Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories
by Franz Kafka
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Book Reviews of Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories
Book Review: The best place to start with Kafka.
Summary: 5 Stars
The best place to start with Kafka is with his short stories, and here we have all of his stories, published and unpublished, complete and incomplete, in one volume. The longer ones include masterpieces such as The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and A Hunger Artist. Also included are 2 short introductory parables, Before the Law, and An Imperial Message, which perfectly set the tone for what is to follow.
Kafka's troubled life can obviously be used as a reference point for his literature, but the stories stand alone as disturbing, often humorous, unique, and concise yet complex examinations of the human condition. Much is made of conflicts with outside forces over which the individual has no control, but the primary struggle is with oneself and is spiritual in nature. Kafka is a master at using irony and many of his stories end with satiric plot twists and sarcastic character revelations. The 1st line in the postscript mentions Albert Camus remarking that the whole art of Kafka consists in compelling the reader to re-read him. It's an astute observation, and when put into practice, reveals the genius inherent in Kafka's work. It's ability to continually ask more profound questions of us, rather than give pat answers or provide facile solutions to the dark riddles and dilemmas we all face in life to varying degrees.
John Updike provides an illuminating intro and the Muir's translations are excellent.
Book Review: Kafka had it right
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: Truth's Metamorphosis Into the Inexplicable
Summary: 5 Stars
Kafka is much more then the Metamorphosis and the Trial, and this collection demonstrates why. Kafka offered much while he delivered little, meaning that he opens up a universe of possibilities while confirming nothing. Nothing materializes, everything is fog. Stories that sound as if they're going to reveal the meaning of life end up only irritating you, and others, such as A Crossbreed, bore you until the final few sentences when you suddenly realize what you've been reading, and almost cry. Here is a line from Prometheus, which seems to elucidate a main theme of Kafka's writing: "As it came out of a substratum of truth it had in turn to end in the inexplicable."
Kafka yearns for beauty and writes for truth, but what ends up on the page is often uncertain, vague and close to demonic in its preoccupation with the grotesque. His writing came out of a desire for truth and it had in turn to end in the inexplicable. So, truth metamorphoses (if I may..) into the inexplicable.
Also take note: the book is divided into The Longer Stories and the Shorter Stories, and some of the best Kafka is in the final section, which is the Shorter Stories. Watch out for The Bucket Rider, A Crossbreed, Prometheus, Poseidon, The City Coat of Arms... too many to mention!
Book Review: Some gems
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a mixed bag. Some of the pieces are fragments. Some are of questionable value. Some are gems. While it is possible to examine Kafka and his work from a psychoanalytic point of view, the point of engaging in such a puerile exercise eludes me. Such an approach is both shallow and unilluminating.Kafka's gems, such as "The Metamorphosis," are of the highest literary merit. In connection with "The Metamorphosis," I would recommend reading the corresponding lecture in Nabokov's "Lectures on Literature." Not only is Gregor Samsa a human being in an insect body, his family might aptly be described as insects in human bodies.
"The Metamorphosis" is also interesting from a philosophical point of view as a piece of existentialist literature. There is certainly a sense of the absurd in this work. It may also lead us to question our sense of self-identity. To what extent is that connected to our body, to what extent connected to how others view us? As to the latter, recall that in Camus' "The Stranger," Meursault only becomes self-reflective after the trial in which his impression on others is reflected back to him.
Book Review: Great intro to Kafka
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Complete Stories" has everything the beginning Kafka reader neads to get started. Of course this is required reading for the Kafka enthusiast.A well thought-out forward by John Updike prepares you for your journey into the amazing and complex mind of Kafka. The book is divided into two sections, one for the longer stories and one for the shorter stories (most of which only take up a page or two).
The stories themselves are great. "The Metamorphisis" is included, in which Gregor Samsa awakens to find himself in the form of a rather large insect! "The Penal Colony", "The Judgment" and "A Country Doctor" are also included.
There's certainly hasn't been an author since Kafka able to play upon the fears and emotions of the human mind, those thoughts playing in out head, when we realize that maybe some of this could happen to us.
If you enjoy "The Complete Stories", be sure to pick up "Amerika", "The Castle" and "The Trial". These are Kafka's three novels and will complete your collection. All very much worth it!