The Great Short Works
Jun 2010 · Simon and Schuster
4.3star
7 reviewsreport
Ebook
352
Pages
family_home
Eligible
info
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
About this ebook
“In Neugroschel’s version we see more of Kafka’s meaning, his unexpected comedy…we have for the first time the sense of understanding Kafka’s complexity and where it might lead us.” —Chicago Tribune
A classic translation of Kafka’s best-known, and most obscure, short fiction—with a new foreword from celebrated writer Ling Ma.
Widely recognized as one of the preeminent English-language anthologies of Kafka’s stories, this critically acclaimed collection assembles the great short works of one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers. With masterful attentiveness to the intricacies of Kafka’s dialect of Prague German, this is an essential selection of forty-four stories, including such timeless works of fiction as “The Metamorphosis,” “In the Penal Colony,” and “The Judgment.” Brought into the present by a foreword from Ling Ma, Kafka’s work has never been more relevant to contemporary literature—nor has Kafka himself ever been a keener observer of the human condition, with his singular apprehension of power, the absurd, and the enigma and alienation at the center of modern living.
A classic translation of Kafka’s best-known, and most obscure, short fiction—with a new foreword from celebrated writer Ling Ma.
Widely recognized as one of the preeminent English-language anthologies of Kafka’s stories, this critically acclaimed collection assembles the great short works of one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers. With masterful attentiveness to the intricacies of Kafka’s dialect of Prague German, this is an essential selection of forty-four stories, including such timeless works of fiction as “The Metamorphosis,” “In the Penal Colony,” and “The Judgment.” Brought into the present by a foreword from Ling Ma, Kafka’s work has never been more relevant to contemporary literature—nor has Kafka himself ever been a keener observer of the human condition, with his singular apprehension of power, the absurd, and the enigma and alienation at the center of modern living.
Ratings and reviews
4.3
7 reviews
A Google user
- Flag inappropriate
November 19, 2008
I have only read The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony and The Hunger Artist, but that is pretty much enough to give me an idea of Kafka.
A guy turns into a giant bug. He gets an apple lodged in his back. He dies. The end.
A giant torture machine is a spectacle and kills its maker and only supporter. The end.
A guy who starves himself for a living dies in a cage. Turns out he doesn't eat because he doesn't like any food. The end.
Miguel López
- Flag inappropriate
June 27, 2014
What else do I need to say? One of the books that survive forever and still amaze everybody.
1 person found this review helpful
Iksleic Samot
- Flag inappropriate
November 5, 2015
The Metamorphosis
About the author
Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was born in Prague. Widely esteemed as one of the twentieth century’s most important writers, he is the author of the novels The Trial and The Castle.
Joachim Neugroschel (1938–2011) was the translator of over two hundred books, including works by Marcel Proust, Elias Canetti, and Thomas Mann. Over the course of his career, he received many awards, including the French-American Foundation Translation Prize and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.
Ling Ma is author of the novel Severance and the story collection Bliss Montage. She is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Windham Campbell Prize in Literature, and a National Book Critics Circle Award. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Granta, and VQR. She lives in Chicago.
Joachim Neugroschel (1938–2011) was the translator of over two hundred books, including works by Marcel Proust, Elias Canetti, and Thomas Mann. Over the course of his career, he received many awards, including the French-American Foundation Translation Prize and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.
Ling Ma is author of the novel Severance and the story collection Bliss Montage. She is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Windham Campbell Prize in Literature, and a National Book Critics Circle Award. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Granta, and VQR. She lives in Chicago.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
