Metamorphosis, in the Penal Colony, and Other Stories (Schocken Kafka Library) (The Schocken Kafka Library) - Softcover

Franz Kafka; Anne Rice (Foreword)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805210571 ISBN 13: 9780805210576

Publisher: Schocken Books, 1995

Synopsis

The best-known novellas and stories of one of the seminal writers of the twentieth century. Included are "The Judgment, " "A Country Doctor, " and "A Hunger Artist." New Foreword by Anne Rice.

About this title

Review:

"Kafka's survey of the insectile situation of young Jews in inner Bohemia can hardly be improved upon: 'With their posterior legs they were still glued to their father's Jewishness and with their wavering anterior legs they found no new ground.' There is a sense in which Kafka's Jewish question ('What have I in common with Jews?') has become everybody's question, Jewish alienation the template for all our doubts. What is Muslimness? What is femaleness? What is Polishness? These days we all find our anterior legs flailing before us. We're all insects, all Ungeziefer, now."
--Zadie Smith

"Kafka engaged in no technical experiments whatsoever; without in any way changing the German language, he stripped it of its involved constructions until it became clear and simple, like everyday speech purified of slang and negligence. The common experience of Kafka's readers is one of general and vague fascination, even in stories they fail to understand, a precise recollection of strange and seemingly absurd images and descriptions--until one day the hidden meaning reveals itself to them with the sudden evidence of a truth simple and incontestable."
--Hannah Arendt

About the Author:

Anne Rice (Foreword) is a best-selling American author of gothic and later religious themed books. Best known for her Vampire Chronicles, her prevailing thematical focus is on love, death, immortality, existentialism, and the human condition. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history.

About this edition

• Publisher: Schocken Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0805210571
• ISBN 13: 9780805210576
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 328