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Oeuvres Completes Vol. 3 (Bibliotheque de la Pleiade)
Existen infinidad de análisis psicológicos sobre la obra de Kafka que lo catalogan como un individuo con una condición mental patológica. Si bien no nos atreveríamos a cuestionar los aspectos clínicos de dichos análisis (no contamos con la “formación” ni el interés para hacerlo), sí nos atrevemos a afirmar que Franz Kafka era un individuo excepcional, con un nivel de comprensión de la realidad fuera del alcance de la mayoría de sus congéneres y, por lo tanto, uno de esos individuos que al no poder ser entendidos a cabalidad, es más fácil etiquetar como “anormal”, “patológicamente afectado” o “víctima de numerosos traumas”, por citar algunos de los epítetos empleados en los referidos análisis.
Pero cabe señalar que la influencia literaria de Kafka sobre algunos de los más destacados autores de la literatura universal, como Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Crotázar y García Márquez (por nombrar a algunos, ya que la lista no termina allí), desmiente en cierta medida el carácter patológico de su estado mental... a menos, claro, que la “brillantez” sea un síntoma o sinónimo de “locura”... (Continúa en la nota preliminar del libro).
Pero cabe señalar que la influencia literaria de Kafka sobre algunos de los más destacados autores de la literatura universal, como Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Crotázar y García Márquez (por nombrar a algunos, ya que la lista no termina allí), desmiente en cierta medida el carácter patológico de su estado mental... a menos, claro, que la “brillantez” sea un síntoma o sinónimo de “locura”... (Continúa en la nota preliminar del libro).
Leather Bound
First published January 9, 2011
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About the author
Franz Kafka
3,254 books38.9k followersFranz Kafka was a German-speaking writer from Prague whose work became one of the foundations of modern literature, even though he published only a small part of his writing during his lifetime. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kafka grew up amid German, Czech, and Jewish cultural influences that shaped his sense of displacement and linguistic precision. His difficult relationship with his authoritarian father left a lasting mark, fostering feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inadequacy that became central themes in his fiction and personal writings.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
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April 18, 2025„Eine intrigante Natur, scheinbar sinnlos arbeitend wie der Wind, nach fernen, fremden Aufträgen, in die man nie Einsicht bekam.“ – Das Schloss (1926)
Kafka hat trotz seines frühzeitigen Ablebens im Jahre 1924 ein rätselhaftes, bis heute nachhallendes Werk geschaffen, das verwirrt, herausfordert, berührt, zuweilen anekelt, vor allem aber die eigene Vorstellungskraft ganz neu auf die Probe stellt. Es ist beachtlich, wie er in Betrachtung verschiedenste Gemütszustände im Leser weckt, ohne dabei den Umfang eines Absatzes überschreiten zu müssen, ebenso wie er in seinem Romanfragment Das Schloß einen Monolog über 50 Seiten erstreckt, der nicht anödet, sondern berührt. Seine unbenannten, weitgehend unbeschriebenen Helden des Unwahrscheinlichen verzweifeln am Wall der vermeintlichen Sachlichkeit – behördliche Instanzen, deren Vorgänge undurchdringbar und Urteile wahllos wirken. Oder sie verzweifeln an Beziehungen, die in ihrer verflechtenden Komplexität kaum zu bewältigen sind. Was dem Herrn K. zustößt, ist dem Herrn Kafka oft schon widerfahren, was nicht zuletzt aus seinen herzzerreißenden Briefen an den Vater, oder die Geliebte Milena Jesenskà hervorgeht. Ein von Krankheit und Einsamkeit geplagter Mann, der im Schreiben einen Weg durch die Irrungen und Wirrungen des Lebens sucht, letztlich aufgeben muss und sein Werk verbrannt sehen will. Der Nichtfolgeleistung seines Korrespondentenfreundes Max Brod zum Dank ist uns sein Schaffen aber erhalten geblieben, denn Kafkas Geschichten errichten in ihrer sprachlichen Klarheit und inhaltlichen Vernebelung ein Gedankenlabyrinth, in das es sich allemal zu verirren lohnt.
Kafka hat trotz seines frühzeitigen Ablebens im Jahre 1924 ein rätselhaftes, bis heute nachhallendes Werk geschaffen, das verwirrt, herausfordert, berührt, zuweilen anekelt, vor allem aber die eigene Vorstellungskraft ganz neu auf die Probe stellt. Es ist beachtlich, wie er in Betrachtung verschiedenste Gemütszustände im Leser weckt, ohne dabei den Umfang eines Absatzes überschreiten zu müssen, ebenso wie er in seinem Romanfragment Das Schloß einen Monolog über 50 Seiten erstreckt, der nicht anödet, sondern berührt. Seine unbenannten, weitgehend unbeschriebenen Helden des Unwahrscheinlichen verzweifeln am Wall der vermeintlichen Sachlichkeit – behördliche Instanzen, deren Vorgänge undurchdringbar und Urteile wahllos wirken. Oder sie verzweifeln an Beziehungen, die in ihrer verflechtenden Komplexität kaum zu bewältigen sind. Was dem Herrn K. zustößt, ist dem Herrn Kafka oft schon widerfahren, was nicht zuletzt aus seinen herzzerreißenden Briefen an den Vater, oder die Geliebte Milena Jesenskà hervorgeht. Ein von Krankheit und Einsamkeit geplagter Mann, der im Schreiben einen Weg durch die Irrungen und Wirrungen des Lebens sucht, letztlich aufgeben muss und sein Werk verbrannt sehen will. Der Nichtfolgeleistung seines Korrespondentenfreundes Max Brod zum Dank ist uns sein Schaffen aber erhalten geblieben, denn Kafkas Geschichten errichten in ihrer sprachlichen Klarheit und inhaltlichen Vernebelung ein Gedankenlabyrinth, in das es sich allemal zu verirren lohnt.
December 22, 2019
This version was poorly translated and had a lot of typos, but it was free so I can only complain so much. Other than that the stories are amazing. For many people it would seem that The Trial is as relevant today as it was back then. Excellent read.
May 4, 2017
Obras maestras. El genio de los genios. Imprescindible. Dejará pequeños a los grandes.
February 26, 2017
Het Proces-Kafka.
Intrigerend verhaal van K. die een proces aan zijn broek krijgt zonder beschuldiging op grond waarvan.
Volkomen surrealistische wereld volgt tot de terechtstelling.
Prachtboek. Bezwaar: de kern van de ontwikkeling is al vrij snel duidelijk en passeert in nog vele uitgebreide beschrijvingen. Ik werd er wat ongeduldig van.
Intrigerend verhaal van K. die een proces aan zijn broek krijgt zonder beschuldiging op grond waarvan.
Volkomen surrealistische wereld volgt tot de terechtstelling.
Prachtboek. Bezwaar: de kern van de ontwikkeling is al vrij snel duidelijk en passeert in nog vele uitgebreide beschrijvingen. Ik werd er wat ongeduldig van.
April 23, 2022
La traduzione è davvero deludente. Impossibile non notare gli innumerevoli refusi. Il genio di Kafka emerge tuttavia ugualmente avvincendo nella lettura. Certo, lo stile è superato però ancora molto efficace: paragrafi lunghissimi e contorti assieme a personaggi che emergono con potenza dallo scritto. Leggerlo è di sicuro un'esperienza da fare, un'emozione da vivere.
January 8, 2023
In all of Kafka's works, we discover the same themes : the main character thinks and feels and acts the way it feels logical to us (the readers). However, for the world that he lives in, his behaviour and thoughts are strange. K. (this is often the name of the main character) needs to figure out how this world and the people in it, work and act and then try to fit in.
In 'the trial' he's not able to do this : the wants to know what he is charged with and it starts consuming his life : he can no longer work, eat, have fun, .. the idea of the world is that the law is attracted to those who act against it, so there is no need to know what someone did, the fact that the law is interested in someone, means they are guilty of something. In the end of the story, he gets shot by the guards and can only think that they treated him 'like a dog' by killing him behind a building.
'Metamorfoses' is an amazing piece of art. I am still in awe with how Kafka was able to create a story like this.
This story is about Gregor Samsa, he is a sales-representative who wakes up one morning and finds himself being transmorfed into a bug. He tries to make the best out of it but graduallly looses a lot of his human traits : he can no longer speak, crawls around, prefers the dark and loves staying underneath a couch, climbs the walls and the ceiling, loves rotten food,.. however, the more his external behaviour changes into that of a bug, the more human his internal thought become : he tries his best to take care of his family, makes up excuses for their behaviour, feels sorry for them (for how he changed their lives), loves them more every single day.
His family has a shift the other way around : they start out being very worried about him, hoping he will change back, trying to keep his stuff for the future but the longer he remains a bug, the more bestial they become : they don't want to see nor hear him, they hit him and treat him as an unwanted beast, ..
In the end, the last act of kindness and love Gregor can think of, is to die so he can release his family of this burden.
In 'the trial' he's not able to do this : the wants to know what he is charged with and it starts consuming his life : he can no longer work, eat, have fun, .. the idea of the world is that the law is attracted to those who act against it, so there is no need to know what someone did, the fact that the law is interested in someone, means they are guilty of something. In the end of the story, he gets shot by the guards and can only think that they treated him 'like a dog' by killing him behind a building.
'Metamorfoses' is an amazing piece of art. I am still in awe with how Kafka was able to create a story like this.
This story is about Gregor Samsa, he is a sales-representative who wakes up one morning and finds himself being transmorfed into a bug. He tries to make the best out of it but graduallly looses a lot of his human traits : he can no longer speak, crawls around, prefers the dark and loves staying underneath a couch, climbs the walls and the ceiling, loves rotten food,.. however, the more his external behaviour changes into that of a bug, the more human his internal thought become : he tries his best to take care of his family, makes up excuses for their behaviour, feels sorry for them (for how he changed their lives), loves them more every single day.
His family has a shift the other way around : they start out being very worried about him, hoping he will change back, trying to keep his stuff for the future but the longer he remains a bug, the more bestial they become : they don't want to see nor hear him, they hit him and treat him as an unwanted beast, ..
In the end, the last act of kindness and love Gregor can think of, is to die so he can release his family of this burden.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2022
De 'romans' van Kafka zijn voor mij al te onaf. In Het proces valt het allemaal nog wel mee, daarin zitten enkele geslaagde scènes. Ook het begin van Het slot vond ik lezenswaardig – vooral omdat ik vermoed dat Aster Berkhof zich daardoor liet inspireren voor het eerste hoofdstuk van Veel geluk, professor! – maar de rest van het verhaal was een vormeloze woordenzee.
Onder de kortverhalen kon ik het beroemde 'De gedaanteverwisseling' best smaken, de rest was niets voor mij. Soit, het zij zo: anderen halen blijkbaar wél genoegen uit het lezen van Kafka.
Onder de kortverhalen kon ik het beroemde 'De gedaanteverwisseling' best smaken, de rest was niets voor mij. Soit, het zij zo: anderen halen blijkbaar wél genoegen uit het lezen van Kafka.
July 9, 2024
Metamorphosis was good, but really not all that I thought it would be. I really enjoyed a few stories in this collection, like "In the Penal Colony" and a lot of the very short stories, but there were some real stinkers also. "The Burrow" was I guess an interesting experiment in writing but it sucked so bad to read. "Investigations of a Dog" was also terrible to get through. So although Kafka is a legend, and his hectic/silly style was pretty awesome to read, the stinkers brought my opinion of this specific collection down a lot.
I read the Schocken version with foreword by John Updike
I read the Schocken version with foreword by John Updike
October 6, 2020
En esta recopilación de los aforismos, relatos, novelas y diarios de Kafka. Podemos ver al genio pero también al ser humano atormentado, febril detrás de estas mágicas letras que nos han llenado a través de los años
August 20, 2021
-Over de kwestie van de wetten
-Het vonnis
-In de strafkolonie
-Het vonnis
-In de strafkolonie
December 22, 2021
Tutta l'opera di Kafka
Want to read
February 24, 202420 slegte
March 29, 2024
3,5 Sterne
December 23, 2024
4,5
Ich hab viele Werke von Kafka in dieser Kollektion gemocht und wie er schreibt ist in meiner Meinung sehr faszinierend.
Ich hab viele Werke von Kafka in dieser Kollektion gemocht und wie er schreibt ist in meiner Meinung sehr faszinierend.
September 14, 2025
I do not like his writing
September 15, 2025
Soms onwaarschijnlijk goed, soms een sleur. De gedaanteverwisseling is nog steeds het beste boek ooit.
October 11, 2025
Mijn favorieten:
- Het proces
- De gedaanteverwisseling
- De strafkolonie
- De hongerkunstenaar
- Het proces
- De gedaanteverwisseling
- De strafkolonie
- De hongerkunstenaar
June 6, 2013
In questa edizione tascabile della Newton sono stati riuniti gran parte dei lavori di Kafka, vi sono molte opere che l'autore ha pubblicato durante la sua carriera, altri mai inseriti in volumi e infine racconti postumi.
Nel libro, oltre ad esserci titoli celebri come gli splendidi "La metamorfosi" e "Nella colonia penale" vi sono anche altre piccole perle meno conosciute ma non meno apprezzabili come il tetro "Il cacciatore Gracchus" e il grottesco "Blumfeld, un vecchio scapolo". Kafka, nel suo stile rigorosamente visionario e surreale, ci racconta storie di vita quotidiana, fiabe fantastiche, appunti di viaggio, impressioni e riflessioni.
Nel libro, oltre ad esserci titoli celebri come gli splendidi "La metamorfosi" e "Nella colonia penale" vi sono anche altre piccole perle meno conosciute ma non meno apprezzabili come il tetro "Il cacciatore Gracchus" e il grottesco "Blumfeld, un vecchio scapolo". Kafka, nel suo stile rigorosamente visionario e surreale, ci racconta storie di vita quotidiana, fiabe fantastiche, appunti di viaggio, impressioni e riflessioni.
October 24, 2016
взяла, в принципе, только чтобы перечитать "Приговор", посвященный Фелиции, но так понравилось читать Кафку на нидерландском! гораздо лучше, чем на русском, прям другой человек.
перечитала "Замок": Кафка великолепно владеет временем и растягивает и прессует его просто по мановению пера. очень смеялась (в русском переводе совсем не было смешно, а как-то удивительно, что вот это пытаются выдать за юмор). но читать его в формате СС тяжело, это как есть шоколад килограммами - приторно становится. потом обязательно возьмусь за остальное.
перечитала "Замок": Кафка великолепно владеет временем и растягивает и прессует его просто по мановению пера. очень смеялась (в русском переводе совсем не было смешно, а как-то удивительно, что вот это пытаются выдать за юмор). но читать его в формате СС тяжело, это как есть шоколад килограммами - приторно становится. потом обязательно возьмусь за остальное.
August 25, 2019
Voor de leesclub hieruit gelezen: Der Prozess. Daarna ben ik verder gegaan met de andere verhalen.
Kafka's verhalen zijn soms zeer langdradig en daardoor moeilijk doorheen te komen, maar laten op mij desondanks een knagend gevoel achter. Hij combineert zijn typische (zwarte) humor met existentiële angsten en twijfel, die zijn verhalen ondanks de bizarre situaties en beslissingen van de personages, de realiteit van het (absurde van het) mens-zijn sterker benadrukken dan 'normale' realistische verhalen. (Daarom zag Camus Kafka ook als de enige ware absurdistische schrijver.)
Kafka's verhalen zijn soms zeer langdradig en daardoor moeilijk doorheen te komen, maar laten op mij desondanks een knagend gevoel achter. Hij combineert zijn typische (zwarte) humor met existentiële angsten en twijfel, die zijn verhalen ondanks de bizarre situaties en beslissingen van de personages, de realiteit van het (absurde van het) mens-zijn sterker benadrukken dan 'normale' realistische verhalen. (Daarom zag Camus Kafka ook als de enige ware absurdistische schrijver.)
March 31, 2020
Scoprii Kafka da ragazzo, con La Metamorfosi, e per approfondire l'autore comprai questo librone che contiene tutti i romanzi e i racconti. Non riuscii a staccarmene fino a quando non lo completai, e anni dopo rilessi Il castello e Il processo. Per me resta un grandissimo, quindi il giudizio è relativo allo scrittore e non all'edizione delle sue opere.
October 23, 2019
Kafka is de reden dat ik weer begonnen ben met lezen. Zijn verstoorde personages, geworpen in onverschillige (kapitalistische) werelden waren enerzijds onnavolgbaar en anderzijds ontzettend herkenbaar. Nu ook zijn korte verhalen te hebben gelezen is mijn liefde voor Kafka's stijl alleen maar gegroeid.
August 21, 2013
Ausgezeichnet
Bin selbst überrascht, wieviel Seiten (ich weiß, ist dämlich bei einem E-book) hier zusammengekommen sind.
Ich vertraue mal darauf, dass hier wirklich alle Werke von Kafka zusammen sind.
Daumen hoch, der Herr!
Bin selbst überrascht, wieviel Seiten (ich weiß, ist dämlich bei einem E-book) hier zusammengekommen sind.
Ich vertraue mal darauf, dass hier wirklich alle Werke von Kafka zusammen sind.
Daumen hoch, der Herr!
June 29, 2020
Rereading Die Verwandlung.
August 3, 2013
Ik vond de Strafkolonie het opvallendst.
March 28, 2015
Fabulous!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews