Collected Stories (Everyman's Library)

To those wondering what this volume contains, it is the following:Stories published in Kafka's lifetime:MEDITATION(1913)Children on a Country RoadUnmasking a Confidence TricksterThe Sudden WalkResolutionsExcursion into the MountainsBachelor's Ill LuckThe TradesmanAbsent-minded Windo-gazingThe Way HomePassers-byOn the TramClothesRejectionReflections for Gentlemen-jockeysThe Street WindowThe Wish to be a Red IndianThe TreesUnhappinessTHE JUDGMENT (1913)THE STOKER(1913)THE METAMORPHOSIS (1915)InIN THE PENAL COLONY (1919)A COUNTRY DOCTOR (1919)The New AdvocateA Country DoctorUp in the GalleryAn Old ManuscriptBefore the LawJackals and ArabsA Visit to a MineThe Next VillageAn Imperial MessageThe Cares of a Family ManEleven SonsA FratricideA DreamA Report to an AcademyThe Bucket Rider (1921)A HUNGER ARTIST (1924)First SorrowA Little WomanA Hunger ArtistJosephine the Singer, or the Mouse FolkStories Unpublished in Kafka's LifetimeDescription of a StruggleWedding Preparations in the CountryThe StudentThe AngelThe Village Schoolmaster (The Giant Mole)Blumfeld, an Elderly BachelorThe Hunter GracchusThe ProclamationThe BridgeThe Great Wall of ChinaThe Knock at the Manor GateAn Ancient SwordNew LampsMy NeighborA Crossbreed (A Sport)A Splendid BeastThe WatchmanA Common ConfusionThe Truth About Sancho PanzaThe Silence of the SirensPrometheusThe City Coat of ArmsPoseidenFellowshipAt NightThe Problem of Our LawsThe Conscription of TroopsThe TestThe VultureThe HelmsmanThe TopHandsA Little FableIsabellaHome-comingA Chinese PuzzleThe DepartureAdvocatesInvestigations of a DogThe Married CoupleGive It Up!On ParablesThe Burrow

I got this book because I really enjoyed The metamorphosis the writing on it was superb! You couldn’t but feel sadness and empathy for poor Gregor Samsa! The abuses and the cruelty he went through all at the hands of his very own family!!! So I decided to buy this collection of Franz Kafka. The book itself it’s beautiful as seen from the pictures.

This is a great collection. After my young readings of Kafka, I can know simply enjoy him. There will never be another.

First off, I don't think many of the pieces here should be included in a short story collection, even some of those Kafka himself included in Meditation. They are obviously little more than ideas, or kernals of what could have been real stories, except most went nowhere beyond this initial staging arena. Proof of this is that more than one of these blurbs are taken and expanded into fully developed short stories later on by a more mature Kafka. Others are removed from Kafka's diary and presented as somewhat finished, fictional, or semi-fictional products, by an overzealous editor, in my opinion (who even gives them titles). Kafka was such a brilliant writer of short fiction, that we want to get more out of him than is actually there -- hence, the works that should not be presented in this format. Leave them in the diaries, or present them in a book containing his complete writings. But to confuse some of the smaller pieces with the more obviously polished works is to muddy the waters of this important writer's best efforts. Diary of a Struggle, for example, is something clearly still in draft form, and should not be held up in the same light as The Metamorphosis, Josephine the Singer, or the Hunger Artist.This book is well worth your time, but don't consider it as a volume of finished short stories. Because probably more than half of them are not. Even the casual reader, however, will be able to discern that the major ones are important for a reason; that there has in fact been no hyperbole about Franz Kafka. Kafka's writing really is one of the landmarks in the history of world literature. His blending of fanstasy, allegory, and realism probably still can't be equalled to this day. The individual components can be said to have been surpassed, but not the blending, not the unique alchemical mixture. Somewhat like Poe, maybe, who also frequently blends the fantastic with the rational?One of the most overlooked pieces in this book is the last story, entitled The Burrow. A creature of some kind (we are again unsure of exactly what kind) declaims at length about the little home he's built for himself under the earth. But a seemingly straight-forward narrative soon becomes a dizzying exercise in circular logic. The utterly reasonable in the face of the again almost comically absurd. These two pieces of the mind just don't belong in the same sphere, just as Gregor's calmly reasoning reflections don't belong in The Metamorphosis, where his body has just been transformed into that of a bug's. And that is why it is so necessary for someone to put them there -- to in other words set the mechanisms of the mind in opposition to one another as a kind of socio-psychological experiment.

Inspired Robert Smith lyrics for a few Cure songs

I chose the rating because this COLLECTED STORIES is one I have never owned before. So, now I can lose myself in revisiting all that delicious creativity. I lost a treasured edition with fewer stories years ago. I like Kafka's observations regarding his own writing and how he thinks about it. The ELEVEN SONS is a good example . The book exceeded my expectation and every day as I sit down to read, I am more delighted with it. Fran Jansen

Book came in great shape and on time. I'm not a fan of kafka, had to buy it for school. Product was great, though!

This is a fine book to have on your shelf. Looks great, feels great, and of course, Franz Kafka's work is brilliant and stimulating.h

My only problem is (which isn't really a negative opinion on the publisher and Kafka but more of a demand) it only lacks "the trial" story. Then yes !! It would contain all (or most) essential works of Kafka.

Super

Missing dust jacket. Was disappointed I had to return the book.

A complete collection of Kafka's shorter fiction with an excellent introduction.

One of the finest collections of short stories & parables, many with paradoxical, existential themes, in world literature. Many of these Kafka stories are so good, notwithstanding occasional complexity, that they may be reread many times over. Despite some dark, disturbing settings, many are also laced with absurdist humour. Yet others move one deeply.This edition is fairly complete, comprising 87 Kafka stories. Translations are by Kafka's original English translators, Willa & Edwin Muir. Though their rendering is highly renowned, newer critically acclaimed English translations also exist in other editions.How fitting then that Everyman's Library produces such splendid hardcover books, with quality Smyth-sewn binding & on acid-free paper that will endure for generations. No hesitations in giving this volume 5 stars. I'd also recommend Kafka's excellent novels, "The Trial" & "The Castle" by the same publisher.PS: Now if only Everyman's Library would also publish Kafka's 3rd novel, "America", Kafka's outstanding, soul-searching "Diaries" & his volumes of insightful letters, my wishes of one day owning all the work of this extraordinary writer in uniform quality hardcover would be fulfilled.