Franz Kafka's nightmarish novels and short stories have come to symbolize modern man's anxiety and alienation in a bizarre, hostile, and dehumanized world. This vision is most fully realized in Kafkan's masterpiece, "The Metamorphosis," a story that is both harrowing and amusing, and a landmark of modern literature. Bringing together some of Kafka's finest work, this collection demonstrates the richness and variety of the author's artistry. "The Judgment," which Kafka considered to be his decisive breakthrough, and "The Stoker," which became the first chapter of his novel "Amerika, are here included. These two, along with "The Metamorphosis, form a suit of stories Kafka referred to as "The sons," and they collectively present a devastating portrait of the modern family.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Kurzbeschreibung
Produktinformation
Möchten Sie die Produktinformationen aktualisieren oder Feedback zu den Produktabbildungen geben?
Ist der Verkauf dieses Produkts für Sie nicht akzeptabel? |
Produktbeschreibungen
Pressestimmen
aI think of a Kafka story as a perfect work of literary art, as approachable as it is strange, and as strange as it is approachable.a
aMichael Hofmann -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Taschenbuch .
aMichael Hofmann -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Taschenbuch .
Synopsis
This collection of new translations brings together the small proportion of Kafka's works that he thought worthy of publication. It includes "Metamorphosis", his most famous work, an exploration of horrific transformation and alienation; "Meditation", a collection of his earlier studies; "The Judgement", written in a single night of frenzied creativity; "The Stoker", the first chapter of a novel set in America and a fascinating occasional piece, "The Aeroplanes at Brescia", Kafka's eyewitness account of an air display in 1909. Together, these stories reveal the breadth of Kafka's literary vision and the extraordinary imaginative depth of his thought.
-- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe:
Taschenbuch
.
Welche anderen Artikel kaufen Kunden, nachdem sie diesen Artikel angesehen haben?
Eine digitale Version dieses Buchs im Kindle-Shop verkaufen
Wenn Sie ein Verleger oder Autor sind und die digitalen Rechte an einem Buch haben, können Sie die digitale Version des Buchs in unserem Kindle-Shop verkaufen.
Weitere Informationen
Kundenrezensionen
Die hilfreichsten Kundenrezensionen
Von Mark O'Neill
Format:Taschenbuch|Von Amazon bestätigter Kauf
I finished this book a few days ago and it has taken me several days to understand the Kafka stories well enough to be able to write this review. This isn't due to me being "un-educated". I'm educated and I like to think of myself as being intelligent. But these stories really threw me for days and I had to end up researching the stories online to ultimately find my answers.
This is because although this is definately classic literature at its best, the stories are hard to read. More to the point, they are hard to UNDERSTAND. Each story doesn't have a climax to it. It just stops suddenly and you are left by Kafka to draw your own analysis, conclusions and interpretations. So you have a story where two people are talking and suddenly one of them jumps in a river and kills themself. Story over. Why did that person suddenly choose to end their life? That's up to you to decide. Everyone will interpret the stories in their own way.
There lies the beauty of Kafka. Give his stories to 100 different people and you will end up with 100 different interpretations of what each story means. Some will see a social commentary in a story, others will see a psycho-analytical side to it, and so on. Others won't be able to understand a single word.
So this is not light reading by any means. Be prepared to read pages over and over again to understand them and be prepared to spend days turning each story over in your mind until you finally understand what you read.
This is because although this is definately classic literature at its best, the stories are hard to read. More to the point, they are hard to UNDERSTAND. Each story doesn't have a climax to it. It just stops suddenly and you are left by Kafka to draw your own analysis, conclusions and interpretations. So you have a story where two people are talking and suddenly one of them jumps in a river and kills themself. Story over. Why did that person suddenly choose to end their life? That's up to you to decide. Everyone will interpret the stories in their own way.
There lies the beauty of Kafka. Give his stories to 100 different people and you will end up with 100 different interpretations of what each story means. Some will see a social commentary in a story, others will see a psycho-analytical side to it, and so on. Others won't be able to understand a single word.
So this is not light reading by any means. Be prepared to read pages over and over again to understand them and be prepared to spend days turning each story over in your mind until you finally understand what you read.
Die hilfreichsten Kundenrezensionen auf Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 von 5 Sternen
5 Rezensionen
1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
4.0 von 5 Sternen
Slim and Simple
28. Juni 2010
Von M. Zveris
- Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe|Von Amazon bestätigter Kauf
Kafka is certainly not for everyone, that being said if you like Kafka or are new to his writing this is certainly a good volume to pick up. It includes some of his shorter pieces that are less well known (they weigh in at a little over or right at a paragraph in length) such as A Country Doctor and longer classics like The Metamorphosis.
The hardback with the thick weight of the paper makes this a volume you can keep for many years without fear of damage and overwear from rereading that can occur with paperback copies. The translation is wonderful and better than many that are available for purchase, the low price also makes this a fine addition to your home library without the worry that taking it off the shelf every now and then won't cover the cost. This collection of Kafka is worth every penny, if not a few more than Amazon is asking.
For those who have never read Kafka it is best not to spoil the authors work which is surreal in some cases, poignant in all, and entertaining in every light. If you have read Albert Camus or the sometimes acerbic but witty style of Louis Ferdinand Celine then this author is right up your alley.
The hardback with the thick weight of the paper makes this a volume you can keep for many years without fear of damage and overwear from rereading that can occur with paperback copies. The translation is wonderful and better than many that are available for purchase, the low price also makes this a fine addition to your home library without the worry that taking it off the shelf every now and then won't cover the cost. This collection of Kafka is worth every penny, if not a few more than Amazon is asking.
For those who have never read Kafka it is best not to spoil the authors work which is surreal in some cases, poignant in all, and entertaining in every light. If you have read Albert Camus or the sometimes acerbic but witty style of Louis Ferdinand Celine then this author is right up your alley.
5.0 von 5 Sternen
Good Deal
21. Juni 2007
Von Monica
- Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com
Format:Taschenbuch|Von Amazon bestätigter Kauf
Some of the other editions are about the same price but only has the Metamorphosis, while this includes a lot more!
5 von 6 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
5.0 von 5 Sternen
Irreconcilable discrepancies
30. Oktober 2003
Von S. Park
- Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com
Format:Taschenbuch
As the content of the book seems not published: this collection contains the stories "A Message from the Emperor," "The Metamorphosis," "The Judgment," "The Stoker: a Fragment," "In the Penal Colony," "A Country Doctor," "An Old Leaf," "A Hunger Artist," "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse People," in this sequence.
I found the book opening with "A Message from the Emperor" very befitting, as it seemed to me that this story, in fact just a single page, nicely condensed the tone of the entire collection. In my opinion the stories explore the common theme of irreconcilable discrepancies (among human beings). "A Message from the Emperor" in particular depicts a person, a "contemptible subject" of the Emperor, waiting for a message from the Emperor that will never arrive. He knows for certain that the message won't arrive; yet he still waits.
In the well-known Metamorphosis, the discrepancies take on a physical form -- the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, finds himself turned into a bug one morning. While Samsa attempts his best to convey what he thinks to his family, the members of family, understandably, are incapable of even conceiving that this bug, Samsa, may have any intellect. Communication between these two parties is broken beyond repair; the present discrepancies are irreconcilable.
Likewise in "In the Penal Colony," and in "A Hunger Artist." In the former a foreigner is made to judge whether it is right to ban a particular execution machine of the past. The last remaining advocate of the machine, an army officer, tries his best to highlight the merits of it. He goes through great pain explaining how each and every piece of the machine works with great affection. No, the foreigner wont be deterred. The foreigner is as foreign as one could be from the idea of cruel execution. The hunger artist's vocation is to fast. He fasts in public and receives compensation from the spectators. He takes great pride in what he does; he only stops fasting because the convention prohibits him from going on. But his is a dying occupation. People gradually lose interest. How is it possible to convey to those ignorant people what noble a deed it is to fast?
Remember the time you felt deep despair for not being able to get through to someone you care for (when no matter what you say just won't mean the same thing to you as to the other person)? Albeit in varying contexts, it is this devastation that Kafka so masterfully depicts in these stories.
›
Gehen Sie zu Amazon.com, um alle 5 Rezensionen zu sehen
4.0 von 5 Sternen
Waren diese Rezensionen hilfreich?
Wir wollen von Ihnen hören.
Kunden diskutieren
|
Das Forum zu diesem Produkt
Fragen stellen, Meinungen austauschen, Einblicke gewinnen Aktive Diskussionen in ähnlichen Foren
Kundendiskussionen durchsuchen
|
Ähnliche Foren
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lieblingslisten
|
|
Ähnliche Artikel finden
Ihr Kommentar
Möchten Sie die Produktinformationen aktualisieren oder Feedback zu den Produktabbildungen geben?
|
