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Metamorphosis and Other Stories
This collection of new translations brings together the small proportion of Kafka's works that he thought worthy of publication. It includes Metamorphosis, his most famous work, an exploration of horrific transformation and alienation; Meditation, a collection of his earlier studies; The Judgement, written in a single night of frenzied creativity; The Stoker, the first chapter of a novel set in America and a fascinating occasional piece, The Aeroplanes at Brescia, Kafka's eyewitness account of an air display in 1909. Together, these stories reveal the breadth of Kafka's literary vision and the extraordinary imaginative depth of his thought.
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1915
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5992 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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June 26, 2013
I first met Kafka’s haunting prose while staying in Prague. Not even a year gone by and I find myself re-reading him again, trying once more to decipher what hidden messages might be found in his daunting short stories.
After having read his tales twice I have come to the conclusion that there is no use in trying to deconstruct the unrealistic situations of the imaginary worlds he created, there is no need to unveil any encrypted symbolism in order to weave out some sort of moral code from his nightmarish worlds.
Kafka defies interpretation in presenting illogical situations from an objective point of view, constantly validating contradictory perceptions to the reader who ends up not questioning the “hows” or the “whys” of his stories, but simply allows himself the luxury of being carried away with them. I have allowed myself to get lost in Kafka’s worlds and here there are some of my mementos.
Metamorphosis is not about change, but about completion.
Gregor Samsa has always felt in need of spiritual nourishment. His doomed attempts at building connections with others are rife with futility.
That’s why he balances his unsatisfied spiritual hunger by working himself out to provide for his family. It doesn't matter if his occupation repulses him. It doesn't matter if his exertions are never appreciated. He needs to believe his own charade, he is even ready to waste his own life only in exchange for some human contact or some sort of understanding.
There is no big surprise when one day he wakes up, after a feverish night, only to discover he has become what he had always known to be. A monstrous insect. He has ultimately been granted with a new body which fits with the image others had of him. No more need to pretend. As the caterpillar becomes the butterfly; Samsa becomes the giant bug he had always considered himself to be. The body alters violently, destroying its former self. A painful transformation takes place which brings fulfillment. It is through suffering that comes knowledge. Samsa's animal body is the leading conduit which releases him from his lifelong jail. Gregor has finally understood that he he can’t feed on music, he can’t feed on art. He won’t ever be able to communicate with his beloved family, he belongs to another world. So he conscientiously chooses to cease to be. Gregor’s premature death appears both as an act of undemanding love and pure understanding.
Reaching fulfillment through suffering.
Becoming another when one finally acknowledges that its true essence has always been the same.
A tale of fulfillment.
Samsa and Kafka have matching letters. They also sound alike. I wonder why.
A Country Doctor is about the price we have to pay for the advance of science in a modern world. Like in the Tale of the new Prometheus, man plays God. A Doctor has the power to keep life, has a duty towards his patients, has to keep life regardless of its cost. He has to become his patient in order to save him. Such a heavy burden. What am I to do? I am only a country doctor.
In the Penal Colony is about spiritual art. A judicial system which allows the convicted to reach expiation through the suffering derived from having imprinted his misdeeds on his flesh. Not a tormenting instrument but a way to cleanse one’s soul. Brutal, repulsive and disgusting. This particular tale brought reminiscences of Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum.” Either an ominous premonition of Auschwitz and Dachau or a harsh reminder of the Old Testament values, there is a disturbing analogy between the nature of the language, the nature of the tormenting instrument and the purposes of art.
In the other stories, nameless characters are introduced as mere spectators who witness the inevitable development of their lives, they are mere onlookers, slaves to their own imperfections, they all have to face surreal, demonic scenarios. But knowledge comes only through painful, personal transformation and it must be known in the flesh. We need to become “the other” in order to fully understand. Kakfa’s claustrophobic tales are “the instrument” and “the metamorphosis” takes place in the reader, who suffers its painful but necessary transformation to ease his spiritual hunger.
After having read his tales twice I have come to the conclusion that there is no use in trying to deconstruct the unrealistic situations of the imaginary worlds he created, there is no need to unveil any encrypted symbolism in order to weave out some sort of moral code from his nightmarish worlds.
Kafka defies interpretation in presenting illogical situations from an objective point of view, constantly validating contradictory perceptions to the reader who ends up not questioning the “hows” or the “whys” of his stories, but simply allows himself the luxury of being carried away with them. I have allowed myself to get lost in Kafka’s worlds and here there are some of my mementos.
Metamorphosis is not about change, but about completion.
Gregor Samsa has always felt in need of spiritual nourishment. His doomed attempts at building connections with others are rife with futility.
That’s why he balances his unsatisfied spiritual hunger by working himself out to provide for his family. It doesn't matter if his occupation repulses him. It doesn't matter if his exertions are never appreciated. He needs to believe his own charade, he is even ready to waste his own life only in exchange for some human contact or some sort of understanding.
There is no big surprise when one day he wakes up, after a feverish night, only to discover he has become what he had always known to be. A monstrous insect. He has ultimately been granted with a new body which fits with the image others had of him. No more need to pretend. As the caterpillar becomes the butterfly; Samsa becomes the giant bug he had always considered himself to be. The body alters violently, destroying its former self. A painful transformation takes place which brings fulfillment. It is through suffering that comes knowledge. Samsa's animal body is the leading conduit which releases him from his lifelong jail. Gregor has finally understood that he he can’t feed on music, he can’t feed on art. He won’t ever be able to communicate with his beloved family, he belongs to another world. So he conscientiously chooses to cease to be. Gregor’s premature death appears both as an act of undemanding love and pure understanding.
Reaching fulfillment through suffering.
Becoming another when one finally acknowledges that its true essence has always been the same.
A tale of fulfillment.
Samsa and Kafka have matching letters. They also sound alike. I wonder why.
A Country Doctor is about the price we have to pay for the advance of science in a modern world. Like in the Tale of the new Prometheus, man plays God. A Doctor has the power to keep life, has a duty towards his patients, has to keep life regardless of its cost. He has to become his patient in order to save him. Such a heavy burden. What am I to do? I am only a country doctor.
In the Penal Colony is about spiritual art. A judicial system which allows the convicted to reach expiation through the suffering derived from having imprinted his misdeeds on his flesh. Not a tormenting instrument but a way to cleanse one’s soul. Brutal, repulsive and disgusting. This particular tale brought reminiscences of Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum.” Either an ominous premonition of Auschwitz and Dachau or a harsh reminder of the Old Testament values, there is a disturbing analogy between the nature of the language, the nature of the tormenting instrument and the purposes of art.
In the other stories, nameless characters are introduced as mere spectators who witness the inevitable development of their lives, they are mere onlookers, slaves to their own imperfections, they all have to face surreal, demonic scenarios. But knowledge comes only through painful, personal transformation and it must be known in the flesh. We need to become “the other” in order to fully understand. Kakfa’s claustrophobic tales are “the instrument” and “the metamorphosis” takes place in the reader, who suffers its painful but necessary transformation to ease his spiritual hunger.
February 10, 2017
The Metaphormosis - a tiny tale
The field lay sparkling in the sun. The cold night had covered it with a white blanket which the grass was now reluctant to shed. The distant sun did not mind the ground’s slumber. It gazed benevolently down to the field and saw shimmers of its big bright self reflected in the small flakes that had bundled together into an untouched canvas of astonishing whiteness. Everything was still. Birds flew over in silence, forest creatures stayed under the trees and dared not approach the beauty that presently lay beyond the shadowy safety offered by the canopy. The canvas would not be written upon, not today, for nature itself was too proud of what it had created overnight. The sun sent its rays down to the snow, not to make it melt, but to let it dance in sunshine. Everything was still, everything was beautiful. Evening came and the dance grew less abundant, slowly fading to a twinkling that would last through the night and form a perfect pair with the starry sky.
The next morning she woke up with a startle. A coldness was touching her back and was making a sound that seemed very alien to her. In fact, the waking up itself felt very strange. She didn’t remember doing that before. All she knew was that she was magnificent.
She turned around and found a man lying beside her, snoring. His breath was cold, his features blank. She didn’t recognize him, but she was unafraid. Curious in fact. Gently, she nudged him awake and when he opened his eyes she saw a bright sparkle that made her fall in love instantly. It was a strange feeling, even stranger than waking up had been. It filled her with warmth and all the questions she felt but didn’t know the words for evaporated into nothingness. She understood everything there was to understand and smiled down at the beautiful eyes gazing up at her.
He didn’t know where he was. He had been dreaming, but could not remember what about exactly. He had been moving, there were melodious sounds, and a lot of light. A dream of dancing, he guessed, even though he had no idea what that was. All that dreamily moving about did make him feel sore and stiff upon waking up and he found himself unable to move. He definitely would have liked to move. There was a beautiful woman in his bed, looking with warm and loving eyes into his face. The only thing he could do however was look back in wonder and hope the stiffness would melt away.
Doubts began to creep up on her. Why didn’t the man with those loving eyes do something? Why was he just lying there? Why did he feel so cold? She frowned, at least she thought that’s what she was doing, and decided to get up and get some distance from the cold presence. A resplendent flicker of light caught her eye. It came from a surface right next to the bed and as she approached it the light emanating from it became brighter. It wasn’t until she was standing right in front of this mysterious manifestation that she saw and felt how magnificent it was. A light, an energy, full of warmth and full of life.
He saw her move out of bed, towards something that looked like a lake. The surface, framed in finely carved wood, was reflecting the woman in all her glory. Only, the lake stood vertically, which was rather unusual for lakes, and for some reason the fluid quality of the water had gone, making it stay completely fixed within its frame . A frozen lake then, only without the misty haze that normally came with frost. While his thoughts ran wild on the nature of what he was looking at, he remained motionless, continuously amazed.
The woman felt the cold stare between her shoulder blades. As she had been basking in warmth she found herself all the more shocked when she turned around to see that the man was still just lying there, eyes cold. Why didn’t he return the warmth she was so generously giving? Why didn’t he come alive at the touch of her gentle fingers? Why was the only thing that he could do just look? Yes, there was that sparkle. That beautiful twinkle in his eyes whenever she looked at him. But surely she deserved more than that? Surely her body deserved more than to be treated with an icy touch and a cold breath? A hot fury rose from deep within her. She wouldn’t let this man vanquish her, make her doubt herself, make her lose her radiant energy! She would give him more than he deserved, showing him and herself what she is capable of. She would shake him, shake him awake, shake him into giving her what she deserved. She approached the bed, intent on loving without remorse, and made the room explode with light.
The man, transfixed, lay still, saw the bright shape approach, felt anger in its warmth and grew more terrified with every step she took. He could not run, nor hide, so he did the only thing he was capable of. He closed his eyes, hoping it would all be over soon.
Another day came and the blanket of white was gone. Where there was dancing only two days ago, there was now black mud. Where there was a blue sky, clouds shrouded the sun in mourning and isolation. Birds landed and picked away at the field, seeds were swallowed and worms were too slow to escape the hungry beaks. The forest animals came out and played around in the grayness of morning. They trampled little mounds of earth and scared away the gluttonous birds. Within all that movement there lay a couple of seeds in waiting. Waiting for this day’s glum spectacle to be over. Waiting to be met by the sun’s nourishing gaze. Waiting to once again be the flowery patch of colors and smells they were before the blanket came. Their time would come, and it would come soon. They knew it would, as the animals returned to their forest, the birds flew back to the sky and the clouds receded to make way for a night full of stars and promises.
January 19, 2021
This very famous story by Kafka strikes me as a literary Rorschach test: everyone seems to see something different in it. Some people treat it like an elaborate metaphor, as where other seem to think it should be read quite literally – as the story of a poor man who one day woke up turned into a giant cockroach. I can’t say for sure which side of the fence I am standing on with this one: it is very interesting to think about it both ways, really.
My personal biases make me think that Gregor’s family never truly saw him before, and when they did, they couldn’t hide their disgust, and could only resent him for not being the provider he had been to them for so long. Part of me is inclined to see it as a reflection on how invisible illness can creep up on people, and how the world tends to perceive them differently when that illness comes to light – but that is applying very contemporary issues over a story written long before mental illness was understood the way it is today. I’m also tempted to think about is as a metaphor for how our families don’t actually know who we really are most of the time: they have an idea, a set of expectations and when we don’t conform to it, they get very upset. But then again, I am applying a very modern idea to this story… Then I get to wondering if Kafka wasn’t, by any chance, afraid of insects? Because if he was phobic of those little creatures, then the story has an even more complex range: I am terrified of centipedes, and if I felt compelled to write a story where I turned into one, it would be more than a mere exercise in speculative literature.
Kafka’s sense of alienation and confusion with the world and it’s cruelties are evident in the other stories of this collection as well. There isn’t even one page in this book that is not saturated with a sadness about the way people treat each other (and often, how they treat animals). The world Kafka captured on the page was a cold one, devoid of compassion, and while there is nothing supernatural in those tales, I was reminded of Thomas Ligotti’s existentialist horror (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), and can now see what an impact Kafka must have had on him: the darkly absurd abyss of their minds certainly have a lot in common.
The rating for this would be 5 stars if it was just the title story, which, as most people know, is a fascinating novella that will most certainly benefit from revisiting later on. But the collection overall lost a star because of a few stories that felt like they were dragging, especially around the end of the book. It is still a must read, because these little tales have made their way into our culture and the literature we read to an extend that can hardly be imagined.
My personal biases make me think that Gregor’s family never truly saw him before, and when they did, they couldn’t hide their disgust, and could only resent him for not being the provider he had been to them for so long. Part of me is inclined to see it as a reflection on how invisible illness can creep up on people, and how the world tends to perceive them differently when that illness comes to light – but that is applying very contemporary issues over a story written long before mental illness was understood the way it is today. I’m also tempted to think about is as a metaphor for how our families don’t actually know who we really are most of the time: they have an idea, a set of expectations and when we don’t conform to it, they get very upset. But then again, I am applying a very modern idea to this story… Then I get to wondering if Kafka wasn’t, by any chance, afraid of insects? Because if he was phobic of those little creatures, then the story has an even more complex range: I am terrified of centipedes, and if I felt compelled to write a story where I turned into one, it would be more than a mere exercise in speculative literature.
Kafka’s sense of alienation and confusion with the world and it’s cruelties are evident in the other stories of this collection as well. There isn’t even one page in this book that is not saturated with a sadness about the way people treat each other (and often, how they treat animals). The world Kafka captured on the page was a cold one, devoid of compassion, and while there is nothing supernatural in those tales, I was reminded of Thomas Ligotti’s existentialist horror (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), and can now see what an impact Kafka must have had on him: the darkly absurd abyss of their minds certainly have a lot in common.
The rating for this would be 5 stars if it was just the title story, which, as most people know, is a fascinating novella that will most certainly benefit from revisiting later on. But the collection overall lost a star because of a few stories that felt like they were dragging, especially around the end of the book. It is still a must read, because these little tales have made their way into our culture and the literature we read to an extend that can hardly be imagined.
May 21, 2024
4.5 stars
“Metamorphosis” was the first story I read in my undergraduate literature degree. Afterwards the class moved on (it was a wonderful class, maybe the only wonderful class I took in university, we read Euripides, Freud, Ibsen, Plato, Nabokov, Brecht, Ralph Ellison, Foucault, who I understood not a word of. As my husband points out, it doesn’t sound like we read any women though…). I always planned to come back to Kafka and finish the anthology. Or just, you know, read another story. I kept the book, I even rescued it from my parents’ house a few years ago. I ignored it. And finally no, nothing would do but to buy a whole new copy with all the same stories in the spur of the moment, because I like the translator. And then to read it all over one weekend, twenty-two years later.
No real review. How do you review Kafka? How do you account for half a life spent not reading Kafka, when he was just sitting there the whole time. Who else is just sitting there, unforgivably?
“Metamorphosis” is still the standout.
Other top stories: “The Hunger Artist” (what an ending!), “In the Penal Colony” (of course).
“Metamorphosis” was the first story I read in my undergraduate literature degree. Afterwards the class moved on (it was a wonderful class, maybe the only wonderful class I took in university, we read Euripides, Freud, Ibsen, Plato, Nabokov, Brecht, Ralph Ellison, Foucault, who I understood not a word of. As my husband points out, it doesn’t sound like we read any women though…). I always planned to come back to Kafka and finish the anthology. Or just, you know, read another story. I kept the book, I even rescued it from my parents’ house a few years ago. I ignored it. And finally no, nothing would do but to buy a whole new copy with all the same stories in the spur of the moment, because I like the translator. And then to read it all over one weekend, twenty-two years later.
No real review. How do you review Kafka? How do you account for half a life spent not reading Kafka, when he was just sitting there the whole time. Who else is just sitting there, unforgivably?
“Metamorphosis” is still the standout.
Other top stories: “The Hunger Artist” (what an ending!), “In the Penal Colony” (of course).
July 18, 2023
See my review of the Schocken Kafka Library edition: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Want to read
October 28, 2019“Metamorphosis” is a slog. Might be one of those stories that doesn’t translate well. It’s outstanding point thematically seems to be the utter incuriousness of the Samsas. They are overcome by tragedy to which they seem blind, and go on with their lives utterly unmoved by their loss.
September 2, 2012
This book is composed of 6 short stories by Franz Kafka. The writing is glorious and the storytelling is engaging. However, most of the messages are unclear to me. I just don't see the point of reading these except to savor Kafka's eccentrically beautiful prose and give oneself a chance to pick his/her own takeaway when he/she is finally done reading the whole book the book.
Metamorphosis. 3 STARS
I really felt sad for Gregor Samsa. He is the family breadwinner because he is the only one working in the family. His father is fat and sluggish. His mother is asthmatic. His younger sister, Crete plays violin and Gregor is close to her and is planning to tell her that he will send her to the conservatory school on Christmas Day. However, one day, Gregor wakes up to find out that he has transformed (metamorphosed) into a giant vermin (insect or rodent that carries diseases).
Kafka did not explain why Gregor became a vermin. Gregor did not ask too. This is my 3rd Kafka and so this seems like Josef K in The Trial (3 stars) being arrested by government men for an unexplained reason. This is another kafkaesque or "of, relating to, or suggestive of Franz Kafka or his writings; especially: having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality "
I liked the shock value. It is very startling. It is like when you are told by your doctor that you have cancer, you can no longer walk or some news that is shocking because you have to adjust your lifestyle, etc. I do not like the attitude of Gregor's family. His parents sucked. His sister, who he really loved, also turned her back to him in the end.
The Great Wall of China. 1 STAR
Quite confusing. It does not seem like a short story but an essay told be an old Chinese man that I first mistaken for Kafka. Then when the man started to say "we, the chinese people" or "we in Pekin (or Peking)" then I realized that he was not Kafka. There are no other characters. The man just questioned that the wall did not form a full figure (ends did not meet) so how could it protect the emperor and his kingdom from the barbarians from the north? He also told the reader that the wall was built by piecemeal. I am rating this with 1 because it does not seem kafkaesque for me but just absurd. For me, absurdity the territory of Albert Camus.
Investigations of a Dog. 2 STARS
Engaging because the POV is that of a dog! Any story or novel with a dog as a character is an immediate turn on for me. However, similar to the second story, the dog narrator goes on and on and there are no other characters. It is quite fascinating though because dogs here can think the same as human beings, e.g., like when you enter in a room with people inside and you greet them and nobody returns your greeting. Is it because it's not the group's norm to return the greeting or there is something about you that they don't like?
The Burrow. 3 STARS
Said to be an unfinished story but this one is more enjoyable than Metamorphosis. A burrow is an animal and in the story he calls his home the Castle Keep and it serves as his sanctuary against the wrath of nature and men. The narration is by the burrow himself and while reading, it seemed to me that Kafka was the one talking. I read the Diaries of Franz Kafka (3 stars) and I remember that he was a silent reclusive young man so I thought that he wanted to explain his introversion in this story by building his home underneath the ground.
In the Penal Settlement. 2 STARS
The setting is in a unnamed prison where a devise for torture and execution is being used supposedly for the last time. The machine carves the sentence of the condemned criminal before letting him die. This reminded me of the experimental torture device in Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange but the difference is that the torture device of Burgess is a chemical that interacts with the brain while this one is external. However, their use is really appalling and the result is that the person being tortured always admits to the crime because of the pain. Like Metamorphosis there seems to be a message that escaped me. I just found this too gory and I am giving this only for the shock and disgust that it gave me while reading.
The Giant Mole. 2 STARS
Said to be the second unfinished short story in this collection. This only got published after Kafka's death. Here, there is no real transformation of a person to a bug (like in Metamorphosis) or a burrow digging the soil to become his sanctuary (The Burrow). However, the narrator is a village schoolmaster who is defending the existence of a giant mole. He is like Noah defending his Ark to the people who think that he is crazy because the ark is on a mountaintop. The story ends with another researcher doing the same study and they argue about their findings. It just seemed pointless to me.
My guess on what should be my takeaway: only discriminating readers can dig Kafka. At least, I can pretend that I am one of them hehe.
Metamorphosis. 3 STARS
I really felt sad for Gregor Samsa. He is the family breadwinner because he is the only one working in the family. His father is fat and sluggish. His mother is asthmatic. His younger sister, Crete plays violin and Gregor is close to her and is planning to tell her that he will send her to the conservatory school on Christmas Day. However, one day, Gregor wakes up to find out that he has transformed (metamorphosed) into a giant vermin (insect or rodent that carries diseases).
Kafka did not explain why Gregor became a vermin. Gregor did not ask too. This is my 3rd Kafka and so this seems like Josef K in The Trial (3 stars) being arrested by government men for an unexplained reason. This is another kafkaesque or "of, relating to, or suggestive of Franz Kafka or his writings; especially: having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality "
I liked the shock value. It is very startling. It is like when you are told by your doctor that you have cancer, you can no longer walk or some news that is shocking because you have to adjust your lifestyle, etc. I do not like the attitude of Gregor's family. His parents sucked. His sister, who he really loved, also turned her back to him in the end.
The Great Wall of China. 1 STAR
Quite confusing. It does not seem like a short story but an essay told be an old Chinese man that I first mistaken for Kafka. Then when the man started to say "we, the chinese people" or "we in Pekin (or Peking)" then I realized that he was not Kafka. There are no other characters. The man just questioned that the wall did not form a full figure (ends did not meet) so how could it protect the emperor and his kingdom from the barbarians from the north? He also told the reader that the wall was built by piecemeal. I am rating this with 1 because it does not seem kafkaesque for me but just absurd. For me, absurdity the territory of Albert Camus.
Investigations of a Dog. 2 STARS
Engaging because the POV is that of a dog! Any story or novel with a dog as a character is an immediate turn on for me. However, similar to the second story, the dog narrator goes on and on and there are no other characters. It is quite fascinating though because dogs here can think the same as human beings, e.g., like when you enter in a room with people inside and you greet them and nobody returns your greeting. Is it because it's not the group's norm to return the greeting or there is something about you that they don't like?
The Burrow. 3 STARS
Said to be an unfinished story but this one is more enjoyable than Metamorphosis. A burrow is an animal and in the story he calls his home the Castle Keep and it serves as his sanctuary against the wrath of nature and men. The narration is by the burrow himself and while reading, it seemed to me that Kafka was the one talking. I read the Diaries of Franz Kafka (3 stars) and I remember that he was a silent reclusive young man so I thought that he wanted to explain his introversion in this story by building his home underneath the ground.
In the Penal Settlement. 2 STARS
The setting is in a unnamed prison where a devise for torture and execution is being used supposedly for the last time. The machine carves the sentence of the condemned criminal before letting him die. This reminded me of the experimental torture device in Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange but the difference is that the torture device of Burgess is a chemical that interacts with the brain while this one is external. However, their use is really appalling and the result is that the person being tortured always admits to the crime because of the pain. Like Metamorphosis there seems to be a message that escaped me. I just found this too gory and I am giving this only for the shock and disgust that it gave me while reading.
The Giant Mole. 2 STARS
Said to be the second unfinished short story in this collection. This only got published after Kafka's death. Here, there is no real transformation of a person to a bug (like in Metamorphosis) or a burrow digging the soil to become his sanctuary (The Burrow). However, the narrator is a village schoolmaster who is defending the existence of a giant mole. He is like Noah defending his Ark to the people who think that he is crazy because the ark is on a mountaintop. The story ends with another researcher doing the same study and they argue about their findings. It just seemed pointless to me.
My guess on what should be my takeaway: only discriminating readers can dig Kafka. At least, I can pretend that I am one of them hehe.
July 26, 2021
1 novelė: visą laiką buvai tas, kuris turėjo parazitų, o dabar tapai tų parazitų parazitu. Įsidėmėti parazituojantiems, turintiems parazitų ir jų nuomininkams.
2 novelė: statant Kinų sieną reikia išlaikyti darbuotojų motyvaciją - suskaidom į mažesnius projektėlius (gabaliukus) ir turime motyvuotus statybininkus su 5 metų accomplishmentais. Įsidėmėti mąstantiems, kaip patobulinti organizacijos motyvacinę sistemą.
3 novelė: šuo laužo galvą, iš kur atsiranda maistas, o mes laužom galvą, kokia gyvenimo prasmė. Abu svarstymai fundamentaliai beprasmiški. Įsidėmėti pokantininkams.
4 novelė: kaip man jauku mano urvelyje. O, kaip man jauku mano urvelyje. O lauke taip nesaugu ir baisu. O pas mane saugu. Tik reikia šį bei tą patobulinti, kad urvelis būtų dar jaukesnis ir saugesnis. Pala, iš kur tas švilpesys sklinda? Įsidėmėti esantiems savo komforto zonoje, iš jos trumpam išėjusiems, jos ieškantiems ir kitiems kurmiams.
5 novelė: ką gali padaryti vienas pašalietis su tvirtais įsitikinimais? Įsidėmėti žmogaus teisių apologetams.
6 novelė: tu pamatei kažką visiškai neįtikėtino, nespėjai išsitraukti telefono su kamera ir įspūdis liko tik tavo galvoje. Tai galėtų būti sensacija, bet kaip įtikinti kitus, kad tai iš tikrųjų įvyko? Įsidėmėti paranormalių reiškinių mėjėgams.
Tikiuosi, visi įsidėmėjote, kas kam aktualu, o aš įsidėmėjau, kad reikia toliau tęsti Kafkos tyrinėjimus.
2 novelė: statant Kinų sieną reikia išlaikyti darbuotojų motyvaciją - suskaidom į mažesnius projektėlius (gabaliukus) ir turime motyvuotus statybininkus su 5 metų accomplishmentais. Įsidėmėti mąstantiems, kaip patobulinti organizacijos motyvacinę sistemą.
3 novelė: šuo laužo galvą, iš kur atsiranda maistas, o mes laužom galvą, kokia gyvenimo prasmė. Abu svarstymai fundamentaliai beprasmiški. Įsidėmėti pokantininkams.
4 novelė: kaip man jauku mano urvelyje. O, kaip man jauku mano urvelyje. O lauke taip nesaugu ir baisu. O pas mane saugu. Tik reikia šį bei tą patobulinti, kad urvelis būtų dar jaukesnis ir saugesnis. Pala, iš kur tas švilpesys sklinda? Įsidėmėti esantiems savo komforto zonoje, iš jos trumpam išėjusiems, jos ieškantiems ir kitiems kurmiams.
5 novelė: ką gali padaryti vienas pašalietis su tvirtais įsitikinimais? Įsidėmėti žmogaus teisių apologetams.
6 novelė: tu pamatei kažką visiškai neįtikėtino, nespėjai išsitraukti telefono su kamera ir įspūdis liko tik tavo galvoje. Tai galėtų būti sensacija, bet kaip įtikinti kitus, kad tai iš tikrųjų įvyko? Įsidėmėti paranormalių reiškinių mėjėgams.
Tikiuosi, visi įsidėmėjote, kas kam aktualu, o aš įsidėmėjau, kad reikia toliau tęsti Kafkos tyrinėjimus.
September 30, 2018
Nothing demands meticulous attention more than Kafka's prose. He weaved the false thread of inner lives of his characters in a way that is as ridiculous and surreal as it possibly can be. They try to make sense, but alas, it is the world Kafka had woven and hence, absurdity reigns triumphantly.
The eponymous story in this collection depicts the pain of a metamorphosis. Gregor Samsa wakes up from "uneasy dreams" and finds himself in another. His transformation into a giant insect stripped him of his ability to move forward with ease.
The Great Wall of China appears to have been written stream-of-consciously. It acquired an absurdist overtone. Both these factors intermingled and made me ponder about the vantage point of my love for Kafka.
Investigations of a Dog read like a parable. Narrated from the perspective of a dog, it poses various questions that others were pleased to be ignorant about. In The Burrow, a mole-like creature built Castle Keep over the course of its life and thereby, also took measures to protect it.
In the Penal Settlement is a precursor to The Trial . It is a wonderful amalgamation of his absurdism and the horrors of modern bureaucracy. In The Giant Mole, the narrator discusses about the unfruitful attempt of the village schoolmaster. His effort of bringing the attention of the community towards a giant mole goes awry.
Kafka's characters often find themselves in circumstances not of their own making. Throughout the course of action, there is a subtle derision for improvement. The world of horror in Kafka's prose is suffused with humour. It is like a deep ocean in which a person is flung; to find out how deep that ocean is, all that needs to be done by the person is to die and traverse the depth.
The eponymous story in this collection depicts the pain of a metamorphosis. Gregor Samsa wakes up from "uneasy dreams" and finds himself in another. His transformation into a giant insect stripped him of his ability to move forward with ease.
The Great Wall of China appears to have been written stream-of-consciously. It acquired an absurdist overtone. Both these factors intermingled and made me ponder about the vantage point of my love for Kafka.
Investigations of a Dog read like a parable. Narrated from the perspective of a dog, it poses various questions that others were pleased to be ignorant about. In The Burrow, a mole-like creature built Castle Keep over the course of its life and thereby, also took measures to protect it.
In the Penal Settlement is a precursor to The Trial . It is a wonderful amalgamation of his absurdism and the horrors of modern bureaucracy. In The Giant Mole, the narrator discusses about the unfruitful attempt of the village schoolmaster. His effort of bringing the attention of the community towards a giant mole goes awry.
Kafka's characters often find themselves in circumstances not of their own making. Throughout the course of action, there is a subtle derision for improvement. The world of horror in Kafka's prose is suffused with humour. It is like a deep ocean in which a person is flung; to find out how deep that ocean is, all that needs to be done by the person is to die and traverse the depth.
September 20, 2017
Here's Kafka with the best thing anyone's ever said about literature:
Kafka always writes about the same thing - the fact that you don't get it. "His writing is the description of the failure of writing," says Michael Schmidt: "Were his writing to succeed, he would have failed; failing, he perhaps succeeded." You could replace "writing" with "living." Salman Rushdie, asked to name his favorite novelist of all time, hedges but throws out Kafka, "In whose world we all live." Good luck.
We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be like the axe for the frozen sea inside us.This collection is what you should start with if you haven't read him before, or if it's been a while. (I like the Penguin Deluxe Classics edition translated by Michael Hofman.) My favorite of his novels is The Trial; I like The Castle somewhat less although that review represents my best & final thoughts on Kafka in general.
Kafka always writes about the same thing - the fact that you don't get it. "His writing is the description of the failure of writing," says Michael Schmidt: "Were his writing to succeed, he would have failed; failing, he perhaps succeeded." You could replace "writing" with "living." Salman Rushdie, asked to name his favorite novelist of all time, hedges but throws out Kafka, "In whose world we all live." Good luck.
July 12, 2023
Banned under the Nazi and Soviet regimes. The Nazis considered Kafka's works degenerate. It did not help that he was also Jewish. Soviet censors labelled the book “despairing.”
So much going on in this book, it’s too clever for a little reader like me. This is a fantastic quick Novella read and so many talking points about the meaning, the Characters, the transformation, the apple, food, Violin, picture on the wall and other various hidden messages. How modern Society is not always easy and this is reflected in Kafka’s own personal life apparently.
A must read in anyone’s collection, a thought provoking story that is superbly written which reflects aspects of life that sometimes we dismiss as being in existence.
So much going on in this book, it’s too clever for a little reader like me. This is a fantastic quick Novella read and so many talking points about the meaning, the Characters, the transformation, the apple, food, Violin, picture on the wall and other various hidden messages. How modern Society is not always easy and this is reflected in Kafka’s own personal life apparently.
A must read in anyone’s collection, a thought provoking story that is superbly written which reflects aspects of life that sometimes we dismiss as being in existence.
March 21, 2020
A collection of Kafka's fiction that appeared during his lifetime. A great introduction into the author - definitely better, as a point of entry, than the novels - and an excellent way of securing some of the best short stories ("A Report to an Academy," "Jackals & Arabs," "The Hunger Artist," the list goes on) of all times.
March 2, 2014
There is a particular reason why Franz Kafka's works have come to be defined by the style of 'Kafkaesque'. Like Mervyn Peake in his Gormenghast works, Kafka defines his own style and ways of writing - working in a genre that is not quite pure fiction and not quite non-fiction. That is to say that Kafka mixes reality and imagination in a way that few writers can. His style is his own in a haunting way that does not quite fit into any genre. Is he a realist? Is he Gothic? Is he a romance author? It can be difficult to tell at times, yet definition of Kafka as an artist is all that is really required to enjoy his fictional works because he was one of a type.
Let me first discuss the aspect of Kafka that I found in this volume that I had not read elsewhere. This is his brief writing studies or experiments which range from one paragraph to several pages in length. Each one could discuss something as mundane as a man riding past on a bicycle and yet Kafka highlights in each brief - sketches, I suppose you could call them - sketch that the keen writer should be aware of the magic hidden within the most ordinary moments. This is the magic of questions: where is the man on the bicycle riding? To whom is the man on the bicycle riding? Why ride a bicycle at all? There are millions of questions which stem from the ordinary sight of a man riding a bicycle and hence a million variations on the one same story.
Aside from such sketches however, in this volume were included some longer fictional stories. Among these was Kafka's most famous short story The Metamorphosis. I had read this story before, two years ago in fact, however reading it again I noted new details about the story. It's one of the more unusual stories by Kafka in that it features a magical sort of transformation of a man into a giant bug. Yet, like most Kafka stories, how that event occurred is not important to the plot. The plot itself is more like a metaphor for alienation from one's own family and people and how this leads to people considering you as something less than human. Such alienation can be caused by deformities, changing religion, differences of sexuality or even something else - it does not matter - because Kafka's story stands in for how the metamorphosis of the soul affects all people around you even if you are comfortable in your change. In particular, I noticed in my re-reading, and from the different translation, how the daughter (Gregor's sister) also transforms. In fact the very end of the story notes how she has blossomed and has a young and nubile body. In other words at the start she was timid, powerless individual but becomes the beautiful powerful individual by the end.
The point of all this is to recommend that you read, in some shape or form, the work of Kafka. He was and remains through his works a genius. A genius who is routinely quoted by literature scholars and lovers because he has a great ability to touch all types of readers. So yes, read Kafka and transform your view of literature, allowing transformation to stem into transformation into transformation.
My full review of The Metamorphosis alone can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
June 7, 2014
whilst other german authors delve in complex syntax and elongated words, Kafka has chosen the simplicity of his purest language. the hardest work would be to translate him, as it's not his words that differentiate him, but the meaning he coats them with. it has been a pleasure to pick on his simplest structures, because he seems to be generating depth out of nowhere. i enjoyed both his writing and his stories, where he combines imaginative situations with the dirty, mundane world.
plus, i'm really curious to read his other major works.
plus, i'm really curious to read his other major works.
November 11, 2012
I read The Metamorphosis for the third of fourth time while reading this collection and it still blows me miles away. The absolute horror and poignancy and multiple angles of interpretation are just brilliant. It’s possible this is the best short story every written.
The other stories also drip with agony and imagination. Kafka's pain over his strained relationship with his father gave us these beautiful and important pieces and oh, how lucky we are.
The other stories also drip with agony and imagination. Kafka's pain over his strained relationship with his father gave us these beautiful and important pieces and oh, how lucky we are.
September 14, 2013
Changing the rating to five stars. Because this book had an excellent introduction. And it is no easy job to introduce Kafka. And how do you make an introduction to Kafka excellent, by including his short stories in there. ( Point in case. Before the law and the Emperor's message )
All hail Kafka.
All hail Kafka.
January 22, 2020
I genuinely think Kafka could never, under any circumstances, become overrated. For though us crude men never know when to stop, he does, and it's more often than not a tad later than one expects it to be.
June 2, 2021
Though i have read Metamorphosis and In the penal colony earlier as well, this time i understood these two story in a new dimension of depth.I was totally submerged into Gregor samsa. When i read Metamorphosis for the first time,i just vaguely grasped the existential angst. But now i could realise the impact of this short story on so many writers and readers(myself as well). In the penal colony and A Hunger artist are also my favourite. I have read A hunger artist for the first time and my jaws dropped with a shock of respect for Kafka's genius. Alongside Metamorphosis, i would put A hunger artist as Kafka's best work. Apart from these masterpieces, this book is included with some other stories and proses. All these metarial in those proses and stories could develope in a reader a sense of awareness of our internal existence. In a word,you could just say Kafka's writings are consciousness raiser. If you never had any dose of existential crisis,be ready for it before reading Kafka. All his novels,short stories and proses reflected an inescapable life of isolation, depression with an ironic sense of hope. Summing up all these facts about his writing, it never gave me hope or love for life,but a creative urge to devour even the loneliest of sufferings and have spiritual nourishment. The craziest thought larking behind my mind had for itself a way to be a part of something beautiful --which is a collective slate for accumulating the creative energy of ever-constant evolution of human species. Such is the impact of Kafka has on me!
October 23, 2021
After a lot of thought, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am too dumb for kafka.
People tend to say stuff like ‘it’s so kafkaesque’, and i wanted to be one of those people. but after reading this book, i can say that i do not care for stuff being kafkaesque. I just want a good story, which i did not get from this book.
People tend to say stuff like ‘it’s so kafkaesque’, and i wanted to be one of those people. but after reading this book, i can say that i do not care for stuff being kafkaesque. I just want a good story, which i did not get from this book.
November 5, 2014
Vintage edition, translated by Willa & Edwin Muir, introduction by Adam Thirlwell
Or Kafka's Animal Stories plus a couple of others.
[3.5]
A pedant writes...
In most of these stories there were small continuity errors, some of which could conceivably have been due to word choices in translation. (I read this old translation – which in the twentieth century was the one used in Penguin Twentieth Century Classics - for sentimental reasons and didn't compare it with others as I usually do.) There were notable ideas missing in the imaginings of characters' or animals' worlds – some will say that is not the point of Kafka but IMO if an allegory does not stand up to making its surface world more factually accurate, it's hardly a work of genius; it would be real skill to make both layers perceptive and related.
Introduction
I prefer reading introductions before a work – that way I usually get more out of it. This one was frustrating and fragmented when read before Kafka's stories; afterwards, they illuminated it. (May be different for someone who has read a lot of Kafka, or last read him recently.) It also includes two other tiny stories by Kafka, and one by Robert Walser.
Three quotations I particuarly liked:
“They [Kafka's characters] share a similar trapped psychology. All of them are honestly, earnestly, trying to think up reasons why everything makes sense: they are trying to understand the rationale behind the joke they seem to find themselves in.”
“Both these kinds of characters – the extroverted and the introverted, the investigative and the theatrical derive from Kafka's tradition of European fiction. They derive from an idea that humans are either melancholy, when they understand how precarious their understanding is, or amusing, when they do not see how little they see.” (Recently I have become critical of the idea that the latter - “unreliable narrators” should be mocked and othered, that they aren't just fallible humans like everyone else. Thirlwell's discussion about Kafka and the idea of self-knowledge makes me understand why things are as they are in literature.)
“Kafka has been unlucky in his readers”. (Possibly including me.)
Metamorphosis
In 2011, I started a short story which was a sort of skit on Metamorphosis - although for a few days I didn't realise it was, feeling ill and forgetful, and also not having read the whole original. My protagonist awoke as a large cartoon ant, with wellington boots and a bow tie, and the ability to stand upright like the characters in Antz. (I couldn't decide whether to give him Mickey Mouse style gloved hands on the ends of his top legs, presence or absence of which would be rather crucial, and a few bits were written and re-written around this.) It was Comic Relief Day which meant that for that Friday at work, and possibly even the ensuing weekend if he could attach himself to some charity tin-shakers, he had, fingers crossed, a chance of passing himself off as an oddly convincing costume. But he was under increasing pressure about how to deal with things afterwards, to try and pretend normality in the present so as to make the most of being out in the world relatively unhindered, though doing so gave him very little time to try and work out a solution to his predicament. As usual with my fiction-writing attempts I found that a) whilst I could feel the comedy in many situations, putting it into the right words to make it funny to a reader was more difficult, and b) none of the endings I thought of were satisfactory to me.
So I started Kafka's long-short-story having already put a lot of thought into its situation. And I read it before I saw Thirlwell's sentence in the introduction, “the missing word in his story 'Metamorphosis' is 'dream'. That does explain a lot but I also didn't like a few aspects of the way the beginning was handled: the way Gregor Samsa's thoughts kept drifting back to annoyances at his work although he'd started to realise he was a beetle, that he wasn't actually preoccupied with how to deal with this surreal shock. IMO psychologically unrealistic, but not so if you take it to be drifty in the manner of a dream. (I sometimes think of the similarity between the German “traum” for dream and the English “trauma”; in a dream-reading of Kafka's story they meet.) I felt that Samsa's manner of thought at the start didn't fit with his being a salesman of five years' standing, who's had some success: sales needs a reflex-like focus on how other people see things, and he never considers other people's reactions to his appearance, even thinks he can still go to work as an insect, until he witnesses their responses. (The character would have been more believable to me as someone with an introverted job.)
I read most of the Kafka story thinking about the experience of worsened or acquired disability (the theme which I realised underlay my own fragment) although near the end the close relation to a contemporary experience of these broke down. Earlier, the paragraph about the new lack of comfort from looking out of the window; other people's reactions and having no choice but to understand and forgive them; wanting to apologise but the uselessness and repetitiveness of this when unable to change things; the barrenness of life and being stuck with one's own thoughts; the narrowing of the world; all were very poignant.
Once Gregor was out of his room I thought 'Metamorphosis' was excellent and, whether it's seen as being about existential alienation or something else, there was definitely enough story to keep it interesting as well as philosophical, and the Samsa family were like those drawings which are very good portraits whilst using only a handful of lines.
The Great Wall of China
An old view of China which reminded me of that I had from old books as a kid. I was also far from convinced that a person who'd grown up under the regime described would have the insights stated. Missing the point again, I would be surprised if a Chinese person living during the time the Great Wall was built would be familiar with the story of The Tower of Babel. Okay, I sound like a soulless pedant; it's not that I don't appreciate the underlying meaning, it's that when a writer is supposed to be this good, I have a personal stylistic expectation that the overlying story is precise as well. Perhaps it's because I've seen such a lot of reverence for Kafka on GR but I don't expect to have to keep forgiving an author like this for not being able to do the research. Though I should remember that Kafka wanted this stuff burnt, not published: he didn't think it was good enough either, albeit quite possibly for different reasons – I feel a little embarrassed on his behalf. (I'm not saying it definitely should have been burnt, just that it's overrated.)
Investigations of a Dog
I had an affection and interest for this simply because it's written from the viewpoint of a dog. The dog conducts often erroneous scientific / deductive reasoning about how the world works, especially about the source of food. Since Kafka's time there have been a lot of narratives from animal viewpoints which evoke their sensory worlds more effectively and I must be judging against those (especially Watership Down, Paul Gallico's Jennie, and the Duncton Wood saga which I read way too much of in my teens). We know more about dogs than people did 100 years ago but I can't believe that something of the primacy of the sense of smell wasn't understood – it's a very small part of this story, almost absent. Also no mention of mating (most dogs weren't neutered then, otherwise that could have explained the narrator's lack of mention of this drive). Related to the sense of smell, it doesn't really work that dogs would only think of pissing as “watering the ground”, not also scent-marking. And whilst the following could be subject to a debate about language, I would think that other species would smell different enough (and would be unattractive for mating, and may be food sources) that they wouldn't also refer to them as dogs – it would break down a lot of the humour in this story if they weren't also calling them dogs.
The Burrow
Written from the viewpoint of an unspecified solitary carnivorous animal which discusses its complex burrow and fear of enemies, it's a very vivid evocation of human paranoia/anxiety/obsession, complete with a correlating overly abstract, rambling, potentially dry style that's almost devoid of concrete examples. A few un-animally concepts could have been the fault of the translators: it doesn't seem like the sort of creature whose species would have an idea like “the overseer”, or a castle keep. (Perhaps the latter term was chosen because of Kafka's The Castle.) Like 'Investigations of a Dog', sense of smell and mating drives were (pretty much) absent and made the narrator less convincing as an animal.
In the Penal Settlement
Accounts of elaborate machines used to torture people to death are high on the list of things I don't want to read. However, the act of recording reading online, and wanting to be true to the fixed states of “read” or “unfinished” re. the book made me read this story anyway (when once I'd probably have left it) - and I do have a somewhat higher tolerance for gore and torture in writing than on film. There is at least some respite in the story and most of it wasn't as graphic as I'd feared. Aside from 'Metamorphosis', I thought this was the strongest and most polished and later noticed it was the only other one Kafka had published in his lifetime. We are reading drafts without marking them emphatically enough as such.
The Giant Mole
One mild crank attempts to defend another against negative public opinion, instead making things worse. It may be about regional pamphlets of the early twentieth century, and improbably large burrowing mammals, but thanks to the internet more people than ever can relate to this now.
Or Kafka's Animal Stories plus a couple of others.
[3.5]
A pedant writes...
In most of these stories there were small continuity errors, some of which could conceivably have been due to word choices in translation. (I read this old translation – which in the twentieth century was the one used in Penguin Twentieth Century Classics - for sentimental reasons and didn't compare it with others as I usually do.) There were notable ideas missing in the imaginings of characters' or animals' worlds – some will say that is not the point of Kafka but IMO if an allegory does not stand up to making its surface world more factually accurate, it's hardly a work of genius; it would be real skill to make both layers perceptive and related.
Introduction
I prefer reading introductions before a work – that way I usually get more out of it. This one was frustrating and fragmented when read before Kafka's stories; afterwards, they illuminated it. (May be different for someone who has read a lot of Kafka, or last read him recently.) It also includes two other tiny stories by Kafka, and one by Robert Walser.
Three quotations I particuarly liked:
“They [Kafka's characters] share a similar trapped psychology. All of them are honestly, earnestly, trying to think up reasons why everything makes sense: they are trying to understand the rationale behind the joke they seem to find themselves in.”
“Both these kinds of characters – the extroverted and the introverted, the investigative and the theatrical derive from Kafka's tradition of European fiction. They derive from an idea that humans are either melancholy, when they understand how precarious their understanding is, or amusing, when they do not see how little they see.” (Recently I have become critical of the idea that the latter - “unreliable narrators” should be mocked and othered, that they aren't just fallible humans like everyone else. Thirlwell's discussion about Kafka and the idea of self-knowledge makes me understand why things are as they are in literature.)
“Kafka has been unlucky in his readers”. (Possibly including me.)
Metamorphosis
In 2011, I started a short story which was a sort of skit on Metamorphosis - although for a few days I didn't realise it was, feeling ill and forgetful, and also not having read the whole original. My protagonist awoke as a large cartoon ant, with wellington boots and a bow tie, and the ability to stand upright like the characters in Antz. (I couldn't decide whether to give him Mickey Mouse style gloved hands on the ends of his top legs, presence or absence of which would be rather crucial, and a few bits were written and re-written around this.) It was Comic Relief Day which meant that for that Friday at work, and possibly even the ensuing weekend if he could attach himself to some charity tin-shakers, he had, fingers crossed, a chance of passing himself off as an oddly convincing costume. But he was under increasing pressure about how to deal with things afterwards, to try and pretend normality in the present so as to make the most of being out in the world relatively unhindered, though doing so gave him very little time to try and work out a solution to his predicament. As usual with my fiction-writing attempts I found that a) whilst I could feel the comedy in many situations, putting it into the right words to make it funny to a reader was more difficult, and b) none of the endings I thought of were satisfactory to me.
So I started Kafka's long-short-story having already put a lot of thought into its situation. And I read it before I saw Thirlwell's sentence in the introduction, “the missing word in his story 'Metamorphosis' is 'dream'. That does explain a lot but I also didn't like a few aspects of the way the beginning was handled: the way Gregor Samsa's thoughts kept drifting back to annoyances at his work although he'd started to realise he was a beetle, that he wasn't actually preoccupied with how to deal with this surreal shock. IMO psychologically unrealistic, but not so if you take it to be drifty in the manner of a dream. (I sometimes think of the similarity between the German “traum” for dream and the English “trauma”; in a dream-reading of Kafka's story they meet.) I felt that Samsa's manner of thought at the start didn't fit with his being a salesman of five years' standing, who's had some success: sales needs a reflex-like focus on how other people see things, and he never considers other people's reactions to his appearance, even thinks he can still go to work as an insect, until he witnesses their responses. (The character would have been more believable to me as someone with an introverted job.)
I read most of the Kafka story thinking about the experience of worsened or acquired disability (the theme which I realised underlay my own fragment) although near the end the close relation to a contemporary experience of these broke down. Earlier, the paragraph about the new lack of comfort from looking out of the window; other people's reactions and having no choice but to understand and forgive them; wanting to apologise but the uselessness and repetitiveness of this when unable to change things; the barrenness of life and being stuck with one's own thoughts; the narrowing of the world; all were very poignant.
Once Gregor was out of his room I thought 'Metamorphosis' was excellent and, whether it's seen as being about existential alienation or something else, there was definitely enough story to keep it interesting as well as philosophical, and the Samsa family were like those drawings which are very good portraits whilst using only a handful of lines.
The Great Wall of China
An old view of China which reminded me of that I had from old books as a kid. I was also far from convinced that a person who'd grown up under the regime described would have the insights stated. Missing the point again, I would be surprised if a Chinese person living during the time the Great Wall was built would be familiar with the story of The Tower of Babel. Okay, I sound like a soulless pedant; it's not that I don't appreciate the underlying meaning, it's that when a writer is supposed to be this good, I have a personal stylistic expectation that the overlying story is precise as well. Perhaps it's because I've seen such a lot of reverence for Kafka on GR but I don't expect to have to keep forgiving an author like this for not being able to do the research. Though I should remember that Kafka wanted this stuff burnt, not published: he didn't think it was good enough either, albeit quite possibly for different reasons – I feel a little embarrassed on his behalf. (I'm not saying it definitely should have been burnt, just that it's overrated.)
Investigations of a Dog
I had an affection and interest for this simply because it's written from the viewpoint of a dog. The dog conducts often erroneous scientific / deductive reasoning about how the world works, especially about the source of food. Since Kafka's time there have been a lot of narratives from animal viewpoints which evoke their sensory worlds more effectively and I must be judging against those (especially Watership Down, Paul Gallico's Jennie, and the Duncton Wood saga which I read way too much of in my teens). We know more about dogs than people did 100 years ago but I can't believe that something of the primacy of the sense of smell wasn't understood – it's a very small part of this story, almost absent. Also no mention of mating (most dogs weren't neutered then, otherwise that could have explained the narrator's lack of mention of this drive). Related to the sense of smell, it doesn't really work that dogs would only think of pissing as “watering the ground”, not also scent-marking. And whilst the following could be subject to a debate about language, I would think that other species would smell different enough (and would be unattractive for mating, and may be food sources) that they wouldn't also refer to them as dogs – it would break down a lot of the humour in this story if they weren't also calling them dogs.
The Burrow
Written from the viewpoint of an unspecified solitary carnivorous animal which discusses its complex burrow and fear of enemies, it's a very vivid evocation of human paranoia/anxiety/obsession, complete with a correlating overly abstract, rambling, potentially dry style that's almost devoid of concrete examples. A few un-animally concepts could have been the fault of the translators: it doesn't seem like the sort of creature whose species would have an idea like “the overseer”, or a castle keep. (Perhaps the latter term was chosen because of Kafka's The Castle.) Like 'Investigations of a Dog', sense of smell and mating drives were (pretty much) absent and made the narrator less convincing as an animal.
In the Penal Settlement
Accounts of elaborate machines used to torture people to death are high on the list of things I don't want to read. However, the act of recording reading online, and wanting to be true to the fixed states of “read” or “unfinished” re. the book made me read this story anyway (when once I'd probably have left it) - and I do have a somewhat higher tolerance for gore and torture in writing than on film. There is at least some respite in the story and most of it wasn't as graphic as I'd feared. Aside from 'Metamorphosis', I thought this was the strongest and most polished and later noticed it was the only other one Kafka had published in his lifetime. We are reading drafts without marking them emphatically enough as such.
The Giant Mole
One mild crank attempts to defend another against negative public opinion, instead making things worse. It may be about regional pamphlets of the early twentieth century, and improbably large burrowing mammals, but thanks to the internet more people than ever can relate to this now.
August 21, 2008
I bought this edition to re-read because it's a new translation by Michael Hofmann, a total bad-ass German pretty much responsible for Joseph Roth's resurgence, for example. But, ultimately, all's I got to say is: Translation, schmalzlation! Like the horse in that super-short story about being a "red Indian," the words fall away as you start to gallop and you float through the penal colony, the Samsa's home, the Hunger Artist's cage. Plus, the edition I bought has very cool front and back covers by Chris Ware.
October 11, 2024
aahhh look at me im a giant cockroach
honestly metamorphosis was actually alright, but the rest of the stories sucked
honestly metamorphosis was actually alright, but the rest of the stories sucked
March 24, 2024
Ο Κάφκα σιχαινοταν τις Δευτέρες
Στα έξι χρόνια που μεσολάβησαν από την τελευταία φορά που διάβασα Κάφκα, οι αναγνωστικες μου εμπειρίες με οδήγησαν σε μονοπάτια που κατά ένα τρόπο είχαν ήδη χαραχθεί από τον μεγάλο συγγραφέα. Σε κάθε βιβλίο που διάβαζα έβλεπα το λογοτεχνικό αποτύπωμα του με έμμεσο ή άμεσο τρόπο και αυτό με έκανε να σκεφτώ πως του χρωστούσα μια επίσκεψη. Μια επίσκεψη όχι κάθετη και διδακτική από μέρους του όπου θα εξέθετε το μεγάλο έργο του, αλλά πιο διαλεκτική και σίγουρα αναστοχαστικη. Σαν το συγγενή που επιστρέφει σε γνώριμα λημέρια και του λένε ότι μεγάλωσε.
Η παρούσα συλλογή αποτελεί από μόνη της ένα αρκετό μεγάλο παράθυρο προς τον κόσμο του Κάφκα και συμπεριλαμβάνει τρία από τα πλέον εμβληματικά έργα του: Την Κρίση (The Judgment), την Μεταμόρφωση και την Σοφρωνιστικη Αποικία, Τρία έργα για τα οποία έχουν γραφτεί τόμοι ολόκληροι.
Και όχι άδικα. Γιατί η γραφη του Κάφκα καταφέρνει να σε παρασύρει αλλά πολύ περισσότερο να σου δημιουργήσει ερωτήματα ερμηνευτικής φύσης, τόσο για το έργο που διαβαζεις όσο και για τον ίδιο σου τον εαυτό. Ο Κάφκα δημιουργεί παραμορφωμενους καθρέφτες που τους τοποθετεί απέναντι μας με στόχο να αποδώσουμε εμείς πώς βλέπουμε τον εαυτό μας στην οικογένεια, στην κοινωνία, ακόμη και σε μια ξένη αποικία. Προφανώς, μια τέτοια καταβύθιση γίνεται στο πεδίο του παραλόγου. Άλλωστε το τελευταίο είναι συστατικό στοιχείο της καθημερινότητας μας και είμαστε εμείς μερικές φορές που το βλέπουμε αλλά αρνουμαστε να το αποδεχτούμε.
Ο Κάφκα το ανέδειξε και το έκανε από μια απλή σκέψη, απτή πραγματικότητα. Και τον ευχαριστούμε αιωνίως για αυτο.
Στα έξι χρόνια που μεσολάβησαν από την τελευταία φορά που διάβασα Κάφκα, οι αναγνωστικες μου εμπειρίες με οδήγησαν σε μονοπάτια που κατά ένα τρόπο είχαν ήδη χαραχθεί από τον μεγάλο συγγραφέα. Σε κάθε βιβλίο που διάβαζα έβλεπα το λογοτεχνικό αποτύπωμα του με έμμεσο ή άμεσο τρόπο και αυτό με έκανε να σκεφτώ πως του χρωστούσα μια επίσκεψη. Μια επίσκεψη όχι κάθετη και διδακτική από μέρους του όπου θα εξέθετε το μεγάλο έργο του, αλλά πιο διαλεκτική και σίγουρα αναστοχαστικη. Σαν το συγγενή που επιστρέφει σε γνώριμα λημέρια και του λένε ότι μεγάλωσε.
Η παρούσα συλλογή αποτελεί από μόνη της ένα αρκετό μεγάλο παράθυρο προς τον κόσμο του Κάφκα και συμπεριλαμβάνει τρία από τα πλέον εμβληματικά έργα του: Την Κρίση (The Judgment), την Μεταμόρφωση και την Σοφρωνιστικη Αποικία, Τρία έργα για τα οποία έχουν γραφτεί τόμοι ολόκληροι.
Και όχι άδικα. Γιατί η γραφη του Κάφκα καταφέρνει να σε παρασύρει αλλά πολύ περισσότερο να σου δημιουργήσει ερωτήματα ερμηνευτικής φύσης, τόσο για το έργο που διαβαζεις όσο και για τον ίδιο σου τον εαυτό. Ο Κάφκα δημιουργεί παραμορφωμενους καθρέφτες που τους τοποθετεί απέναντι μας με στόχο να αποδώσουμε εμείς πώς βλέπουμε τον εαυτό μας στην οικογένεια, στην κοινωνία, ακόμη και σε μια ξένη αποικία. Προφανώς, μια τέτοια καταβύθιση γίνεται στο πεδίο του παραλόγου. Άλλωστε το τελευταίο είναι συστατικό στοιχείο της καθημερινότητας μας και είμαστε εμείς μερικές φορές που το βλέπουμε αλλά αρνουμαστε να το αποδεχτούμε.
Ο Κάφκα το ανέδειξε και το έκανε από μια απλή σκέψη, απτή πραγματικότητα. Και τον ευχαριστούμε αιωνίως για αυτο.
September 24, 2019
Short story collections are not usually my go to, but after so long wanting to try reading Kafka, I had to give it a shot. And overall I got what I expected! Some hits, some misses, but overall a show of mastery by a renowned author. This collection encompasses, in my opinion, the extensive range of Kafka's literary prowess. He can create a heavy and horror-filled environment, detail his thoughts in journal passages to put a different spin on routinised reality, and achieves societal critique through both humorous and poignant remarks that make you question your perceptions. Often he would write a story where he would put forward this dualism, describing an aversion to one of the characters but in the end showing that its "opposite" is not such an opposite after all, but a sort of mirror, having those same characteristics present somehow (e.g. Metamorphosis, The Judgement, Unmasking a Trickster).
While some stories seem like a product of its time, and weirdly discriminatory (e.g. Dresses, The rejection, The passenger, The plight of the bachelor), and others even slightly confusing (e.g. The businessman, The excursion in the mountains, A visit to the mine), there were a lot of them that made me think and that will stay with me for a long time. His writing is phenomenal, and I just feel sorry I can't read this in the original language.
Detailed rating:
Children on the road - ★★★★☆
Unmasking a trickster - ★★★★☆
The sudden walk - ★★☆☆☆
Resolutions - ★★★☆☆
The excursion into the mountain - ★★☆☆☆
The plight of the bachelor - ★☆☆☆☆
The businessman - ★☆☆☆☆
Looking out distractedly - ★★☆☆☆
The way home - ★★★☆☆
The men running past - ★★★☆☆
The passenger - ★★☆☆☆
The dresses - ★☆☆☆☆
The rejection - ★☆☆☆☆
For the consideration of amateur jockeys - ★★☆☆☆
The window on the street - ★★★☆☆
Desire to be a red Indian - ★★☆☆☆
The trees - ★★★☆☆
Being unhappy - ★★★☆☆
The judgement - ★★★★☆
The stoke: a fragment - ★★★★☆
Metamorphosis - ★★★★☆
In the penal colony - ★★★★☆
The new advocate - ★★★☆☆
A country doctor - ★★☆☆☆
In the gallery - ★★☆☆☆
An old journal - ★★☆☆☆
Before the law - ★★★★☆
Jackals and Arabs - ★★★☆☆
A visit to the mine - ★★☆☆☆
The neighbouring village - ★★★☆☆
A message from the Emperor - ★★★☆☆
The worries of a head of household - ★★☆☆☆
Eleven sons - ★★★★☆
A fratricide - ★★☆☆☆
A dream - ★★★☆☆
A report to an academy - ★★★★☆
First sorrow - ★★★☆☆
A little woman - ★★★★☆
A hunger artist - ★★★★★
Josephine, the singer, or the mouse people - ★★★☆☆
Aeroplanes in Brescia - ★★☆☆☆
Great noise - ★★★☆☆
The coat-scuttle rider - ★★★☆☆
While some stories seem like a product of its time, and weirdly discriminatory (e.g. Dresses, The rejection, The passenger, The plight of the bachelor), and others even slightly confusing (e.g. The businessman, The excursion in the mountains, A visit to the mine), there were a lot of them that made me think and that will stay with me for a long time. His writing is phenomenal, and I just feel sorry I can't read this in the original language.
Detailed rating:
Children on the road - ★★★★☆
Unmasking a trickster - ★★★★☆
The sudden walk - ★★☆☆☆
Resolutions - ★★★☆☆
The excursion into the mountain - ★★☆☆☆
The plight of the bachelor - ★☆☆☆☆
The businessman - ★☆☆☆☆
Looking out distractedly - ★★☆☆☆
The way home - ★★★☆☆
The men running past - ★★★☆☆
The passenger - ★★☆☆☆
The dresses - ★☆☆☆☆
The rejection - ★☆☆☆☆
For the consideration of amateur jockeys - ★★☆☆☆
The window on the street - ★★★☆☆
Desire to be a red Indian - ★★☆☆☆
The trees - ★★★☆☆
Being unhappy - ★★★☆☆
The judgement - ★★★★☆
The stoke: a fragment - ★★★★☆
Metamorphosis - ★★★★☆
In the penal colony - ★★★★☆
The new advocate - ★★★☆☆
A country doctor - ★★☆☆☆
In the gallery - ★★☆☆☆
An old journal - ★★☆☆☆
Before the law - ★★★★☆
Jackals and Arabs - ★★★☆☆
A visit to the mine - ★★☆☆☆
The neighbouring village - ★★★☆☆
A message from the Emperor - ★★★☆☆
The worries of a head of household - ★★☆☆☆
Eleven sons - ★★★★☆
A fratricide - ★★☆☆☆
A dream - ★★★☆☆
A report to an academy - ★★★★☆
First sorrow - ★★★☆☆
A little woman - ★★★★☆
A hunger artist - ★★★★★
Josephine, the singer, or the mouse people - ★★★☆☆
Aeroplanes in Brescia - ★★☆☆☆
Great noise - ★★★☆☆
The coat-scuttle rider - ★★★☆☆
March 24, 2012
In reading this I have strayed quite far outside of my usual comfort zone. But what attracted me to Kafka is that he apparently wrote about the horror of the human condition and that his stories were are often quite surreal and weird. I found all this to be quite true.
It would seem that his stories are often metaphorically alluding to something else but I haven't felt compelled to dwell on that aspect too deeply, enjoying the stories for their strangeness and humour, their full meaning often alluding me.
I've no idea how he wrote his stories but some of them almost feel stream of consciousness style. The narrator will pursue one thought after another in a seemingly directionless fashion, taking unexpected turns and usually ending inconclusively.
I have enjoyed most of the stories here to greater or lesser degrees but none have particularly bowled be over in amazement. "The Stoker" was great as well as "The Penal Colony" but the story that came closest to blowing me away was "A Little Woman", a wonderful tale of obsession.
This book collects all the stories published during his lifetime and there's apparently another companion book released by Penguin that collects the others that were published posthumously. I may well pick it up one day.
It would seem that his stories are often metaphorically alluding to something else but I haven't felt compelled to dwell on that aspect too deeply, enjoying the stories for their strangeness and humour, their full meaning often alluding me.
I've no idea how he wrote his stories but some of them almost feel stream of consciousness style. The narrator will pursue one thought after another in a seemingly directionless fashion, taking unexpected turns and usually ending inconclusively.
I have enjoyed most of the stories here to greater or lesser degrees but none have particularly bowled be over in amazement. "The Stoker" was great as well as "The Penal Colony" but the story that came closest to blowing me away was "A Little Woman", a wonderful tale of obsession.
This book collects all the stories published during his lifetime and there's apparently another companion book released by Penguin that collects the others that were published posthumously. I may well pick it up one day.
October 31, 2011
There's something remarkable about holding the entire output that an author published during his lifetime in one normal length book. Of course much of Franz Kafka's reputation rests on the three novels that were published after his death and against his explicit instructions.
There's also something depressing about this particular volume, and I'm not talking about the stories, many of which are really quite comic. What is depressing is that the stories are arranged chronologically and for the most part they keep getting better and better. Until Kafka's relatively short life ended.
Particularly striking is The Stoker, Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, some of the stories in the collection A Country Doctor, and then the stories in the collection A Hunger Artist, particularly the title story, First Sorrow, and Josefine, the Singer, or The Mouse People. Other than Metamorphosis they were all new to me and the precise attention to odd details that have an internal logic but do not correspond to any world we actually know, the strange predicaments of the characters, the precise psychological characterization of alternative viewpoints, all added up to something that really is quite amazing.
There's also something depressing about this particular volume, and I'm not talking about the stories, many of which are really quite comic. What is depressing is that the stories are arranged chronologically and for the most part they keep getting better and better. Until Kafka's relatively short life ended.
Particularly striking is The Stoker, Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, some of the stories in the collection A Country Doctor, and then the stories in the collection A Hunger Artist, particularly the title story, First Sorrow, and Josefine, the Singer, or The Mouse People. Other than Metamorphosis they were all new to me and the precise attention to odd details that have an internal logic but do not correspond to any world we actually know, the strange predicaments of the characters, the precise psychological characterization of alternative viewpoints, all added up to something that really is quite amazing.
March 28, 2022
that was a mortifying experience.
April 16, 2025
þetta eru alveg háar fjórar, margar sögur þarna alveg frábærar og þá sérstaklega dómurin, litla konan og umskiptin. erfitt að gefa smá sagnasafni fimm því það er alltaf eitthvað sem hittir ekki alveg í mark, en ég er stórhrifin, styrkleiki kafka liggur klárlega í smásögunum.
September 20, 2025
As always, very funny. Highlights were Metamorphosis, The Stoker, In The Penal Colony, A Country Doctor, Jackals and Arabs, A Message from the Emperor, A Report to an Academy and Josefine, the Singer, or The Mouse People. Would like to read these again in a different translation; Hofmann’s prose can sometimes feel arch and laborious.
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