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The Complete Stories
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Manufacturer: Schocken
Author: Franz Kafka
Publisher: Schocken
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Our Price: $10.50
You Save: $ 4.50 ( 30% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Schocken
Author: Franz Kafka
Publisher: Schocken
Average Customer Rating:
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The Complete Stories Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 833.912
EAN: 9780805210552
ISBN: 0805210555
Label: Schocken
Manufacturer: Schocken
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 512
Publication Date: 1995-11-14
Publisher: Schocken
Product Release Date: 1995-11-14
Studio: Schocken
Dewey Decimal Number: 833.912
EAN: 9780805210552
ISBN: 0805210555
Label: Schocken
Manufacturer: Schocken
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 512
Publication Date: 1995-11-14
Publisher: Schocken
Product Release Date: 1995-11-14
Studio: Schocken
Editorial Review of The Complete Stories
How many writers get their own adjective? The work of this terminally alienated master narrator of the subconscious demanded a new descriptor; I guess they gave up and just settled on "Kafkaesque." But if you ever wonder what the original Kafkaesque work was, take a look here. The book contains all of Kafka's short and longer stories -- everything but his three novels. Most of these stories weren't even published during the author's lifetime. The widely-anthologized The Metamorphosis is here, wherein Gregor Samsa awakes from uneasy dreams to find himself insectoidally transformed, as are equally lovely pieces like A Hunger Artist, A Country Doctor and A Little Woman.
Customer Reviews of The Complete Stories
Customer Rating: 
Review Summary: Excellent introduction to Kafka unique style
Review: Most of the stroies are gems.
Kafka's unique style lies with the way he uses the language - he manages in bringing the reader to the darkest corners of the psyche using a matter-of-fact, almost bland collection of allegedly objective observations on his protagonists' emotions, thoughts and behaviours. These protagonists are sometimes human beings but some are neither human nor animals...One could call them Kafka imagination's progeny.
The reason I give it only 4 stars is because some of the stories are bordering on ...boring. I guess the reason in having them in this edition is in order to be able to call it 'The Complete Stories'.
Thus - if you are ready to accept some less than stellar writing, you'll be rewarded in most of the book by an extraordinary style and truly 'kafkaesque' ideas.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Treasure of Madness
Review: Kafka is still "the rage," one supposes, but it is hard to see how, now that he has become an icon. This is a fabulous collection. Updike is right that these stories are excellent. Kafka has had enormous influence on modern fiction. He may be one of a handful of highly important authors. Reading him today is especially interesting; you would think these stories had been written the day before yesterday. Kafka's subject, which is something like 'the estrangement of the soul and modern man's quest for hope in a hopeless universe' sounds awfully familiar.The truth is that little else has been said to expand on Kafka's central insight into modern man's spiritual dilemma. "There is hope, but not for us." Kafka, rather like Poe, writes creepy tales. That his world is ours is the magic of his genius. Yes, we've been there alright, but we cannot explain how it happened. We can, as they say, relate...to Kafka's narratives of anxiety, helplessness, and fear.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: His Basic Short Story Collection
Review: This is a collection which first appeared about 60 years ago and has been published a number of times with small variations in the selected works.
Franz Kafka (1883 - 1924) was one of the major German-language fiction writers of the 20th century. He was a Jew living in Prague and working for the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute. He wrote in his spare time and was inspired by the problems associated with bureaucratic institutions - such as we read in "The Castle."
I read all of Kafka's work and put together this Listmania list from my notes and experiences. His short novella Metamorphosis is among the best short works ever written. Unfortunately, he did not write and publish much when he was alive. Most of what is available was published after his early death, and some of it is edited (possibly) poorly as in Amerika. His writings vary from novels to one page impressions of life, such as one essay that is about looking out a window. The novels revolve around a young to middle aged protagonist male named "K," who battles the courts and bureaucrats.
At some point while reading his works, I realized that his short stories are just as important as the novels, or even more so, and Metamorphosis is just one of a number of excellent short works involving compulsion and one's view of life. So, the present book is an excellent buy for those who want to learn about Kafka.
Overall, I like "Metamorphosis" for its originality. After reading many of his works I got to the point where I had read enough, because many of his writings are just fragments. Some might want to read all his sort stories in one go, but I did not because of all the fragments. In any case, this collection with a forward by Updike is an excellent buy or read, well worth the time. The following short stores are complete works and not fragments: Hunger Artist, A Country Doctor, A Little Woman, The Penal Colony, and the Judgment. The Penal Colony goes even farther than Metamorphosis; and as such, it is an odd reading experience, having almost a nightmare quality to the story. A few of the others are bizarre as well. In any case, an English reader will always wonder if he completely understands or has fully appreciated the translated German writing.
This is recommended as a basic introduction. It is missing The Stoker but it has his key short works.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Kafka's Complete Shorter Works
Review: This book contains almost all of Kafka's literary works, save his full length novels.
Kafka's writing is representative for a large portion of modern literature. Although one can classify his works as dealing with alienation, assimilation, inferiority, and insecurities, they are, on some level, impenetrable by interpretors. His prose is clear and easily readeable; however, the implications of his story remain troubelsome and confounding.
Kafka's writing style betrays expected norms of literature. In the metamorphisis, the protaganist Gregor Samsa awakens from his sleep to find himself changed into a beetle. The story is about the ramifications of the event, and the expected pinnacle, his transformation itself, is barely attended too. Furthermore, Samsa seems to take his transformation in stride. He recognizes the uniqueness of his case, but thoughts of his own insanity, nor the impossibility of the situation are hardly voiced. By giving us the absurd and simultaneously sidelining it, Kafka is able to focus on other issues. Samsa's "otherness" as a beetle, now being an existential given, leads us to explore how being "other" works in relationship to family and other acquantices.
Kafka is a truly marvelous writer, and if his writing seem paranoid and absurd, it adds to their literary quality. His concerns are not so unique as the positions his literary creations often find themselves in, and he provides an interesting voice on the conditions of modernity.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Kafka had it right
Review: This is the most authoritative collection of Kafka's immortal short fiction; it includes the most respected translations of each story (mostly by Willa and Edwin Muir), and a fair introduction from John Updike.
Kafka was the greatest writer of short fiction of the modern era. Such stories as 'The Metamorphosis,' 'In the Penal Colony,' 'The Hunger Artist,' and 'The Great Wall of China' encapsulate the tyrannical, dehumanizing regimentation of the modern world. Kafka may be difficult to read, and the allegorical form is not enjoyable for everyone. However, it is impossible to not be drawn into the strange madness of 'The Hunger Artist,' or 'The Country Doctor,' surely two of the most terrifying works of literature of the period.
In many ways, Kafka was a precursor to the sort of self-reflexive artistry that would later be found in Beckett, Sartre, and Brecht; Kafka is always aware that he is working within the literary realm, and he knows that he cannot escape it. Therefore, (brilliantly), he turns it into an advantage, by intoning the mystical, the metaphysical, and the surreal. His characters are often animals, metaphors, or simply moods. This approach has its strengths, but only in the hands of a true master. Fortunately for us, Kafka was just that, in the truest sense: a master of form, and unity of content.
Review Summary: Excellent introduction to Kafka unique style
Review: Most of the stroies are gems.
Kafka's unique style lies with the way he uses the language - he manages in bringing the reader to the darkest corners of the psyche using a matter-of-fact, almost bland collection of allegedly objective observations on his protagonists' emotions, thoughts and behaviours. These protagonists are sometimes human beings but some are neither human nor animals...One could call them Kafka imagination's progeny.
The reason I give it only 4 stars is because some of the stories are bordering on ...boring. I guess the reason in having them in this edition is in order to be able to call it 'The Complete Stories'.
Thus - if you are ready to accept some less than stellar writing, you'll be rewarded in most of the book by an extraordinary style and truly 'kafkaesque' ideas.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Treasure of Madness
Review: Kafka is still "the rage," one supposes, but it is hard to see how, now that he has become an icon. This is a fabulous collection. Updike is right that these stories are excellent. Kafka has had enormous influence on modern fiction. He may be one of a handful of highly important authors. Reading him today is especially interesting; you would think these stories had been written the day before yesterday. Kafka's subject, which is something like 'the estrangement of the soul and modern man's quest for hope in a hopeless universe' sounds awfully familiar.The truth is that little else has been said to expand on Kafka's central insight into modern man's spiritual dilemma. "There is hope, but not for us." Kafka, rather like Poe, writes creepy tales. That his world is ours is the magic of his genius. Yes, we've been there alright, but we cannot explain how it happened. We can, as they say, relate...to Kafka's narratives of anxiety, helplessness, and fear.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: His Basic Short Story Collection
Review: This is a collection which first appeared about 60 years ago and has been published a number of times with small variations in the selected works.
Franz Kafka (1883 - 1924) was one of the major German-language fiction writers of the 20th century. He was a Jew living in Prague and working for the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute. He wrote in his spare time and was inspired by the problems associated with bureaucratic institutions - such as we read in "The Castle."
I read all of Kafka's work and put together this Listmania list from my notes and experiences. His short novella Metamorphosis is among the best short works ever written. Unfortunately, he did not write and publish much when he was alive. Most of what is available was published after his early death, and some of it is edited (possibly) poorly as in Amerika. His writings vary from novels to one page impressions of life, such as one essay that is about looking out a window. The novels revolve around a young to middle aged protagonist male named "K," who battles the courts and bureaucrats.
At some point while reading his works, I realized that his short stories are just as important as the novels, or even more so, and Metamorphosis is just one of a number of excellent short works involving compulsion and one's view of life. So, the present book is an excellent buy for those who want to learn about Kafka.
Overall, I like "Metamorphosis" for its originality. After reading many of his works I got to the point where I had read enough, because many of his writings are just fragments. Some might want to read all his sort stories in one go, but I did not because of all the fragments. In any case, this collection with a forward by Updike is an excellent buy or read, well worth the time. The following short stores are complete works and not fragments: Hunger Artist, A Country Doctor, A Little Woman, The Penal Colony, and the Judgment. The Penal Colony goes even farther than Metamorphosis; and as such, it is an odd reading experience, having almost a nightmare quality to the story. A few of the others are bizarre as well. In any case, an English reader will always wonder if he completely understands or has fully appreciated the translated German writing.
This is recommended as a basic introduction. It is missing The Stoker but it has his key short works.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Kafka's Complete Shorter Works
Review: This book contains almost all of Kafka's literary works, save his full length novels.
Kafka's writing is representative for a large portion of modern literature. Although one can classify his works as dealing with alienation, assimilation, inferiority, and insecurities, they are, on some level, impenetrable by interpretors. His prose is clear and easily readeable; however, the implications of his story remain troubelsome and confounding.
Kafka's writing style betrays expected norms of literature. In the metamorphisis, the protaganist Gregor Samsa awakens from his sleep to find himself changed into a beetle. The story is about the ramifications of the event, and the expected pinnacle, his transformation itself, is barely attended too. Furthermore, Samsa seems to take his transformation in stride. He recognizes the uniqueness of his case, but thoughts of his own insanity, nor the impossibility of the situation are hardly voiced. By giving us the absurd and simultaneously sidelining it, Kafka is able to focus on other issues. Samsa's "otherness" as a beetle, now being an existential given, leads us to explore how being "other" works in relationship to family and other acquantices.
Kafka is a truly marvelous writer, and if his writing seem paranoid and absurd, it adds to their literary quality. His concerns are not so unique as the positions his literary creations often find themselves in, and he provides an interesting voice on the conditions of modernity.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Kafka had it right
Review: This is the most authoritative collection of Kafka's immortal short fiction; it includes the most respected translations of each story (mostly by Willa and Edwin Muir), and a fair introduction from John Updike.
Kafka was the greatest writer of short fiction of the modern era. Such stories as 'The Metamorphosis,' 'In the Penal Colony,' 'The Hunger Artist,' and 'The Great Wall of China' encapsulate the tyrannical, dehumanizing regimentation of the modern world. Kafka may be difficult to read, and the allegorical form is not enjoyable for everyone. However, it is impossible to not be drawn into the strange madness of 'The Hunger Artist,' or 'The Country Doctor,' surely two of the most terrifying works of literature of the period.
In many ways, Kafka was a precursor to the sort of self-reflexive artistry that would later be found in Beckett, Sartre, and Brecht; Kafka is always aware that he is working within the literary realm, and he knows that he cannot escape it. Therefore, (brilliantly), he turns it into an advantage, by intoning the mystical, the metaphysical, and the surreal. His characters are often animals, metaphors, or simply moods. This approach has its strengths, but only in the hands of a true master. Fortunately for us, Kafka was just that, in the truest sense: a master of form, and unity of content.