühlt sich die Geschichte sehr verwirrend an, die Handlung und Deutung gehen zeitweise weit über meinem Kopf vorüber. Andererseits wirkt die Geschichte trotz der vielen Metaphern und unterschiedlichen Interpretationsansätze dennoch sehr direkt, sogar ein wenig trocken.
Von der Art her ist Ein Landarzt eine Kurzgeschichtensammlung, weswegen mir, wie immer bei dieser Art Buch, manche mehr zugesagt haben als andere. Die Länge variiert auch sehr stark. Manche Geschichten sind nur einige Zeilen lang, andere wiederum 10-15 Seiten. Die Thematik ist in auch niemals die selbe und so wirkt das ganze eher zusammengewürfelt, ohne irgendeinen inhaltlichen Zusammenhang.
Auch wenn Kafka sich mit Der Landarzt für mich also nicht rehabilitiert hat, bin ich trotzdem froh es gekauft zu haben, da es mir mehr um das Erinnerungsstück an eine schöne Reise, als um das Buch an sich geht. Und dass es nicht so verstörend wie die Verwandlung war, ist ein zusätzlicher Bonus.
—> 2 stars
Ihr seht, ich war neulich als Graduation-trip in Prag und als wir dort die Burg besichtigt haben, sind wir auch durch die Goldene Gasse geschlendert. Im Häuschen Nummer 22 hat Kafka im Winter 1916/17 die Erzählungen, die später einmal Der Landarzt ergeben sollten, geschrieben. Und wenn sich schon einmal die Gelegenheit bietet ein Buch an dem Ort zu erwerben, an dem es einst entstanden ist, ergreift man sie natürlich. Ich habe es jedenfalls getan.
Zum Buch selbst:
Kafkas Schreibstil besteht aus sehr vielen kurzen, asyndetisch angeordneten Hauptsätzen oder aber ein einzelner Satz beinhaltet unzählige Gliedsätze. Und ohne seinen enormen Einfluss auf die Weltliteratur schmälern zu wollen, ich kann mit diesem Stil nichts anfangen. Einerseits fühlt sich die Geschichte sehr verwirrend an, die Handlung und Deutung gehen zeitweise weit über meinem Kopf vorüber. Andererseits wirkt die Geschichte trotz der vielen Metaphern und unterschiedlichen Interpretationsansätze dennoch sehr direkt, sogar ein wenig trocken.
Von der Art her ist Ein Landarzt eine Kurzgeschichtensammlung, weswegen mir, wie immer bei dieser Art Buch, manche mehr zugesagt haben als andere. Die Länge variiert auch sehr stark. Manche Geschichten sind nur einige Zeilen lang, andere wiederum 10-15 Seiten. Die Thematik ist in auch niemals die selbe und so wirkt das ganze eher zusammengewürfelt, ohne irgendeinen inhaltlichen Zusammenhang.
Auch wenn Kafka sich mit Der Landarzt für mich also nicht rehabilitiert hat, bin ich trotzdem froh es gekauft zu haben, da es mir mehr um das Erinnerungsstück an eine schöne Reise, als um das Buch an sich geht. Und dass es nicht so verstörend wie die Verwandlung war, ist ein zusätzlicher Bonus.
—> 2 stars
March 30, 2025
Quasi wie Blockpraktikum Allgemeinmedizin.
October 5, 2010
I didn't read everything that's in this book, but I guess we had to read about 50-60% for German Lit. class so I'm adding this. We read some of the more famous stories like "Die Verwandlung", "Das Urteil" and "Vor Dem Gesetz" (which can also be read in "Der Prozeß") but also quite a few of the other stories ("Brief Für Eine Akademie", "Der Hungerkünstler" etc.). So a fair collection. The book itself really is that - a good collection of various things Kafka published while he was still alive and can be deemed finished.
I'm just not sure how to rate this. I can't deny that Kafka was a genius when it comes to writing, the storytelling is exquisite in that there are so many interpretations that could be given to the texts which is quite wonderful. If you want to discuss the endless possibilities, you'll have enough to do to last you a lifetime. Also the word choice is extraordinary at times.
I still can't say I enjoyed it. I guess the stories weren't meant to be enjoyed, but I disliked the general vibe from all of them. Still I've decided on a 3-star rating because the writing actually was really good.. just not my taste.
I'm just not sure how to rate this. I can't deny that Kafka was a genius when it comes to writing, the storytelling is exquisite in that there are so many interpretations that could be given to the texts which is quite wonderful. If you want to discuss the endless possibilities, you'll have enough to do to last you a lifetime. Also the word choice is extraordinary at times.
I still can't say I enjoyed it. I guess the stories weren't meant to be enjoyed, but I disliked the general vibe from all of them. Still I've decided on a 3-star rating because the writing actually was really good.. just not my taste.
August 22, 2025
Some I've read before in English, as wonderful as ever: 'Das Urteil' (which struck me particularly powerfully this time), 'Die Verwandlung', 'In der Strafkolonie', 'Vor dem Gesetz', 'Das nächste Dorf', 'Ein kaiserliche Botschaft'.
Some I hadn't previously read that are new favourites: 'Der Fahrgast', 'Ein Landarzt', 'Auf der Galerie', 'Die Sorge des Hausvaters', 'Erstes Leid', 'Eine kleine Frau', 'Ein Hungerkünstler', 'Josefine, die Sängerin'.
The stories from the early collection Betrachtung, and the bits and pieces from magazine publications, are only intermittently engaging. Everything else in here is gold.
Some I hadn't previously read that are new favourites: 'Der Fahrgast', 'Ein Landarzt', 'Auf der Galerie', 'Die Sorge des Hausvaters', 'Erstes Leid', 'Eine kleine Frau', 'Ein Hungerkünstler', 'Josefine, die Sängerin'.
The stories from the early collection Betrachtung, and the bits and pieces from magazine publications, are only intermittently engaging. Everything else in here is gold.
December 3, 2023
Meine Lieblingsgeschichten:
- Vor dem Gesetz
- Ein Landartz
- Ein Berich für eine Akademie
- Vor dem Gesetz
- Ein Landartz
- Ein Berich für eine Akademie
July 5, 2013
HILF MIR!!!!
February 7, 2025
Das eigentliche Buch ist nicht auf Goodreads hinterlegt und heißt "Franz Kafka * Erzählungen" von RECLAM. Darin enthalten sind:
- Gespräch mit dem Beter
- Gespräch mit dem Betrunkenen
- Großer Lärm
- Der Erzählband "Betrachtung"
- Das Urteil
- Die Verwandlung
- In der Strafkolonie
- Der Erzählband "Ein Landarzt"
- Der Kübelreiter
- Erzählungen aus dem Nachlass
Bis auf den Kübelreiter und die Erzählungen aus dem Nachlass habe ich auch alle Geschichten aus diesem Buch gelesen und mich durch die jeweiligen Interpretation, die zu den Geschichten im Netz auffindbar waren, gedacht. Am spannendsten für mich war die Erzählung "Ein Landarzt", in welcher Kafka das erste Mal in seiner Autorengeschichte phantastische Elemente verwendet, die den Interpretationsspielraum enorm erweitern. Das hat mich fasziniert und motiviert, sogar eine kurze literarische Seminararbeit der Uni Marburg, welche die Erzählung wissenschaftlich analysiert, zu lesen.
Generell kann ich allen Erzählungen von Kafka etwas abgewinnen und jede einzelne hat ihren eigenen Charm und selbst sehr kurze Geschichten schaffen es, den Gehirnapparat ordentlich zum Laufen zu bringen. Allerdings bin ich nicht der größte Fan von diesen sehr kurzen Geschichten, da ich stets tiefer eintauchen möchte und das Lesen von Interpretationen auf Dauer den Lesespaß beeinträchtigt.
- Gespräch mit dem Beter
- Gespräch mit dem Betrunkenen
- Großer Lärm
- Der Erzählband "Betrachtung"
- Das Urteil
- Die Verwandlung
- In der Strafkolonie
- Der Erzählband "Ein Landarzt"
- Der Kübelreiter
- Erzählungen aus dem Nachlass
Bis auf den Kübelreiter und die Erzählungen aus dem Nachlass habe ich auch alle Geschichten aus diesem Buch gelesen und mich durch die jeweiligen Interpretation, die zu den Geschichten im Netz auffindbar waren, gedacht. Am spannendsten für mich war die Erzählung "Ein Landarzt", in welcher Kafka das erste Mal in seiner Autorengeschichte phantastische Elemente verwendet, die den Interpretationsspielraum enorm erweitern. Das hat mich fasziniert und motiviert, sogar eine kurze literarische Seminararbeit der Uni Marburg, welche die Erzählung wissenschaftlich analysiert, zu lesen.
Generell kann ich allen Erzählungen von Kafka etwas abgewinnen und jede einzelne hat ihren eigenen Charm und selbst sehr kurze Geschichten schaffen es, den Gehirnapparat ordentlich zum Laufen zu bringen. Allerdings bin ich nicht der größte Fan von diesen sehr kurzen Geschichten, da ich stets tiefer eintauchen möchte und das Lesen von Interpretationen auf Dauer den Lesespaß beeinträchtigt.
November 6, 2024
"A Hunger Artist" collection of stories was a bit underwhelming, everything else was pretty great though. Loved to read through all the little stories, short and sweet. I had to read the all the interprations available on Wikipedia after each story.
May 5, 2025
die landarzt erählsammlung hat mir wirklich sehr gut gefallen!! da steckt viel mehr drin als man zu erst denkt, vor allem wenn man letztendlich den unsichtbaren zusammenhang zwischen den erzählungen findet! i love horses 💓
February 22, 2021
Its Kafka man, what more can be said??
November 8, 2023
strong 4!
particularly loved 20/33 stories in this one
particularly loved 20/33 stories in this one
January 20, 2017
“A Country Doctor” and Other Writings by Franz Kafka
Hebrew review follows ביקורת בעברית בהמשך
It's difficult to review such a classic. This includes everything Kafka published in his lifetime, which does not include his Novels.
Some of these stories are still as fresh now as they ever were. The short stories "The Metamorphosis" and "In the Penal Colony" are a must read and so are some of the shorter pieces such as "A Report to an Academy" and many of the stories in Country Doctor are also piercing. Others are much more difficult to follow, some being plain boring. Overall, I think they are worth reading if only for the influence they all have on culture.
הספר כולל את כל הכתבים שקפקא פירסם בימי חייו, מה שאומר שהוא אינו כולל את הרומנים שלו.
קשה לכתוב ביקורת על קלאסיקה שכזו. חלק מהסיפורים עדיין רעננים כאילו נכתבו היום הסיפורים הקצרים "הגלגול" ו"במושבת העונשין" הם חובה לקרוא וכך גם כמה משאר הכתבים הקצרים כגון כגון "דין וחשבון לאקדמיה" ורוב הסיפורים בקובץ "רופא כפרי" שהם נוקבים וחזקים. קטעים אחרים הם הרבה יותר קשהעם לעקיבה וכמה פשוט משעממים. בסך הכל, אני חושב שהדבר היחיד שאני יכול להגיד הוא שהספר שווה קריאה ולו רק בגלל ההשפעה העצומה שיש לו על התרבות שלנו. שווה לעבור גם את הקטעים הפחות טובים בשביל לצאת עם המטען הזה הלאה.
Hebrew review follows ביקורת בעברית בהמשך
It's difficult to review such a classic. This includes everything Kafka published in his lifetime, which does not include his Novels.
Some of these stories are still as fresh now as they ever were. The short stories "The Metamorphosis" and "In the Penal Colony" are a must read and so are some of the shorter pieces such as "A Report to an Academy" and many of the stories in Country Doctor are also piercing. Others are much more difficult to follow, some being plain boring. Overall, I think they are worth reading if only for the influence they all have on culture.
הספר כולל את כל הכתבים שקפקא פירסם בימי חייו, מה שאומר שהוא אינו כולל את הרומנים שלו.
קשה לכתוב ביקורת על קלאסיקה שכזו. חלק מהסיפורים עדיין רעננים כאילו נכתבו היום הסיפורים הקצרים "הגלגול" ו"במושבת העונשין" הם חובה לקרוא וכך גם כמה משאר הכתבים הקצרים כגון כגון "דין וחשבון לאקדמיה" ורוב הסיפורים בקובץ "רופא כפרי" שהם נוקבים וחזקים. קטעים אחרים הם הרבה יותר קשהעם לעקיבה וכמה פשוט משעממים. בסך הכל, אני חושב שהדבר היחיד שאני יכול להגיד הוא שהספר שווה קריאה ולו רק בגלל ההשפעה העצומה שיש לו על התרבות שלנו. שווה לעבור גם את הקטעים הפחות טובים בשביל לצאת עם המטען הזה הלאה.
December 6, 2017
A Country Doctor, The Metamorphosis, and many other good stuff. Even though I generally prefer his longer stories, one cannot ignore the genius of his perceptions in most everything else he wrote. But enough research and theories were written about Kafka already for me to add anything original at this juncture. Maybe some other time...
May 25, 2020
An absolute tour-de-force. Aside from Hans Henny Jahnn, Kafka has my favorite prose style in German. Woe be the translators (and I tip my hat to them for their worthy attempts). I almost feel like anything that anyone can say about Kafka is already a cliché. No facet of human existence is safe from his ferocious imagination. These stories get into the bones of dreams and the unconscious.
October 3, 2018
Paar der Besten sind dadrin.
November 22, 2018
Was tue ich hier in diesem endlosen Winter?
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews