Poll

As much as I enjoy Dahl's shorter stuff, no contest.

Agreed. Will this be the first shut out?

I will not let " A Man from the South" be shut out! I had to change my vote, but Dahi deserves more credit. I found this one of the more difficult choices to make actually.

I agree this should not be a shutout, but I also voted for "In The Penal Colony". I will say I likes "A Man From The South" better than I liked both stories in some other pairings, so it should get a few votes.

It is interesting that this random pairing puts two nightmarish scenarios of torture up against each other. Both stories have four people present for most of the action and both have the potential victim of torture released from that possibility near the end. But other than that, they are very different stories.

I would say the tone is the primary difference. "A Man From The South" has the feel of something between the telling of a joke and the telling of a campfire story. The agreement of the boy and the witness are puzzling in a realistic sense, but they are acceptable within the "it's just a story" framework. The ending is both gruesome and funny.

Kafka is one of my favourite authors. "The Trial" is one of the all time great books. In fact, "In The Penal Colony" reminds me a bit of the scene in "The Trial" when Josef K. comes across the torturers. But in this case, the situation is more grim and less comical. The nightmare scenario is wonderfully developed. Reading this was a delightful way to spend the morning.

I did have a thought part way through that the issue of translation becomes a bit of an issue. I have two different translations of the story, and so by glancing at them both it becomes apparent that it is more difficult to clearly credit Kafka with the details of the writing. Much of that credit does go to him, but there is a lot of room for the translator to be essentially a co-author. But this is a contest of stories, not authors, so that makes it not a problem for me in deciding how to vote. I voted for "In The Penal Colony"

I agree with you David about the translations. If there's a choice, I'll read a bit of each and then switch to my preference.

And many of the web versions contain typographical errors and odd typography.