Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Schocken (1995), Edition: Reprint, 488 pages
Description
"The Complete Stories "brings together all of Kafka s stories, from the classic tales such as The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and A Hunger Artist to shorter pieces and fragments that Max Brod, Kafka s literary executor, released after Kafka s death. With the exception of his three novels, the whole of Kafka s narrative work is included in this volume. "
User reviews
LibraryThing member elenchus
I consider the central fact of Kafka's stories to be his effort to illustrate something familiar (at least to him) through unfamiliar scenarios. That these scenarios create an effect of alienation, a sense of the absurd, or perhaps horror is significant but not the main thing. (I think this
I've heard interpretations of stories such as "Die Verwandlung", and the theories seem clever and insightful at first: that it's autobiographical, say, Kafka feeling an alien or vermin for wanting to be a writer, in a family rejecting that role. But while there's something to that idea, it's soon clear it falls quite short. There's a moment in "Die Verwandlung", when the story doesn't end after the confrontation with his family, rather Gregor is left alone in his room and his family attempts to move on. At that point, it's clear there are too many contradictions, too many details which don't fit the first reading at all. And so it goes with the other stories: a moment or scene stitching together two very different tales, though featuring the same setting and characters. "Der Heizer" (originally the opening chapter of Amerika) in which the character unaccountably meets his Senator uncle amid an onboard trial between two steamship employees; "Das Urteil" in which a well-meaning young man's behaviour is revealed to be less than benevolent, though again it's not quite clear why. Always a twist that is unexpected, evidently meaningful, but ultimately elusive.
Example of how Kafka confounds the expectations set up by the oddity of his establishing scenario: "In der Strafkolonie", when the executioner (der Offizier) fails to persuade the visitor of the merits of the torture device, and so ... straps himself to it, as though taking desperate measures to win the argument. If horror or weirdness were the point, that would be the climax and indeed the point, but here the key does not appear to be related to the conflict between characters, but occurs later. The tension in the story points to the protective stance adopted by the visitor toward the executioner, and his distancing from a subordinate soldier and the executioner's prisoner. Not the narrative arc expected given the opposition between the principal characters, nor that hinted at by the action, either. Clearly, Kafka is getting at something, but what?
And that's just it. When I attempt to "figure out" a Kafka story, understand the strange predicament at its core, for the most part I fail. Interestingly, this failure is not disappointing, and in fact I've come to see the result as a primary source of what draws me to Kafka's work. For I'm left with the abiding strangeness, coupled with the conviction it's not done for its own sake, and though I'm not able to puzzle out the meaning, still I'm convinced there is something more than an effect underlying the story. I may never figure out the story, but I don't lose the pleasure of reading it. This reading experience isn't found anywhere else.
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Read in 2011 primarily in effort to keep up my German. Kafka's prose is straightforward in vocabulary, but not as simple as I once thought. He relies comfortably on the convoluted sentence structure and nested dependent clauses characteristic of German. The language fits the stories as much as does the narrative itself.
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description applies to Expressionism, generally.) And these unfamiliar scenes are in fact rooted in the familiar: certainly there is the impression of another era (customs, business, automation) moving into a recognisably modern society. And generally the tales do not seem specific to Europe or even the German-speaking cultures, but broadly applicable to 20c civilisation. Again, the unfamiliar seems a way of drawing the reader's attention, but is not itself the point.I've heard interpretations of stories such as "Die Verwandlung", and the theories seem clever and insightful at first: that it's autobiographical, say, Kafka feeling an alien or vermin for wanting to be a writer, in a family rejecting that role. But while there's something to that idea, it's soon clear it falls quite short. There's a moment in "Die Verwandlung", when the story doesn't end after the confrontation with his family, rather Gregor is left alone in his room and his family attempts to move on. At that point, it's clear there are too many contradictions, too many details which don't fit the first reading at all. And so it goes with the other stories: a moment or scene stitching together two very different tales, though featuring the same setting and characters. "Der Heizer" (originally the opening chapter of Amerika) in which the character unaccountably meets his Senator uncle amid an onboard trial between two steamship employees; "Das Urteil" in which a well-meaning young man's behaviour is revealed to be less than benevolent, though again it's not quite clear why. Always a twist that is unexpected, evidently meaningful, but ultimately elusive.
Example of how Kafka confounds the expectations set up by the oddity of his establishing scenario: "In der Strafkolonie", when the executioner (der Offizier) fails to persuade the visitor of the merits of the torture device, and so ... straps himself to it, as though taking desperate measures to win the argument. If horror or weirdness were the point, that would be the climax and indeed the point, but here the key does not appear to be related to the conflict between characters, but occurs later. The tension in the story points to the protective stance adopted by the visitor toward the executioner, and his distancing from a subordinate soldier and the executioner's prisoner. Not the narrative arc expected given the opposition between the principal characters, nor that hinted at by the action, either. Clearly, Kafka is getting at something, but what?
And that's just it. When I attempt to "figure out" a Kafka story, understand the strange predicament at its core, for the most part I fail. Interestingly, this failure is not disappointing, and in fact I've come to see the result as a primary source of what draws me to Kafka's work. For I'm left with the abiding strangeness, coupled with the conviction it's not done for its own sake, and though I'm not able to puzzle out the meaning, still I'm convinced there is something more than an effect underlying the story. I may never figure out the story, but I don't lose the pleasure of reading it. This reading experience isn't found anywhere else.
//
Read in 2011 primarily in effort to keep up my German. Kafka's prose is straightforward in vocabulary, but not as simple as I once thought. He relies comfortably on the convoluted sentence structure and nested dependent clauses characteristic of German. The language fits the stories as much as does the narrative itself.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jkorta
Kafka is one of the writers that got me reading as a teenager in the first place. Eerily familiar, hilariously sad, Kafka's uncanny stories will have you unsure whether you should laugh or cry. For lovers of Murakami's short stories, Kafka, an obvious inspiration for Murakami, will be a treasure
And, need I say it? These stories aren't to be so much "understood" (as reviewers seem to fear) as experienced. You cannot dominate these stories intellectually. They will slip and slide through the wet fingers of your animal mind! So drop your existential philosophy primer and just let Kafka crawl over you like a cockroach!
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trove of the absurd and the familiar, wrapped up in laconic prose. (And vice-versa: if you like Kafka, you'll certainly enjoy the perhaps more approachable Murakami)And, need I say it? These stories aren't to be so much "understood" (as reviewers seem to fear) as experienced. You cannot dominate these stories intellectually. They will slip and slide through the wet fingers of your animal mind! So drop your existential philosophy primer and just let Kafka crawl over you like a cockroach!
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LibraryThing member jackkane
The more famous stories (Metamorphosis and The Penal Colony, for example) are good; but most of the stuff in the book is unreadable drivel. Many 'stories' are diary-entry type snippets or parables that in no way constitute complete writing and should never have been published, except in an academic
I'm tempted to say that Kafka is a unique writer, in the sense that what others have made of his work is more substantial and interesting than the work itself.
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context. Other stories are vapid walls of text, which Kafka correctly desired would remain unpublished.I'm tempted to say that Kafka is a unique writer, in the sense that what others have made of his work is more substantial and interesting than the work itself.
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LibraryThing member MorgannaKerrie
I stole this book from an ex boyfriend. It's an interesting read, to say the least. It's one of those books that I should read more often, and talk to others about reading so they think I am smarter than I really am.
LibraryThing member rolandallnach
As writers go, Franz Kafka may not be the most accessible, but his works are always of interest. His uncanny ability to draw readers to his stories with such immediacy, often a sentence or less, is perhaps one of the greater claims to his literary talent. It is unfortunate he did not live longer,
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so that more of his work could reach completion, or so that he could have put to paper stories we can only imagine. As a writer myself, reading Kafka is like a discertation in character development and narrative immersion. And while I may be inclined to agree in part with some other reviewers that Kafka's work can be hard to follow at times, it is the quality of his prose alone that can entertain. He is a master of 'the waking dream', that style of narrative that thrusts a reader into realities that may or may not be entirely 'real'. It is true that many of his stories are quite short, but it is not to be forgotten that even with such brevity he often manages to develop character, setting, and some type of impetus to propel the narrative. Not an easy task by any means, and perhaps what has helped contribute to his work enduring with such high regard. For those interested in unusual stories, and for those who simply love to absorb the artwork of masterful prose, Kafka is not to be missed, and this volume offers an abundance of his material, including his most popular stories. Show Less
LibraryThing member Big_Bang_Gorilla
This is a nice collection to own, as it gathers all of Kafka's narrative fiction except for his three novels in one book, which is important since when Kafka was rediscovered in the sixties, these tended to be reissued in a haphazard manner with a great deal of duplication between volumes. The book
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is arranged with longer stories (several of which I would term novellas) first and short shorts at the end. A few of the stories read like fragments and some of the longer ones do go on a bit with very little payoff in terms of insight into the human condition, let alone traditional metrics such as plot and characterization, but the many classic favorites make this a relatively enjoyable investment of time. The physical quality of the paperback could be better; mine is falling apart. Show Less
LibraryThing member stravinsky
ramble on.
created stuff that creator has no intention of making public being made public, that's hard to judge.
I understood the implications of 'kafkaesque' before reading but now no longer do.
created stuff that creator has no intention of making public being made public, that's hard to judge.
I understood the implications of 'kafkaesque' before reading but now no longer do.
LibraryThing member daniilkharmsarms
Essential.
LibraryThing member fuzzy_patters
I was very excited to read this collection because I loved The Trial when I read it. Unfortunately, I found the quality of writing in this collection to be very inconsistent. Kafka did not want most of these published, and it is clear why. Some of the stories are overly discursive and painful to
Despite being included with some less enjoyable works, many of the stories in this collection are brilliant. They place the reader in a world where life is absurd and we are all subject to happenstance. They are at times terrifying and always thought provoking. These stories are Kafka at his best. For those who pick up this book, reading the whole thing is certainly worthwhile, I would suggest reading the following if you do not have time to read the whole thing.
"Before the Law"
"The Imperial Message"
"The Metamorphosis"
"The Penal Colony"
"A Country Doctor"
"A Hunger Artist"
"Jackals and Arabs"
"A Little Fable"
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read. Others are so short and to the point that the point became banal. Yet, I cannot exactly say that I didn't enjoy the collection, either. Despite being included with some less enjoyable works, many of the stories in this collection are brilliant. They place the reader in a world where life is absurd and we are all subject to happenstance. They are at times terrifying and always thought provoking. These stories are Kafka at his best. For those who pick up this book, reading the whole thing is certainly worthwhile, I would suggest reading the following if you do not have time to read the whole thing.
"Before the Law"
"The Imperial Message"
"The Metamorphosis"
"The Penal Colony"
"A Country Doctor"
"A Hunger Artist"
"Jackals and Arabs"
"A Little Fable"
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LibraryThing member engpunk77
My favorites are "Metamorphosis", "The Penal Colony", and "The Hunger Artist."
LibraryThing member jpsnow
I read "The Metamorphosis" and "In the Penal Colony" as part of my Great Books list. Weird stuff. Given that a lot of people agree that these are great books, I clearly need to explore some commentary and other existentialist works to get it.
LibraryThing member a1abwriter
What can I say its Kafka. The man has the ability to weave a tale of truly extraordinary circumstances and make it seem as if they were not extraordinary at all; Stories of waking up an insect, a horrible machine that tattoos your crime on your body till your death, and graveyard ghosts. all just
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normal and everyday even. there in lies just a fraction of the art that is kafka.The only thing I was upset about is that this set did not have "The trial" and "America" in it. Show Less
LibraryThing member SaraPrindiville
Slightly disturbing, somewhat confusing- really needs to be read more than once to be completely understood. It reminds me (at least the shorter stories do) of Confusian koans. I want to read more of his works, but probably not for quite a while. It is evident that he really means more than he says.
LibraryThing member renderedtruth
I always wonder why Kafka gave the instruction to his friend to burn all of his writing when he died. I think he doubted if he would be a good or bad influence on the public's mind through the dissemination of his nightmarish visions of oppression.
I liked the fables and short things in this book
I liked the fables and short things in this book
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and some of them are so stark they made me laugh. Show Less
LibraryThing member SeriousGrace
Review of The Metamorphosis:
What a freaking sad, sad story (or novella, if you will). Even though I read this once in high school and twice in college I wanted to refresh my memory about the details. From my previous readings I remember Gregor woke up one morning to find he had transformed into a
What a freaking sad, sad story (or novella, if you will). Even though I read this once in high school and twice in college I wanted to refresh my memory about the details. From my previous readings I remember Gregor woke up one morning to find he had transformed into a
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bug. Instead of being concerned about the multiple legs, hard shell and the fact he couldn't turn himself over, Gregor was more upset about sleeping late, missing the train and being late to work as a traveling salesman. This was a key point in the story. I also remember his parents and sister not being all that supportive of his transformation. This also was a huge point in the story. His family was repulsed by his appearance and refused to consider him part of the family. Their neglect of him gets worse and worse until dirty and broken, he succumbs to starvation and the injuries sustained when his father threw an apple at him. What I didn't remember was the nitty-gritty psychology of it all. Gregor's resentment about being the bread winner for the family, how underneath it all he felt like a bug even before the metamorphosis, and ultimately his family's complete exclusion of Gregor as an insect. The other detail I had completely forgotten was how freeing Gregor's death was to the family. They moved on without a single regret. Show Less
LibraryThing member hmmm_tea
Wonderfully surreal, you never know what's around the page. Highlights include the Description of a Struggle, The Metamorphosis, A Report to an Academy and Excursion into the Mountains.
LibraryThing member hcubic
Some of these stories still resonate in my mind, fifty years after I first read them. The foreword by Joyce Carol Oates describes his his storytelling affected her writing.
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1971
Physical description
488 p.; 7.98 inches
ISBN
0805210555 / 9780805210552