The Castle

Franz Kafka

2024年5月 · The Complete Works of Franz Kafka 4 巻 · Continental Press

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This new, modern translation from the original German is a fresh, accessible and beautifully rendered text that brings to life Kafka's great literary work. This edition contains extra amplifying material including an illuminating afterword, a timeline of Kafka's life and works alongside of the historical events which shaped his art, and a short biography, to place this work in its socio-historical context. Kafka's original German works published during his lifetime entered the public domain in 1995 (70 years after his 1924 death), while his posthumously published works like "Der Prozess," "Das Schloss," and "Der Verschollene" entered the public domain in 2020 (as EU copyright law specifies that works published between 1925-1941 had protection until 70 years after publication).

The Castle is Franz Kafka's enigmatic masterpiece, a profound exploration of alienation, bureaucracy, and the unrelenting human quest for meaning. The story follows K., a land surveyor summoned to a snow-covered village dominated by an imposing castle. Though called there to work, K. finds himself thwarted at every turn by a labyrinthine system of bureaucratic indifference. His attempts to access the castle and establish his purpose spiral into an endless and absurd struggle, mirroring the existential dilemmas faced by individuals in an unfeeling world.

Kafka crafts a vivid portrayal of power and isolation as K.s interactions with villagers and officials reveal a web of conflicting loyalties, incomprehensible rules, and distant authority. Figures like the mysterious Klamm and the pragmatic Frieda highlight the complexity of human relationships in a setting where personal desires clash with institutional forces. The castle itself, looming and inaccessible, becomes a symbol of humanity's unattainable goals and the absurdity of striving for clarity in an opaque universe.

著者について

A Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, Kafka's work, which fuses elements of realism and the fantastic, typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. His writings, such as "The Metamorphosis" and "The Trial," explore themes of alienation, existential anxiety, and guilt, and are influential in modernist literature.