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Unglücklichsein
"Unglücklichsein" ist eine Erzählung von Franz Kafka, die 1912 im Rahmen des Sammelbandes "Betrachtung" erschien. In der Erzählung geht es um einen irrealen Besuch bei einem einsamen, unglücklichen Mann. Der Ich-Erzähler berichtet in der Vergangenheitsform von einem Abend im November. Er sei damals unruhig in seinem Zimmer hin- und hergelaufen, sei in konfuser Stimmung gewesen und habe erwogen, noch einmal auszugehen. Da sei aus dem Korridor ein kindliches Gespenst aufgetaucht. Der Erzähler sei noch aufgeregter geworden und habe kaum glauben können, dass das Gespenst wirklich zu ihm wollte. Dieses habe ihn beruhigt, alles sei schon richtig. Im nun einsetzenden Gespräch hätten sich die beiden nicht verständigen können. Erst sei es darum gegangen, ob eine Tür zu bzw. verschlossen war oder sein muss. Das Gespenst habe nicht gewollt, dass der Erzähler so viel Aufhebens machte. Nach einem regelrechten Disput sei das Gespräch abgebrochen.
17 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1912
26 people are currently reading
111 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 - 30 of 31 reviews
November 20, 2025
"I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy", Kafka wrote in his diary on January 20, 1922 – an observation which is uncannily in tune with the breathless opening sentences of this short story:
When it was becoming unbearable – once toward evening in November – and I ran along the narrow strip of carpet in my room as on a racetrack, shrank from the sight of the lit-up street, then turning to the interior of the room found a new goal in the depths of the looking glass and screamed aloud, to hear only my own scream which met no answer nor anything that could draw its force away, so that it rose up without check and could not stop even when it ceased being audible, the door in the wall opened toward me, how swiftly, because swiftness was needed and even the cart horses down below on the paving stones were rising in the air like horses driven wild in a battle, their throats bare to the enemy.
The narrator’s unhappiness has become so unbearable he seems to enter in a heightened state of consciousness and self-perception. He bifurcates into himself and an apparition which looks like a ghostly personification of himself at childhood age, both selves engaging into a petulant, argumentative dialogue in which the ghost- child – real or imaginary - debunks the narrator’s attempts to hide his thoughts, pointing at the fact such is impossible as "No stranger could come any nearer to you than I am already by nature." - revealing also the narrator’s subconscious longing and fear for the feminine and the potential threat lurking in sexuality when the ghost child suddenly turns out a girl. The exploration of the dark nooks and crannies of his own mind through this outer-inner dialogue arouses and internalises an indomitable fear of the narrator’s own nightmarish thoughts. Unhappiness seems the price he has to pay for lucidity and consciousness. Fleeing his room, an encounter with another tenant of the building on the stairs elucidates the necessity to cherish, protect and feed one’s inner demons, whatever the unease and discomfort such brings – the need to feed the ghosts echoing the written kisses in his Letters to Milena which "don’t reach their destination, rather they are drunk on the way by the ghosts".
Unhappines is the 18th and last story in Kafka’s short collection Contemplation (aka as Meditation) which was published in 1912. Enigmatic, tense and dark, the story apparently alludes to some of the other stories in the collection (Children on a Country Road, The fate of the bachelor) and as I discovered reading Cecily superb review of the whole collection, features recurrent elements like horses and (glances through) windows. Because those stories come across as communicating pieces and I am far from sure what to make out of this peculiar, haunting story, it seems a good idea to read the other seventeen pieces in Contemplation rather sooner than later.
You can read the story here.
Thank you very much Mark for seducing me to read Kafka once more with your fine and atmospheric review of this story.
When it was becoming unbearable – once toward evening in November – and I ran along the narrow strip of carpet in my room as on a racetrack, shrank from the sight of the lit-up street, then turning to the interior of the room found a new goal in the depths of the looking glass and screamed aloud, to hear only my own scream which met no answer nor anything that could draw its force away, so that it rose up without check and could not stop even when it ceased being audible, the door in the wall opened toward me, how swiftly, because swiftness was needed and even the cart horses down below on the paving stones were rising in the air like horses driven wild in a battle, their throats bare to the enemy.
The narrator’s unhappiness has become so unbearable he seems to enter in a heightened state of consciousness and self-perception. He bifurcates into himself and an apparition which looks like a ghostly personification of himself at childhood age, both selves engaging into a petulant, argumentative dialogue in which the ghost- child – real or imaginary - debunks the narrator’s attempts to hide his thoughts, pointing at the fact such is impossible as "No stranger could come any nearer to you than I am already by nature." - revealing also the narrator’s subconscious longing and fear for the feminine and the potential threat lurking in sexuality when the ghost child suddenly turns out a girl. The exploration of the dark nooks and crannies of his own mind through this outer-inner dialogue arouses and internalises an indomitable fear of the narrator’s own nightmarish thoughts. Unhappiness seems the price he has to pay for lucidity and consciousness. Fleeing his room, an encounter with another tenant of the building on the stairs elucidates the necessity to cherish, protect and feed one’s inner demons, whatever the unease and discomfort such brings – the need to feed the ghosts echoing the written kisses in his Letters to Milena which "don’t reach their destination, rather they are drunk on the way by the ghosts".
Unhappines is the 18th and last story in Kafka’s short collection Contemplation (aka as Meditation) which was published in 1912. Enigmatic, tense and dark, the story apparently alludes to some of the other stories in the collection (Children on a Country Road, The fate of the bachelor) and as I discovered reading Cecily superb review of the whole collection, features recurrent elements like horses and (glances through) windows. Because those stories come across as communicating pieces and I am far from sure what to make out of this peculiar, haunting story, it seems a good idea to read the other seventeen pieces in Contemplation rather sooner than later.
You can read the story here.
Thank you very much Mark for seducing me to read Kafka once more with your fine and atmospheric review of this story.
August 14, 2022
This Kafkaesque ghost story was indeed Kafkaesque and it’s called Unhappiness.
The narrator is an obviously unhappy man and one night he’s pacing his room on his very worn carpet when a ghost of a small boy storms in. (Note: I imagine the carpet is so worn like a racetrack – because he probably walks the same path each evening – lap after lap, after lap). This man was even so sad he questioned the ghost, asking him if he had found the right department – it seems he doesn’t believe he is worth visiting.
They argue about who should close the door. Our unhappy gentleman also sees this ghost isn’t so little and has feminine attributes – to the point of telling the apparition – “If you were a girl you might not lock yourself in a room with me”. I thought that was a bit creepy, a lot really.
Eventually, after several terse exchanges with this ghost, our miserable man leaves the room with a candle and argues with a neighbour about such things as whether one can feed a ghost, and whether ghosts exist if one doesn’t believe in them. Heady, stuff. Eventually the man goes back to his room to sleep.
If you’re after confusion, absurdity, spookiness, criminal sexual tension, and darkness. You may find this one worthwhile – it kind of reminded me of Kafka’s The Investigations of a Dog and the David Lynch movie Eraserhead.
This unpleasantly indecipherable short story can be found on ‘tinternet, like.
3 Stars
The narrator is an obviously unhappy man and one night he’s pacing his room on his very worn carpet when a ghost of a small boy storms in. (Note: I imagine the carpet is so worn like a racetrack – because he probably walks the same path each evening – lap after lap, after lap). This man was even so sad he questioned the ghost, asking him if he had found the right department – it seems he doesn’t believe he is worth visiting.
They argue about who should close the door. Our unhappy gentleman also sees this ghost isn’t so little and has feminine attributes – to the point of telling the apparition – “If you were a girl you might not lock yourself in a room with me”. I thought that was a bit creepy, a lot really.
Eventually, after several terse exchanges with this ghost, our miserable man leaves the room with a candle and argues with a neighbour about such things as whether one can feed a ghost, and whether ghosts exist if one doesn’t believe in them. Heady, stuff. Eventually the man goes back to his room to sleep.
If you’re after confusion, absurdity, spookiness, criminal sexual tension, and darkness. You may find this one worthwhile – it kind of reminded me of Kafka’s The Investigations of a Dog and the David Lynch movie Eraserhead.
This unpleasantly indecipherable short story can be found on ‘tinternet, like.
3 Stars
January 5, 2021
Breve relato de Kafka sobre la aparición de un fantasma.
Short story of Kafka about the apparition of a ghost.
Short story of Kafka about the apparition of a ghost.
June 10, 2023
Kafka meets a ghost in his room and deals with the ghostly girl in his rather relaxed Kafkaesk way. It reminded me of his description of the long line of waiting people on the staircase in The Trial.
January 30, 2017
Un relato breve. Domina el clásico clima de culpa, absurdo, horror. No es el mejor relato de Kafka, pero es igualmente universal.
September 21, 2019
Sin más.
November 15, 2020
Un relato corto de corte existencialista. Curioso.
October 17, 2021
,,[..] Und aufschreie, um nur den Schrei zu hören, dem nichts antwortet und dem auch nichts die Kraft des Schreiens nimmt, der also aufsteigt, ohne Gegengewicht, und nicht aufhören kann, selbst wenn er verstummt[...] "
,, Die eigentliche Angst ist die Angst vor der Ursache der Erscheinung. Und diese Angst bleibt. Die habe ich geradezu großartig in mir."
,, Die eigentliche Angst ist die Angst vor der Ursache der Erscheinung. Und diese Angst bleibt. Die habe ich geradezu großartig in mir."
December 30, 2024
read it in a cafe filled with people. they are all having noisy chats, excited for the new year, eating their little snacks and drinking hot coffee. i tried to focus myself and read the little 4 pages but it took me 25 min. to understand what i was reading. i love coffee shops but maybe, next time i won’t read any book outside when it’s holiday.
began with a big confusion and ended with a bigger confusion. i didn’t quite get why the old man brought up the ghost about „if you were a girl, you wouldn’t wanna be in a room with me.“ and as the other reviewers said, it was hella creepy. maybe he has been so lonely that he forgot how to communicate with anyone. it is hard to interpret Kafka‘s stories but i guess this is what makes him unique. everyone tries to understand but not everyone has the same interpretation. you can always view his works differently.
began with a big confusion and ended with a bigger confusion. i didn’t quite get why the old man brought up the ghost about „if you were a girl, you wouldn’t wanna be in a room with me.“ and as the other reviewers said, it was hella creepy. maybe he has been so lonely that he forgot how to communicate with anyone. it is hard to interpret Kafka‘s stories but i guess this is what makes him unique. everyone tries to understand but not everyone has the same interpretation. you can always view his works differently.
December 30, 2024
Kafka, el verdadero poeta torturado
August 31, 2023
Cuento sobre un fantasma que visita al protagonista.
Seguramente que para Kafka este cuento tiene todo el sentido del mundo ;)
Seguramente que para Kafka este cuento tiene todo el sentido del mundo ;)
October 20, 2019
Artık dayanılmaz olan Kasımda bir akşamüstü, odamda bulunan uzun halı üzerinden tıpkı bir meydandaymışım gibi seğirttikten sonra, ışıkları yakılmış sokağın görünümünden ürkerek dönüp odanın bir köşesindeki aynanın derinliklerinde yeniden bir hedef ele geçirerek, hiçbir şeyin kendisine karşılık vermediği ve hiçbir şeyin bir çığlık gücünü kendisinden alamadığı, yani bir engelle karşılaşmaksızın yükselen ve sustuğu zaman bile sona ermek bilmeyen çığlığı işitmek için, yalnız ve yalnız bunun için bir çığlık koparmamla beraber duvarda bir kapı açıldı; pek acele; acele gerekiyordu; çünkü aşağıdaki, yolda duran arabanın atları bile, savaşta gemi azıya almış atlar gibi, gırtlaklarını savunmasız bırakarak şaha kalkmışlardı
August 19, 2024
Soo. A story about an ubearably sad man, he’s in his room and he sees a ghost of a young boy. He talks to him, they argue about who should close the door, he makes a weird sexual comment about the boy, then he leaves and talks to his neighbour. They argue about ghosts - whether one can feed them and do they exist if i dont believe in them. That kind of stuff. Really short, you can easily read it in a single sitting.. i assume most will. Didn’t feel like going into the psychological side of it, I’ll leave that for you to figure out on your own
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 21, 2014
Los fantasmitas aveces son fastidiosos y otras veces son simple compañía silenciosa
September 20, 2023
*
I absolutely loved this one! I wish there were much more stories like this. It took me to an entirely different world - a world I want to be in.
✦"Like a phantom, a child broke through the entirely dark hallway in which the lamp was not yet alight, and stopped- on his tippy toes, onto a beam on the floor which gradually shifted. Immediately blinded by the partial light in the room, the child wanted to sink his face into his hands, but suddenly calmed down as his gaze drifted up towards the window, behind whose cross-shaped frame swirly fog of the street lamps finally succumbed to the darkness. He leaned with his right elbow against the wall, as the current of fresh air blew around his lower legs, then up his neck and against his temples."
I absolutely loved this one! I wish there were much more stories like this. It took me to an entirely different world - a world I want to be in.
July 2, 2021
Ser infeliz, es un pequeño cuento de Franz Kafka, el cuál fue escrito en en 1904 y publicado en 1912 en una colección de relatos llamado Contemplación.
Este cuento nos narra la aparición del fantasma de una niña en la habitación de un hombre, esta visita llevará al hombre ha hacerse preguntas, y mantiene una acalorada discusión con la visitante. Luego, el hombre muy confuso, sale para dar una vuelta. En eso se topa con un vecino, este se encuentra sentado en la escalera, con el que inicia una charla, hipnótica y hasta a veces un poco absurda, sin embargo, esta charla le hará creer ver algunas cosas, que tal vez sean ciertas o no.
Está narrada en primera persona. El texto está escrito en presente y los hechos ocurren en un orden determinado, sin saltos temporales.
El ambiente es misterioso, no se sabe el por qué de la aparición del fantasma, también se siente la angustia del protagonista.
El lenguaje es sencillo y fluido. Es un libro interesante, de lectura fácil y agradable, además se lee en un abrir y cerrar de ojos, ideal para salir de un parón lector o quiera incursionar en el mundo de la lectura o conocer a Kafka.
Os lo recomiendo.
Este cuento nos narra la aparición del fantasma de una niña en la habitación de un hombre, esta visita llevará al hombre ha hacerse preguntas, y mantiene una acalorada discusión con la visitante. Luego, el hombre muy confuso, sale para dar una vuelta. En eso se topa con un vecino, este se encuentra sentado en la escalera, con el que inicia una charla, hipnótica y hasta a veces un poco absurda, sin embargo, esta charla le hará creer ver algunas cosas, que tal vez sean ciertas o no.
Está narrada en primera persona. El texto está escrito en presente y los hechos ocurren en un orden determinado, sin saltos temporales.
El ambiente es misterioso, no se sabe el por qué de la aparición del fantasma, también se siente la angustia del protagonista.
El lenguaje es sencillo y fluido. Es un libro interesante, de lectura fácil y agradable, además se lee en un abrir y cerrar de ojos, ideal para salir de un parón lector o quiera incursionar en el mundo de la lectura o conocer a Kafka.
Os lo recomiendo.
September 18, 2023
No sé si es que es una mala traducción o yo tengo la B12 baja, pero me costó un poco entender el comienzo. Por momentos los diálogos no parecen estar bien y hasta lo sacan a uno de contexto de lo que pasa. Al final toma algún sendero racional con un toque filosófico/existencial con algo de culpa del personaje... No es lo mejor de Kafka y como siempre dije, existen miles de escritores desestimados y desconocidos que han escrito mejores cosas que grandes escritores afamados.
Olvidable.
Olvidable.
February 16, 2025
Esta historia me gustó, porque uno cuando ya está grande encuentra un “pero” a todo con tal de discurrir y tener de algo de que quejarse. Por ejemplo cuando se le aprecia esta niña fantasma, cuando discutió con su vecino. Del como quería pasea pero siempre no lo hizo.
Es un reflejo que siento que llevamos en nuestra vida en algo en que quejarnos. Bueno así yo lo veo….
Es un reflejo que siento que llevamos en nuestra vida en algo en que quejarnos. Bueno así yo lo veo….
September 27, 2024
Realmente relata el sentimiento de soledad crónica, cuestionando si vale la pena estar acompañado... creando una tensión y distancia cuando interactúa con el fantasma, el final es bastante curioso. al ser un cuento tan corto, le tendría que dar unas vueltas más para entenderlo mejor
January 7, 2021
Kafka es un autor que me cuesta mucho comprender, es mi falta de capacidad lectora o también les pasa?
March 28, 2021
Self reflection
November 20, 2021
Angustiante, amargo, exquisito, una obra kafkiana en todo su esplendor.
September 20, 2022
kafkeo de la forma más kafka en la que se podría kafkear
October 1, 2022
Curious little ghost story
February 17, 2023
Just tell me what it means, if possible-- before I die.
March 12, 2023
8 pageS
January 6, 2024
"If you steal my ghost from me all is over between us, forever"
August 19, 2025
Interesting but not his best work
November 26, 2025
The isolation that depression brings to man is so profound, he feels lonely and strange even with his own memory
October 28, 2019
Ich habe die Erzählung nicht verstanden und Deutungsansätze im Internet waren für mich auch nicht nachvollziehbar :(
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews