Collected Stories (Everyman's Library)

Includes everything but his three novels and various letters. This book is bound nicely, high quality. I appreciate how it's organized by stories published during his lifetime and stories published after his death. Makes it approachable for new fans like myself. I went out and bought more Everyman's Libray books of other authors I like after purchsing this one. Highly recomended.

My therapist told me that I am able to empathize with literature; or perhaps I learn from the viewpoints and lives of the authors, more than with random people. Literature allows you the time to learn about the experiences and feelings of others in your own time. It give you the opportunity to know others on a deeper level without requiring the same in return. No one is invading your personal space or making any demands. I am happy with this collection of Franz Kafka’s work. It definitely was just what I was looking for.

To those wondering what this volume contains, it is the following: Stories published in Kafka's lifetime: MEDITATION(1913) Children on a Country Road Unmasking a Confidence Trickster The Sudden Walk Resolutions Excursion into the Mountains Bachelor's Ill Luck The Tradesman Absent-minded Windo-gazing The Way Home Passers-by On the Tram Clothes Rejection Reflections for Gentlemen-jockeys The Street Window The Wish to be a Red Indian The Trees Unhappiness THE JUDGMENT (1913) THE STOKER(1913) THE METAMORPHOSIS (1915) InIN THE PENAL COLONY (1919) A COUNTRY DOCTOR (1919) The New Advocate A Country Doctor Up in the Gallery An Old Manuscript Before the Law Jackals and Arabs A Visit to a Mine The Next Village An Imperial Message The Cares of a Family Man Eleven Sons A Fratricide A Dream A Report to an Academy The Bucket Rider (1921) A HUNGER ARTIST (1924) First Sorrow A Little Woman A Hunger Artist Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk Stories Unpublished in Kafka's Lifetime Description of a Struggle Wedding Preparations in the Country The Student The Angel The Village Schoolmaster (The Giant Mole) Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor The Hunter Gracchus The Proclamation The Bridge The Great Wall of China The Knock at the Manor Gate An Ancient Sword New Lamps My Neighbor A Crossbreed (A Sport) A Splendid Beast The Watchman A Common Confusion The Truth About Sancho Panza The Silence of the Sirens Prometheus The City Coat of Arms Poseiden Fellowship At Night The Problem of Our Laws The Conscription of Troops The Test The Vulture The Helmsman The Top Hands A Little Fable Isabella Home-coming A Chinese Puzzle The Departure Advocates Investigations of a Dog The Married Couple Give It Up! On Parables The Burrow

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.

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.

Inspired Robert Smith lyrics for a few Cure songs

If you like Kafka then you'll like this. The Trial is his best, in my opinion. Unfortunately it's not in this collection. Metamorphosis is in this collection, probably his second best known work. A bit thin, in my opinion until you realize when it was written, then you appreciate it more.

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.

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

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.

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

The Everyman's Library Classics Edition books are, in my opinion, the best quality books available in the price-range. They are quality bound, with acid-free paper, dust jacket, and ribbon page marker. There are also a great range of authors available in this collection, and they are very reasonably priced.