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The Complete Short Stories

by Franz Kafka, Nahum N. Glatzer (editor)

4.34 of 5 stars 4.34 · rating details · 11,667 ratings · 314 reviews

This volume contains all of Kafka's shorter fiction, from fragments, parables and sketches to longer tales. Together they reveal the breadth of Kafka's literary vision and the extraordinary imaginative depth of his thought. Some are well-known, others are mere jottings, observations of daily life, given artistic form through Kafka's unique perception of the world.

Paperback, 457 pages

Published May 18th 1999 by Vintage Classics (first published January 1970)

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Sep 24, 2012 Ben Winch rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: czech, short-stories, mainland-european, german

The idea that there exists such thing as a 'must read' book is one of the great fallacies diluting literature. To judge a reader unfavourably because a certain book is not on his or her shelf, rather than to praise and learn from the idiosyncratic choices to be found there instead, is to wish for a literature of bland homogenity. To label a book 'must read' is to condemn it to being misunderstood. And when that book is by the strange, reclusive, haunted black-humourist Franz Kafka, and is given...more

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Ben Winch Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Matt. First up I should admit to having relatively little experience of institutionalised learning, having fled it...more Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Matt. First up I should admit to having relatively little experience of institutionalised learning, having fled it after high school from extreme boredom and a horror of getting up early. And as I had a good experience of Camus and William Golding at high school I'm aware that good experiences can happen. But at the same time I always wondered what we were doing, analysing these texts from standpoints that seemed bizarre to me - ways in which I barely ever read of my own accord, searching out morals and social significance and whatever else it was they wanted us to find. I mean, I would have far preferred to be taught about structure or grammar or something technical. But you're right in that my teacher let the texts breathe and it wasn't a bad experience. My problem is more with the people who are forced to read someone like Kafka without anyone encouraging them to enjoy it and who then help propagate this false reading of him as po-faced - to the point that if you suggest to the average reader that he's funny they look at you as if you'd uttered some heresy or crackpot theory. It's this cloud of bad readings that surrounds him. Plus I have to say I'm fed up with the whole western canon as studied in universities to begin with. So many people reading the same books! How about a little rotation? How about we give Kafka a rest? How about we study his predecessors and antecedents; how about we give him some context? As I say, I'm pretty much an autodidact, so what do I know? Except that I'm sick of the lazy readings.

As to 'A Hunger Artist', yeah, it's great, and you can see me hesitating to include it in that parenthesis. Maybe it's the interpretations I'm sick of. But also I get a sense that it's just a bit too preconceived. 'The Burrow' I need to read again, but I do have a preference for the moments when we're really in the story at the level of scene and event (as so often in The Castle, for eg), rather than seeing from such a distance. And I love the Gracchus fragment! I wish there were more! In fact, I always thought there were 3 of them - I guess I imagined it.(less)
updated Sep 18, 2012 05:02pm

Matthieu I completely understand. How you're first presented with a writer/subject can be the difference between loving that writer/subject, and absolutely hat...more
Sep 19, 2012 12:51am

Jul 04, 2010 Aria azizof rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

انچه مرزها را می شکند به راستی چیست مرز بین خیال واقعیت ایا به مانند نظریه کانت زندگی خود توهمی نیست؟

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Sep 10, 2012 Motheaten rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Judgment
Tells the dilemma of Georg Bendemann, a young merchant, on deciding whether to send a letter to an old friend in Russia about his engagement to his fiancee. He talked about sending the letter with his father only to be judged harshly about his person. At the end of the story, Georg "surrendered" (suicide) to his father's judgment but loved him all the same.

In the Penal Colony
Contains detailed description of an apparatus, a torture machine, used under the ruling of a previous Commanda...more The Judgment
Tells the dilemma of Georg Bendemann, a young merchant, on deciding whether to send a letter to an old friend in Russia about his engagement to his fiancee. He talked about sending the letter with his father only to be judged harshly about his person. At the end of the story, Georg "surrendered" (suicide) to his father's judgment but loved him all the same.

In the Penal Colony
Contains detailed description of an apparatus, a torture machine, used under the ruling of a previous Commandant, now dead. A loyal officer tries to continue the use of such punishment but with general disapproval for the unjust(the punished are untried) and inhumane practice. Under the torture of the apparatus, it has been said that the punished seem to find peace and enlightment in the sixth hour when they start to succumb to death. The loyal officer, having been opposed by an explorer from outside the penal colony, submits himself to the apparatus as a last act of faith to "Be just!". However, the apparatus goes awry soon after it is started up, quickly killing the officer in the process. There was to be no redemption for him in the sixth hour.

A Country Doctor
About a doctor who had no control over his circumstances throughout the night's event. He had no horse for his gig to visit a patient and a groom mysteriously appears with two magnificient horses. A welcomed occurrence turned bad when the doctor's maid, Rose, became a victim to the groom's strange behaviours. The doctor was unable to protect his maid as he was unwillingly pulled away in his gig by the groom's horses. Then at the patient's, the doctor was subjected to the family's intentions. "Incidentally, it's easy to write prescriptions, but difficult to come to an understanding with people." The doctor knew this well enough as well as being a tool for the villagers. After allowing himself to such treatment for so long, it might be difficult to take the reins of his own life now. "A flase alarm on the night bell once answered-- it cannot be made good, not ever."

A Report to an Academy
A critical account of human society from an ape's perspective. "The first thing I learned was to give a handshake; a handshake betokens frankness." Civilised society is about conforming and restraining behaviours, and being dignified. "In the newspapers, saying: my ape nature is not yet quite under control; the proof being that when visitors come to see me, I have a predilection for taking down my trousers to show them where the shot went in." To survive and find a way out of the cage, an ape is required to act civilised by modeling humans. But finding a way out is not to be confused with gaining freedom. Freedom is a misconception in the human world. "Had I been devoted to the aforementioned idea of freedom, I should certainly have preferred the deep sea to the way out that suggested itself in the heavy faces of these men." An ape contrasts with a human, as it is a primitive being close to the human but maintains its essential nature close to mother nature.

A Hunger Artist
An artist who fasts for 40 days in a cage for public entertainment. According to the entertainers, after 40 days public sympathy declines, hence it is pointless to continue the fasting. The artist is forced to eat to end the fast. When fasting is no longer popular, the artist joins the circus where he can continue his act and fast as long as he wishes to. Unfortunately, no one takes notice of his act; visitors are more interested in the menagerie next to his cage. As the artist's life is coming to an end from his fast, he expresses that he fasts because he does not have food he likes, unlike the people who stuff themselves. In a way, his fasting frees him from being controlled by desires, in contrast to the menagerie which are kept in cages and tamed by hunger.

Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk
Josephine has feeble talent for singing but is nonetheless admired and enocuraged by the mouse folks. Her singing is equal or slightly weaker than other folks but she believes, even arrogantly, in her ability to sing. But there is indication that she knows she is no singer. The respect and care given to Josephine, the only singer among folks, may demonstrate a need of a voice for the people, which unites them during her performance, allowing brief reprieve from their hard lives. "This piping, which rises up where everyone else is pledged to silence, comes almost like a message from the whole people to each individual; Josephine's thin piping amidst grave decisions is almost like our people's precarious existence amidst the tumult of a hostile world." Despite Josephine's ability to unite people, her existence is essentially a solitary one.(less)

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Aug 19, 2008 John rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: readers who want to know the world in its noisy entirety

Recommended to John by: first, probably a teacher

Shelves: avatars-gods-energy-sources, short-story-masters

The recent so-called scandalous revelations about Kafka's personal library (as if -- turns out he read a slightly edgy quarterly of arts & literature) prompt me to say something about his work. For my Goodreads list, I suppose it must be this book, an inevitable choice but nonetheless indispensable (I should add, too, that I can't really specify when I read the COLLECTED STORIES; I began doing so in the 1960's & never stopped). To read Kafka is to be carried away by the imagination of th...more The recent so-called scandalous revelations about Kafka's personal library (as if -- turns out he read a slightly edgy quarterly of arts & literature) prompt me to say something about his work. For my Goodreads list, I suppose it must be this book, an inevitable choice but nonetheless indispensable (I should add, too, that I can't really specify when I read the COLLECTED STORIES; I began doing so in the 1960's & never stopped). To read Kafka is to be carried away by the imagination of the century just ended, a dream-facility which bodied forth core images of our changing condition, armed with new technologies but saddled with ancient hatreds & fears. The most famous such image, to be sure, is that of the breadwinner turned into a bug, "The Metamorphosis," & naturally that nightmare domestic comedy is in here. But this collection also has far shorter yet likewise spot-on renderings out of our developing collective unconscious, such as "A Hunger Artist," ever-more-essential reading for anyone trying to following a creative calling amid the materialist hurly-burly. More intense distillations are served, as well, in what would come to be called "flash-fic." But even at the length of a couple of pages or less, Kafka generates blinking terror & breathtaking cultural reach, in the bloody labyrinth of "A Country Doctor" or the heady blind alley of "On Parables." At every length, more's the astonishment, the rhetoric's perfectly modulated, with every correlation & description & thought given just the development, the finish, needed to serve the vision in play. Kafka insists on the primacy of that vision, never flashy, his good judgment eliminating anything that might distract, might suggest artist matters more than art. The cult of personality that's grown up around him, over the last few decades, is one of the most galling travesties of our literary culture. In Kafka's stories, the lengthiest to the most abbreviated, we are reminded that even our corrupted & shit-stained times may still be cleansed by the outflow of humanity's purest storytelling impulses. (less)

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Aug 19, 2007 Seth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone, at least a little

Shelves: masterpieces, books-that-built-me, humor, spirituality-and-woo-woo

Buy a good collection of Kafka's stories and put it in the bathroom.

Really.

If you've been led to believe that Kafka wrote drab stories about alienation and angst (and that The Metamorphosis is a tradgedy), then take a magic marker, cross out the name on the spine, and pretend it's a weird book by Dave Sedaris or something. Kafka's stories are smart, often funny, quick to read, and as modern and relevant as ever.

In the bathroom you'll probably bypass the larger works (including The Metamorphosis...more

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May 12, 2012 Clark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: made-ups

I have been overwhelmed with dread once or twice in my day, so for me this book works great.

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Apr 25, 2010 Shokufeh شکوفه Kavani کاوانی rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

کافکا مو را به تن من سیخ میکند.

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Nov 25, 2012 Liene rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recenzija.
Francs Kafka. „Stāsti”

Francs Kafka (1883-1924) ir modernisma literatūras klasiķis, kurš sarakstījis dažādus, pabeigtus un nepabeigtus, prozas darbus. Grāmatā „Stāsti” apkopota daļa no Kafkas īsajiem stāstiem jeb parabolām, kā arī autobiogrāfiskais stāsts „Vēstule tēvam”. Stāstos galvenā nozīme piešķirta dažādām cilvēku īpašībām un īpatnībām, kā arī ar viņa paša dzīvi saistītiem faktiem, kas gan attēloti netieši, ar metaforām un simbolismiem.
Stāstu tēli ir gan cilvēki, gan dzīvnieki, ga...more Recenzija.
Francs Kafka. „Stāsti”

Francs Kafka (1883-1924) ir modernisma literatūras klasiķis, kurš sarakstījis dažādus, pabeigtus un nepabeigtus, prozas darbus. Grāmatā „Stāsti” apkopota daļa no Kafkas īsajiem stāstiem jeb parabolām, kā arī autobiogrāfiskais stāsts „Vēstule tēvam”. Stāstos galvenā nozīme piešķirta dažādām cilvēku īpašībām un īpatnībām, kā arī ar viņa paša dzīvi saistītiem faktiem, kas gan attēloti netieši, ar metaforām un simbolismiem.
Stāstu tēli ir gan cilvēki, gan dzīvnieki, gan citas būtnes un priekšmeti. Tēli ir anonīmi, tiem piešķirts ir tikai vārds, uzvārds vai pat tikai viens burts. Bieži vienīgais tēls ir „es” jeb autors, tikai iemiesojies citā, piemēram, tilta ādā. Sižets norisinās strauji, bieži vien neloģiski un ar nereāliem notikumiem, kas tomēr atspoguļo reālas cilvēku dzīves situācijas.
Autora valoda ir vienkārša, ir daudz garu teikumu. Bieži viens teikums aizņem veselu rindkopu, tāpēc teksts nav viegli uztverams. Pārsvarā teksts veidots stāstījuma formā.
Kafkas stāsti sākumā mulsina, bet pēc tam sāk likt domāt par to slēpto nozīmi un simbolismu. Ja lasītājs uztver un kaut daļēji izprot autora domu gaitu, atklājas unikāla pasaule, kurā nekas nav tāds, kā izliekas. Piemēram, lijas nav tikai putni, kaimiņš nav tikai kaimiņš, tilts nav tilts, u.t.t. Es uzskatu, ka šādi stāsti, kas liek domāt un iedziļināties, ir ļoti vērtīgi. Vēl vērtīgāks literārais darbs paliek, ja to var sasaistīt ar savu personīgo pieredzi. Piemēram, daži no Kafkas stāstiem man atgādināja pašai savus sapņus un murgus.
Franca Kafkas darbos atklājas nozīme tādām vērtībām kā brīvība, taisnība, savstarpējās attiecības un laime. Kā vērtība atklājas arī spēja domāt atšķirīgi un negatīvi tiek atainots cilvēku vājums, aprobežotība un nolemtības sajūta. Man grāmata visādā ziņā patika, un noteikti radās interese izlasīt arī citus Kafkas darbus. Tomēr es nedomāju, ka šī autora stāsti ir piemēroti visiem, jo tā nav tikai viegla un izklaidējoša lasāmviela.
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Feb 01, 2012 Paula rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

If Kafka’s writing were, as many readers assume to be the case, a reflected image, an expression or symbol and allegory for certain religious concepts and matters of faith or for certain social and biographical phenomena, it would be incomprehensible why Kafka enigmatized his works in this way at all. Merely to dupe the reader, or to have his works appear particularly “interesting”? The enigmatic structure of his writing is, on the contrary, an essential expression of the fact that the true univ...more

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Oct 07, 2008 Mr. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

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Apr 11, 2008 bill rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

i am, again, reading & rereading kafka. it surprised me when i picked up this book yesterday how many stories in it i had never read. i just finished, "The Burrow", which, alas, kafka did not (the version he did finish was burned in accordance with his wishes), and a lot of his really short pieces as well. kafka was so much more versatile than most people realize. some of these pieces are quite sweet, some wry & humorous. ("Josephine the Singer", for example, is both.) my favorite story...more i am, again, reading & rereading kafka. it surprised me when i picked up this book yesterday how many stories in it i had never read. i just finished, "The Burrow", which, alas, kafka did not (the version he did finish was burned in accordance with his wishes), and a lot of his really short pieces as well. kafka was so much more versatile than most people realize. some of these pieces are quite sweet, some wry & humorous. ("Josephine the Singer", for example, is both.) my favorite story about kafka is that he would frequently laugh so hard while reading his stories to his friends that he would not be able to continue reading. charming.
____________________________________________

On The Tram

I stand on the end platform of the tram and am completely unsure of my footing in this world, in this town, in my family. Not even casually could I indicate any claims I might rightly advance in any direction. I have not even any defense to offer for standing on this platform, holding on to this strap, letting myself be carried along by this tram, nor for the people who give way to the tram or walk quietly along or stand gazing into shop windows. Nobody asks me to put up a defense, indeed, but that is not relevant.

The tram approaches a stopping place and a girl takes up her position near the step. She is as distinct to me as if I had run my hands over her. She is dressed in black, the pleats of her skirt hang almost still, her blouse is tight and has a collar of white fine-meshed lace, her left hand is braced flat against the side of the tram, the umbrella in her right hand rests against the second top step. Her face is brown, her nose, slightly pinched at the sides, has a broad round tip. She has a lot of brown hair, and stray little tendrils on the right temple. Her small ear is close-set, but since I am near her I can see the whole ridge of the whorl of her right ear and the shadow at the root of it.

At that point I asked myself: How is it that she is not amazed at herself, that she keeps her lips closed and makes no such remark?

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Sep 27, 2007 Jacob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone born after 1880

Shelves: classic-fiction

Most people's exposure to Kafka consists entirely of "The Metamorphosis", which is a shame, for while that story is indeed a classic, it has led to a somewhat unfair pigeonholing of Kafka as a lonely, disillusioned Oedipal case with a penchant for bleak imagery (hence the adjective Kafkaesque). But while Kafka certainly is all of those things, he is also much more, and this collection is a brilliant portrait of that.

Some of the best moments in the collection come from Kafka letting out his playf...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Trang Le rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is by far the most disturbing and challenging book I've ever read. It's disturbing because it speaks the painful truth that we often don't want to hear and would rather not know. Challenging because there're many long sentences and ambiguous terms used intentionally.I tremble at the cool atmosphere of the stories, Kafka's unrelenting portrayal of the meaningless urban lives and distortion of reality. That being said, I've found another favorite writer. If you ever feel bored with the mundan...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Roland Allnach rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 with a sentence or less, is perhaps one of the greater claims to his literary talent. It is unfortunate he did not live longer, 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 classroom in character development an...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Cristina rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well I give it Five stars since it's book of shorter stories that are done thorough. It's interesting that this was the English translation and I wonder what the difference is if it were to be read in Kafka's native tongue which is Hungarian. Since I'm sure some of the humor might not translate to English, but on the other hand what makes it great is that I think it actually really does! That's why it's a classic.

Funny thing is that I read most of this on the beach, and it's a very existential...more

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Jul 21, 2011 Rowena rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: amusing, good, hmm

finally read "the metamorphosis"! yay. not sure how i feel about publishing incomplete stories though. he clearly has great ideas, but a lot of the stories felt incomplete (lul wonder why), like blurry photos of an idea. eg. "description of a struggle" started off with great promise but kind of spiraled off in some foggy magical direction. i guess it's just a matter of taste. "the burrow" was enjoyable but it was like two huge paragraphs, ahhhh. i liked his shorter works more.

highlights: "the ju...more

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Nov 30, 2010 Michael Scott rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thought, fiction, my-favs

Simply brilliant, this large (is it truly complete?) collection of stories gives the reader the full measure of Kafka's feeling and writing. From the long stories, which include The Trial (the Judgement), The Metamorphosis, and In the Penal Colony, to the short writ, Kafka evokes a universe where the human is just a cog in a machine. His apt depiction of the corrupt and ruthless law system led to the creation of the English adjective kafkaesque---a modern "abandon hope all ye who enter here." Co...more

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May 14, 2012 Joshua Burns rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this on the advisement of my high school college adviser. The claim that he gave me going in was Kafka's short stories are much better than his longer works. Will I stand behind his proclamation?

I will not leave you hanging. However, I will cheat my way out of it by saying the answer is difficult. On the one hand, the stories have a far more conceptual quality, communicating a lot from just their titles alone: "Josephine the Mouse Singer, "The Hunger Artist", "In the Penal Colony", "The...more I read this on the advisement of my high school college adviser. The claim that he gave me going in was Kafka's short stories are much better than his longer works. Will I stand behind his proclamation?

I will not leave you hanging. However, I will cheat my way out of it by saying the answer is difficult. On the one hand, the stories have a far more conceptual quality, communicating a lot from just their titles alone: "Josephine the Mouse Singer, "The Hunger Artist", "In the Penal Colony", "The Great Wall of China", and "The Hunter Gracchus". I will not go through some prim analysis of each of these colorful names instead opting to course under them as I imagine Cixous would say Kafka did on his death bed. The trickle of writing before he died, adhered to the bed. But that is a story for another book.

These stories will stick you with, slightly horrific, certainly strange, and always bedded. What do I mean? Would I read these to my children? They are bleak as "The Hunger Artist" and "Josephine" prove. I think they have subtly influenced my perception of the artist. The other two, "Penal" and "Wall", influenced my perception of society plus they did well for a reading of Kafka on the Shore.

Kafka benefits from a lack of meta-writing, a simplicity to his style, that tacks into you for all its intentional shortcomings. He is a short fighter with the sentence who I imagine would aim for your legs. His novels, on the other hand, demonstrate an almost unneeded working through.

What you have here in the palm of your hand are stories that need no correlate, could rip one out and carry it with you and I imagine it would be enough. They border on some sort of narrative dreamlike poetry that abounds now. I will not name names where strength of imagery and paucity of thought are somehow trimly bounded. What abounds here is the trickle of inspiration in the divots, pools, and swirls that Kafka could twirl out in longer works but chose instead to keep cloistered. Or burned. Pun.(less)

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May 17, 2007 Jared Colley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Just as the history of Western Philosophy amounts to nothing more than a footnote to Plato's work, the development of post-modern fiction might be understood as a footnote to the works of Kafka. It's all here in the short stories of Mr. Kafka. Perhaps the anti-postmodernist are right; Pomo is simply a further elaboration of the tenets of Modernism. If Kafka is a Modernist, then I see no clear distinction between the Modern and its supposed successor.

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Apr 08, 2013 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Is it possible that the complete works of anybody ever are going to be amazing? That every product they have assembled - finished or not - when compiled, will be wall-to-wall (and without exaggeration) amazing? It's improbable enough to write one item of good material, but the entirety of one's life work to be impeccable and flawless and great? That's a notion of which I am highly skeptical, and it takes a lot of retroactive glorification, and a lot of assuming it is great beforehand, or somethi...more Is it possible that the complete works of anybody ever are going to be amazing? That every product they have assembled - finished or not - when compiled, will be wall-to-wall (and without exaggeration) amazing? It's improbable enough to write one item of good material, but the entirety of one's life work to be impeccable and flawless and great? That's a notion of which I am highly skeptical, and it takes a lot of retroactive glorification, and a lot of assuming it is great beforehand, or something, to convince people of something so improbable.

Fact of the matter is, Kafka is - like all the best writers - responsible for a few great works, and a few good works, and a few okay works, and a few bad ones. That's just the nature of the beast, for everybody. It's not a crime to be the greatest short story writer of all time and also happen to write something inessential.

It's simple, really. The complete works of anybody-anywhere will be inconsistent, and Kafka is no exception. As is the problem with me and just about every complete or collected set of fictions, the quality of each work varies. Most of the time the process of selection allows the separation of wheat from chaff, but here the chaff is jammed in for posterity's sake, I suppose. But why?

There are some hard-line assessments I am willing to take here; namely that the three big ones in this collection - "The Metamorphosis," "In the Penal Colony," and "A Hunger Artist" - are truly amazing stories; "The Great Wall of China" and "The Burrow" are, I would say, under-appreciated masterpieces as well; and the closer - "On Parables" - is a tight gem of short-short fiction. There are examples of stories worth your time, and plenty of examples of stories that are not so much. Updike is right: the first two are abysmal. Doesn't mean he's not a great writer; it just means he's a human being. Perhaps complete collections are for completionists only; in my experience, they seem to discredit the writer in a weird way, or diminish the stature they have accrued - and deserved, more often than not - for their more glorious works.

So my completely unsatisfying advice here is to read the good ones and skip the rest. That's what you'll want to have done, anyhow, and yet there's no way to tell which are which. Surprise, surprise, we're all doomed from the start.(less)

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Jun 11, 2012 Derek rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my first encounter with Kafka and, I must say, it was a relatively enjoyable one.

Collected Stories contains every work of fiction written by Kafka during his lifetime, at least what we know of, aside from his novels. There were several misses -- most notably Kafka's longer works, which hammer away constantly, consistently, unrelenting on the same string of thought with the longest sentences that would make Mark Twain blush -- but many of his "flash fiction"-like pieces were remarkable,...more This is my first encounter with Kafka and, I must say, it was a relatively enjoyable one.

Collected Stories contains every work of fiction written by Kafka during his lifetime, at least what we know of, aside from his novels. There were several misses -- most notably Kafka's longer works, which hammer away constantly, consistently, unrelenting on the same string of thought with the longest sentences that would make Mark Twain blush -- but many of his "flash fiction"-like pieces were remarkable, nugget-y, and easily digestible.

I must say that I found Kafka's first short story collection, Meditation to be the most enjoyable, aside from the outrageous and hilarious short work "Poseidon," which was my favorite in the entire book. While Meditation is much less absurd than his later work, which is oftentimes what people find loveable about Kafka, I felt that this earliest collection spoke to me the greatest.

Other stories connected with me as well, in unusual ways, such as In the Penal Colony, which was violent, horrific, and, to be completely truthful, funny. I think perhaps my enjoyment of military science-fiction somehow fueled the pleasure of this read, and I kept thinking about the Imperial Guard commissars of the Games Workshop's Warhammer 40k universe. Other stories that intrigued me were, not surprisingly, The Metamorphosis, and, surprisingly, Description of a Struggle, which is regarded by many critics as one of Kafka's least effective works, due to its fragmented and confusing style. In truth, I found Description of a Struggle to be a great mental exercise and I oftentimes found myself wondering what Kafka was trying to get at when he penned it. For some reason, the work just clicked with me. So, fuck you, John Updike. How dare you try to encourage me to skip that story!

Overall, Collected Stories left me motivated to do something with my life, make waves, all that nonsense. I can appreciate these absurb, bizzare pieces, and I will most certainly continue reading Kafka's novels.(less)

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Sep 03, 2011 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: put-down, german, short-stories

Put this down three years ago with only three stories left, for no clear reason that I can remember. Finally picked it back up, finished the three stories, and felt compelled to read it over again, which might take another three years. There's not much to say about the stories that hasn't been said already, but especially interesting in this collection are the end notes, with quotes from Kafka's diaries about the process of writing the stories. It's so funny to read these masterfully crafted sto...more

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Sep 26, 2010 Taka rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: german_lit, japan_jul07-aug10

Complete incomplete stories--

Most of Kafka's stories are incomplete. That's not to say his works are bad or unsatisfactory--though there are many that simply tease and baffle--but just that: incomplete.

One thing I do need to own up is that most of his stories are not much fun to read. "Metamorphosis" is definitely really good; "In the Penal Colony" is fascinating; "A Hunger Artist" is poignant and superbly told; "The Judgment," though this was Kafka's personal favorite, is "all right" at best; a...more Complete incomplete stories--

Most of Kafka's stories are incomplete. That's not to say his works are bad or unsatisfactory--though there are many that simply tease and baffle--but just that: incomplete.

One thing I do need to own up is that most of his stories are not much fun to read. "Metamorphosis" is definitely really good; "In the Penal Colony" is fascinating; "A Hunger Artist" is poignant and superbly told; "The Judgment," though this was Kafka's personal favorite, is "all right" at best; and "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" exudes Kafka-ness in its strange "contradictoriness."

But the rest, particularly of what's under the "Longer Short Stories" Section in this book are simply and irrevocably boring.

The first two stories--"Description of a Struggle" and "Wedding Preparations in the Country"--are almost unbearable and I share the sentiment with John Updike when he pronounces them "repellent."

"The Village Schoolmaster," "A Country Doctor," "The Burrow," "Investigations of a Dog," and any story with China in it never fail to put you to sleep. The problem with most of them is clear and plain: he doesn't know how to tell engrossing stories. He does have that rare talent of producing stories that are extremely private and nightmarish--yes, I grant that, but as far as his story-telling skills are concerned, he is an absolute amateur.

To somewhat corroborate this claim, just take a look at his early short stories--both long and short ones--and you'll see the earlier ones are really like the scribbling of a beginning writer who is content to write about whatever comes to his mind without really exploring their creative potentials. Some of them have really bad premises to begin with and the author seems to have gotten tired of continuing the stories (e.g., "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" - I mean who can be fascinated for a sustained period of time reading about two balls that bounce around the room following an old man?).

His early short shorts are almost all too amateurish and abstruse in a nonsensical, absurdistic way. His later stories are a lot better and we see the Kafka we know in them (e.g., "A Dream," "The Bridge," and "The Bucket Rider").

Reading all the stories here, I understand why Kafka told Max Brod to destroy his manuscripts--they are not all that great. But some of them, I have to admit, are indubitably masterpieces.

3 stars for some really good and mostly bad to mediocre.(less)

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Mar 17, 2013 Friedrich Kauder rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The man valued his time greatly, as most men value the things they do not possess. Like others sharing his predicament, he was a little too proud of the hurried nature of his life.

When the man decided to meet the patient, he therefore had to find a reason why doing so was sensible, perhaps even necessary. After all, he said, there were many important people one could listen to. The man and the patient had briefly met before, in the man's youth, leaving the man with a peculiar mix of boredom and...more The man valued his time greatly, as most men value the things they do not possess. Like others sharing his predicament, he was a little too proud of the hurried nature of his life.

When the man decided to meet the patient, he therefore had to find a reason why doing so was sensible, perhaps even necessary. After all, he said, there were many important people one could listen to. The man and the patient had briefly met before, in the man's youth, leaving the man with a peculiar mix of boredom and curiosity. The whole affair was wholly undecided until the man convinced himself that by meeting the patient, he would better understand those who had themselves met the patient and whom the patient had left his mark on.

The man made sure to meet the patient briefly, always fitting the encounters between important arrangements. This way, when the man got lost in the intricate webbing of the patient's account or began to drown in the murky waters of the patient's metaphors, he could excuse himself, cutting the patient short without seeming impolite or, worst of all, indecisive. Of course this secret cowardice ensured the man would have to meet the patient many more times than was ordinarily necessary.

The patient, for his part, had many stories to tell. Some, he claimed, were meant for an audience, some he barely considered worth telling. Others still, the patient would recount absent-mindedly, merely allowing the man to intrude on this conversation with himself. Despite the patient's lamentations, the man did not feel one kind of story was much different from the other.

Often, the man was left confused, clinging to the patient's never-ending sentences as a fearful rider would to the mane of a maddened horse. Other times, he would seem to understand naturally: how the patient would coat himself in the twitching skin of vermin to demonstrate how his sickness was really the sickness of all; how the absurdity of the Austrian court wore the ancient masks of China to more merrily debase itself; how the forest-dweller toiling desperately in his collapsing burrow was the lonely champion of its creator's sense of futility.

Sometimes the man wanted to ask the patient a question, but this was of course impossible. The patient, after all, was long dead.

Then, finally, the patient ran out of things to say. He stopped in the middle of a thought, its end being well out of sight, and politely said his good byes. The man thanked the patient for his time without much enthusiasm, having secretly consigned to the inevitability of future meetings.

Relieved of his interesting yet burdensome acquaintance, the man returned home. Between the dimly-lit walls of his room, the man smiled to himself and said in a quiet voice: "indeed, I have used my time wisely". (less)

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Jan 28, 2012 Justin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-fiction

i have read quite a bit of kafka. a hunger artist had always been my favorite of his short stories, even above metamorphosis. welp, report to an academy trumped that. let's put it this way: when big was putting out life after death, it used to be said that other rappers were afraid that the album was going to be so good that they'd quit rapping out of an obvious, recognized inferiority. Amerika was perfect. Report to an academy is perfect, too. It sums up his work so clearly, that i finish the b...more

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Dec 07, 2011 Mohsen Rajabi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

کلا کتابی نیست که بشه همه داستانهاش رو دوست داشت، ولی داستان های مسخ، در سرزمین محکومان، گزارشی به فرهنگستان، هنرمند گرسنگی، یوزفینه آوازه خوان،
آموزگار دهکده، پژوهش های یک سگ و لانه از این کتاب، واقعا خوب بودند
یه جورایی باید کافکایی بود تا این داستان ها رو راحت تر هضم کرد
ضمنا پیشنهاد میکنم نقد آخر کتاب رو، اول بخونین

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Apr 25, 2013 Saeed rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

با نوشتن به آلمانی کافکا قادر بود جملات بلند و تودرتویی بنویسد که سراسر صفحه را اشغال می‌کردند، و جملات کافکا اغلب قبل از نقطهٔ پایانی ضربه‌ای برای خواننده در چنته دارد ـ ضربه‌ای که مفهوم و منظور جمله را تکمیل می‌کند.

مشکل دیگر پیش روی مترجمان استفادهٔ عمدی نویسنده از کلمات یا عبارات ابهام‌آمیزی است که می‌توانند معانی مختلفی داشته باشند

بسیاری از آثار کافکا در ایران ترجمه شده که از آن جمله‌است ترجمه‌های صادق هدایت و امیر جلال الدین اعلم و حسن قائمیان بر مسخ و گروه محکومین و گراکوسی شکارچی و ترجمهٔ...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Genaiya added it · review of another edition Recommends it for: Future Husband

Recommended to Genaiya by: Borders Books and Music

Respectable author for his current publications and early works (However he discourages the readers about this book), I greatly appreciate this read that had me looking deeper into the soft pages and when finished, I re-read from the pages in roman numerals all the way to the prologue and as the story begins, along with his passion as shown through his writings, Kafka is Kafka. All in all, his style is unchanged and if disagreeable, feel better about his bold personality and writing tactics that...more

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May 21, 2009 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

Although this is not the exact collection that I read it is close enough. Works in the copy I read included the Metamorphosis, THe penal colony, the country doctor, the hunger artist, and a whole slew of short one page only paragraphs brief short pieces. Overall, I had mixed feelings about Kafka's work. An enigmatic writing style with frequent long run-on sentences and multiple digressions Kafka takes some time to get used to. His very short (page length) stories are less rewarding, but the lon...more

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Jan 26, 2010 Matthew Balliro rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

I can't think of anything else to say about "The Metamorphosis," "The Hunger Artist," or "In the Penal Colony." Those have been read and commented on over and over and over, and with good reason: they are awesome. "The Metamorphosis" is probably one of only a few short stories ever written that are absolutely perfect.

There are other long stories in here that definitely need to be read: "The Great Wall of China" and "The Burrow" are unread masterpieces that you should pick up as soon as possible....more

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About Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka (German pronunciation: [ˈfʀants ˈkafka]) was one of the major fiction writers of the 20th century. He was born to a middle-class German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, Bohemia (presently the Czech Republic), Austria–Hungary. His unique body of writing—much of which is incomplete and which was mainly published posthumously—is considered to be among the most influential in Western lite...more Franz Kafka (German pronunciation: [ˈfʀants ˈkafka]) was one of the major fiction writers of the 20th century. He was born to a middle-class German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, Bohemia (presently the Czech Republic), Austria–Hungary. His unique body of writing—much of which is incomplete and which was mainly published posthumously—is considered to be among the most influential in Western literature.

His stories include The Metamorphosis (1912) and In the Penal Colony (1914), while his novels are The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927).

Kafka learned German as his first language, but he was also fluent in Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of French language and culture; one of his favorite authors was Flaubert.

Kafka first studied chemistry at the Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague, but switched after two weeks to law. This 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, who would become 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.

Kafka's writing attracted little attention until after his death. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories and never finished any of his novels, unless "The Metamorphosis" is considered a (short) novel. Prior to his death, Kafka wrote to his friend and literary executor Max Brod: "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 overrode Kafka's wishes, believing that Kafka had given these directions to him specifically because Kafka knew he would not honor them—Brod had told him as much. Brod, in fact, would oversee the publication of most of Kafka's work in his possession, which soon began to attract attention and high critical regard.

Max Brod encountered significant difficulty in compiling Kafka's notebooks into any chronological order as Kafka was known to start writing in the middle of notebooks, from the last towards the first, etc.

All of Kafka's published works, except several letters he wrote in Czech to Milena Jesenská, were written in German.(less)

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The Metamorphosis, in the Penal Colony and Other Stories: The Great Short Works of Franz Kafka

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“Just think how many thoughts a blanket smothers while one lies alone in bed, and how many unhappy dreams it keeps warm.” — 99 people liked it

“I stand on the end platform of the tram and am completely unsure of my footing in this world, in this town, in my family. Not even casually could I indicate any claims that I might rightly advance in any direction. I have not even any defense to offer for standing on this platform, holding on to this strap, letting myself be carried along by this tram, nor for the people who give way to the tram or walk quietly along or stand gazing into shop windows. Nobody asks me to put up a defense, indeed, but that is irrelevant.” — 22 people liked it

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