The most enjoyable aspect of language learning, for me, is the experience of reading literary masterpieces in the original. The side-by-side format is perfect for those intermediate students of German who would like something more substantial than the usual textbook fare. I would like to have seen more stories printed, or perhaps a second volume, but I do appreciate the variety available in this edition. The English translations tend to be more literal and wooden than the better all-English versions in print, but that is all the better. Once you've read Kafka in the original, you won't want to go back.

This edition offers a sample of Kafka's best short stories with the original German and English translation on facing pages. It is a wonderful sort of "training wheels" for those who are ready to tackle German literature in the original.

The stories themselves are highly challenging. Kafka is regarded as a profit of modern alienation, but that doesn't capture the complexity of his thought. His masterpiece, The Metamorphosis, is here. In it Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find he has turned into a giant bug. With that simple, but startling device, Kafka has a vehicle for exploring the inner dynamic of a family, and the mix of selfishness and altruism which informs our relationships with one another. On the surface, it would seem that Kafka is affirming the increasingly common notion that all altruism is really disguised selfishness - yet the story's bleakness suggests that Kafka himself knows that the vision is incomplete. This is the truth, he says. But is it the whole truth?

In another great story, In the Penalty Colony, Kafka presents us with a society that was once ordered around a great torturing device. The society is in the process of moving away from the torture device, and that would seem to be a good thing. But Kafka is more challenging than that. Does a vision of the world which imagines no role for suffering really speak to our deepest selves? We are repulsed by the old order, but the new order seems to be missing something.

So in one neat package, you can learn some German and struggle with a challenging vision of the world. That's a bargain, in my book!

I have used this book at our university in a German class (Introduction to German Literature) and in a Literature in Translation class. Students appreciated the duel langauge format. For my students of German, the facing translation aids in setting the context so that they can deal mor quickly with the German text. I would recommend this book for those with some German who are interested in Kafka's short fiction. I would have liked having the " Hunger Artist" in the collection as well as a German vocabulary section (as one finds in other Dover texts), but otherwise I found the book most helpful. The entire series offers excellent books at wonderful prices!

Brilliant interpretation of Kafka's nine short tales by illustrator Peter Kuper. This thin book is neither for the faint-hearted nor for those who prefer a light-hearted comic read. Kuper brings into powerful focus the intensity and dark, twisted side of humanity as Kafka would have wished it done. One is literally drawn into the stories by the compelling and solid strokes of the artist. A graphic novel of the highest standard

Kafka stories, with Kuper artwork. Kuper's style seems to match Kafka in a very pleasant, memorable way...

Too bad this book is out of print. All of the stories are on the short side so it is nice to peruse when one does not have a whole lot of time to read but wants something stimulating. Sometimes they are only a page or so long but will leave you thinking about them for a few minutes - this book really engages the reader and encourages mental activity. I think Kafka's mysterious style is quite excellent, and I encourage anyone who has liked his other works to give tthis lesser known collection a chance

Amusement is likely to be the aim of most people who read this book, but those who can appreciate a deeper side, in those moments when our relationship with reality is in bad shape, might also study this book as a higher intellectual calling. If intellectuals in modern society have lost the high standing that they had when intellectuals could be expected to support basic norms, it might be due to their ability to identify with the level of mental acivity evident in this book more readily than with the norms of a society in which people desparately need to believe that they are being understood. First, I would like to recommend this book to people who would like to do some original thinking in the area of religion. In my own religious history, it was surprising how well I could identify with the Edgar Allan Poe-ness of my nature, whenever ultimate problems needed to be faced. I have come to realize that, for the intellectuals of the world, the works of Edgar Allan Poe are like a collection of worn out American horse feathers compared to the depth which can be imagined by those who read the works of Kafka. I'll vouch for that, too.

Spector does a brilliant job in reading Kafka together with the other members of what he calls as the Prague circle. The book is challenging to read and it requires a certain level of acquintenance with the field and some German perhaps. In any case, it gives you a different perspective to understand the cirisis within the Prague circle to which Kafka is also included. Territory, territorialization, reterritorialization and deterritorialization cna be considered as the key processes one must understand in reading the book. Even though it seems somewhat consfusing from this Spector eloquently argues and proves his thesis.

A well documented and beautifully written book on the jewish writers,known as the prague circle, at the beginning of the twentieth century. It captures their identity struggle in a political and cultural prague. Spector gives his readers a treat by unmasking an enigmatic Kafka. We are able to perhaps know a more tender man behind the desk. We can now imagine how Gregor's creator felt. This alone was worth waiting for.

Kafka knew so well how to make us feel trapped, estranged and lonely like the characters in his stories. He struggled with anxiety and feelings of inferiority in his own life, and his writing expresses the passive realization that life is a dark and confusing nightmare where we in no way are masters of our destinies. This volume contains five stories, of which the Metamorphosis is the longest and by far the most elaborate and substantial work. A young travelling salesman, Gregor Samsa, wakes up one morning and realizes that he has been transformed into a giant bug. Having been the provider for his elderly parents and his adolescent sister, he is now forced to crawl around in his room all day, hiding his hideous self from the sister who brings him food, unable to communicate and barred from the world outside. It is a story about being dehumanized and alienated, of being useless and unwanted, of becoming a burden to oneself as well as to others. Kafka is such a phenomenal writer that the mere absurdity of the plot is completely overshadowed by the vivid and somehow realistic descriptions of the emotional and behavioral responses of Gregor and his family to the unreal situation. It is as if Kafka is telling us that this circumstance is no more strange or hopeless than the predicaments faced by the average family. Among the other stories, I found the short "Report to an Academy" particularly compelling. It is the report of a captured ape who has renounced its apehood and become like a human to avoid confinement in the zoo. The ape chose to become a human not because he admired humans in any way, but because it was the only way to escape an unbearable situation. In other words, it is a story about assimilation and accomodation, about the necessity to abandon all individual traits and pre-dispositions to fit in and assure respectability, in short, selling out. Assimilation was of course the order of the day in the late Habsburg Empire, but it may be Kafka's individuality as much as his minority identity which shines through in this short masterpiece. Although not all the stories are of the same quality and contain the same universal insight, the Metamorphosis alone is worth five stars and a strong recommendation.

"Look, I'm a Bug!" No, no, no... the plight of Gregor Samsa as he awoke as a beetle is no laughing matter. In this tidy little Dover edition, Kafka's famous short story breathes of the futility and alienation men face, and the fear in the midst of it all.

"The Metamorphosis and Other Stories" is worth every penny.

The beauty of the Dover edition is the ability to sample Kafka, rather than indulge in a complete works. He is not for everyone, but at such an inexpensive price, you'll get to taste his style and complex ideas.

Note that there are several stories here, including the oddly-styled one paragraph "A Country Doctor," which effectively challenges the view of common man of the almost godlike pedestal we put doctors on.

Stories include:
The Judgment
The Metamorphosis
In a Penal Colony
A Country Doctor
A Report to an Academy

I fully recommend "The Metamorphosis and Other Stories" by Franz Kafka. The price can't be beat, and would make a great addition to a larger Amazon purchase.

Anthony Trendl

Don't be fooled by the scant 80 pages in this book...it is a powerful collection of stories. Metamorphosis is truly an amazing short story, about the priority shift of a man who has found himself stuck in the body of a bug. Like most of his other pieces, Kafka deals primarily with the mind, using the despairing feelings of his characters to reach the reader. The other stories, "In the Penal Colony," "A Country Doctor" and others, are equally powerful and equally disturbing, and I recommend this book to anyone interested in reading contemporary classics.

The 1970's expanded version of this book is of questionable authenticity. The expanded edition purports to recall conversations from many decades earlier. The circumstances of the manuscript's discovery don't add up either. As for the original edition, it may be somewhat more reliable, but should be taken with a grain of salt too, especially when there are quotation marks. See ""Janouch's "Conversations With Kafka' Some Questions" in Modern Fiction Studies, Winter 1971-1972, 555-556. Peter F. Neumeyer

I'm surprised to see this book is in print. I stumbled on a copy of the 1971, revised second clothbound edition in a community college library and have never seen it anywhere else.

Kafka is a hard man to know, let alone to like, through his fiction. One feels respect, admiration, awe ... but perhaps not affection or warmth. This book, compiled by a youthful acquaintance from his memories of chats with Kafka, provides a wonderfully human, if dubiously accurate (how could he remember all these lengthy quotations?), image of the man.

At times he seems pragmatically direct, even patronising to his listener: "There is too much noise in your poems; it is a by-product of youth, which indicates an excess of vitality. So that the noise is itself beautiful, though it has nothing in common with art. On the contrary! The noise mars the expression...." Sometimes he can be sardonic, as when he refers to newspapers as the vice of civilization -- they offer the events of the world with no meaning, a "heap of earth and sand" -- and remarks, "It's like smoking; one has to pay the printer the price of poisoning oneself." (Good thing he didn't live to see TV!)

More often, Kafka comes across as some sort of Zen master: "Just be quiet and patient. Let evil and unpleasantness pass quietly over you. Do not try to avoid them. On the contrary, observe them carefully. Let active understanding take the place of reflex irritation, and you will grow out of your trouble. Men can achieve greatness only by surmounting their own littleness."

Janouch relates a story from his father that Kafka once paid a powerful lawyer-friend to help out an injured laborer with his application for a disability pension, get his rightful compensation, and beat Kafka's employer, the Accident Insurance Institution.

Give this book five stars for interest and readability, three stars for shaky accuracy, and average at four.

Have you ever met a man who is so very shy and humble, that unlike Christ, who would take disciples, he stood alone by himself, remained unknown to all of us, till after he died, his friends started deparately publishing/telling his stories? Yet he still remained in the mystery. Not because he is lack of charm and wisdom, but because almost 80 years passed and a time that such a great soul lived has vanished so completely, we know no one that ever came close, and we no longer can recognize him. If you read the morden text-book literature ciritic, you would be so completely lost in the noise of the scholars, that you never know the truth.

I also read the first edition a couple years ago, (knowing that it was out of print for years, I photocopied the book page to page) it was also to my great surprise to see the book in print now, without knowing that the new edition has added many more flesh to the great man it described. I also found every page of it fascintaing to read, I like to have it in my reach, and randomly open one page and read. I also doubted how a 17year old can record the long comment by Kafka that he could hardly understand - so I close my eyes and try to imagine a young man in love with poetry and music, with a memory and heart that is still untainted - and I believe he can write this book.

If you love Kafka's book, I can challenge you with 99% assurance that you don't understand what he is telling you. If you follow the morden text-book critic like a dog, then you are absolutely wrong. If you still have space for truth in your mind, I challenge you to read Kafka more carefully, closer to your heart and, if you still don't understand him well, read his letters, diaries, and try this book as well. To me, this book helps greatly! It is eye opening! It is a must for any one who likes Kafka's work.

Comparing these translations to other versions, these translations are horrible. With Kafka, even just one word can change the entire meaning of his work. I would recommend Malcolm Pasley's translations of Kafka instead.

Check Your Review of
Collected Stories (Everyman's Library)
by Franz Kafka, et al

Here is your review the way it will appear:

= ÊÊ the Muir's in tux and bow tie
Reviewer: Michael Sympson from Florida
It has become customary for a current translator to preface his production with a little critique of his predecessors, especially the Muirs Ð after all we are not supposed to put our light under a bushel, but just between you and me: a great translator is just as rare as a great author, there might be billions and quadrillions of stars in the Universe, but the nights are still dark and the zodiac shows the same old signs since the countdown began at 11.00 am on Sunday, April 27th, 3877 BC. (central European time). Perhaps if the pay would be better there would be more stars in the firmament over Grub street.

So, since this is not the best of all worlds, only the best of all possible worlds, if not the only possible world, we better brace ourselves for surprises when a latter day translator of some repute allows to compare the "Country Doctor," perhaps Kafka's finest achievement, in his new version, with the established rendition of the Muirs. The very first sentence draws the line. Neugroshel (ÒThe Metamorphosis, in the Penal Colony, and Other StoriesÓ) thinks he knows better than the author and trims the sentence to bite-size:

"I was in a great predicament: an urgent trip lay ahead of me; a dangerously ill patient awaited me in a village ten leagues away; a heavy blizzard filled the vast space between me and him; I did have a wagon, lightweight, with large wheels, just the right kind of wagon for our country roads. Bundled up in my fur coat, holding my instrument bag, I stood in the courtyard, ready to travel; but the horse was lacking, the horse." But Kafka didnÕt write for the ÒToronto StarÓ and felt no obligation to chop his sentences to anemic tidbits for the weak digestion. The Muirs thought so too:

"I was in great perplexity, I had to start an urgent journey; a seriously ill patient was waiting for me in a village ten miles off; a thick blizzard of snow filled all the wide spaces between him and me; I had a gig, a light gig with big wheels, exactly right for our country roads; muffled in furs, my bag of instruments in my hand, I was in the courtyard all ready for the journey; but there was no horse to be had, no horse." Perhaps not the choice of words, but syntax and rhythm are incomparably closer to the original; in fact, this sentence alone deserves to be copyrighted for eternity and should oblige every succeeding translator to quote the Muirs. And why stop with the first sentence? The entire story is coming across splendidly. And by the way, the doctor used a gig, not a wagon, Mr. Neugroschel.

ÒEvery author creates his own pedigreeÓ says Jorge Luis Borges; and we know from KafkaÕs own testimony whom he had chosen as his models. Charles DickensÕ white hot fusion of language and imagery left its mark on ÒAmerica;Ó Flaubert taught Kafka the discipline to say extraordinary things in ordinary language and seek for the one befitting word; and late in his life, Heinrich von KleistÕs marvellous economy of structure and style left an indelible impression on Kafka. To some extent, Kafka even appreciated Friedrich Nietzsche. Just recall the rants and paragraphs of endless to-and-fro soliloquies in Ôlegalese,Õ KafkaÕs variety of the interior monologue.

Such were, what Kafka himself had recognized as formative influences. His friend Max Brod however, preferred to add Kierkegaard to this list and to belittle Nietzsche. BrodÕs view prevailed with the critics of his generation. KafkaÕs work drifted into the murky neighborhood of existentialism and of nebulous metaphysics for the secular seeker. For most critics and many readers, Kafka had turned from an artist to a saint. Regrettably the Muirs picked up on this trend and this sometimes slanted their choices in the phrasing - notice ÒI had to start an urgent journey ... :Ó Neugroschel was right to play it down in his rendition. Against all appearances, Kafka is not a latter day John Bunyan.

According to Stephen King (you are right, how could I sink so low) the two most important ingredients of fiction are empathy (the readerÕs) and the ability to hypnotize (on the authorÕs part). The man is right, and Kafka does possess hypnotic powers if the reader is willing to yield to his magic. KafkaÕs stories are dreams, not more real than fairy tales, and full of symbols as confusing as in a nightmare. The Muirs had enough artistic instinct to actually perceive that, and all things considered, produced a translation, which will remain the standard for still a very long time to come.

This is my absolute favorite book by my favorite writer, Kafka. As a 17 year old student at a boarding high school, my writing teacher lent me her copy of "The Metamorphosis" (the Muir translation), which I instantly fell in love with. I immediately bought the Everyman's Library edition of Kafka's Collected Stories, which I believe to be the best collection of Kafka's stories out there. There is a controversial topic over which translator best captures Kafka's intent, this book uses the Muir translation in the first half which I believe, though it may not be as accurate as the Corngold translation, flows better languistically and is easier to read. The book, while visually pleasing, arranges the stories in the most sensible way: instead of placing the stories in alphabetical order, like the other books, it arranges them chronologically in the book they were originally in (e.g. stories that were published in "Meditations" are in the Meditations section and not scattered about). Choice stories include "In the Penal Colony," "Report to an Academy," "The Metamorphosis," and, the most heart-wrenching and simply beautiful, "Josephine the Singer or the Mouse Folk," which was arguably the last story Kafka wrote before his death in 1924. The book also contains a number of unpublished stories (make that 'unfinished,' as unfortunately many break off mid-text, contain a note of 'two pages missing...' and then continue on, leaving the reader a little baffled), which will content those who have read absolutely everything that Kafka published. While it does not contain "The Trial," "The Castle," or "Amerika" (although it has the first chapter, "The Stoker"), it contains, I'm pretty sure, everything else. The book also has a lengthy introduction, but I would advise the reader to first read the book and then the introduction, because the intro alludes to stories in the book and is confusing unless you have read the story that they're talking about. A short literary chronology is also included. This book is well worth the money and I highly recommend it. This is possibly the most beautiful collection of stories I have ever read.

Kafka is truly a great 20th century author and this book, along with "The Trial" are excellent and open to a huge number of interpretations. The bleak urban settings are some of the most memorable aspects. This book has a lot of essays and explanatory notes in the back that present theories about the deeper meaning (though you will want to think about it yourself before you read them). Why exactly the metamorphosis occurred is an issue you can think about. Gregor first seems to ignore the metamorphosis but later associates it with shame. In fact, it may represent some repressed side of him. Gregor's situation is made even worse by his family's failure to support him.

This book is remarkable in that, while so much literature relies on extraordinary events or characters, the only real extraordinary event here is Gregor's unlucky transformation into a beetle. (Note, Kafka never actually says it is a dung beetle.) Everything after that is quite believeable and, while depressing, probably represents what would happen in real life and what does happen in so many people's lives that are never written about. The book manages to be both surrealist and brutally realistic at the same time.

Perhaps the first writer, or at least the first effectivewriter, to express the anxieties and alienation of 20th-century societies, Franz Kafka was born July 3, 1883 in Prague into a middle-class Jewish family. His father -- an ambitious, materialistic tyrant --overshadowed much of Kafka's work as well as his existence. Kafka was a charming, intelligent, and humorous individual, but he found his routine office job and the exhausting double life into which it forced him (for his nights were frequently consumed in writing) to be excruciating torture, and his deeper personal relationships were neurotically disturbed.

First published in 1915, this is the story of Gregor Samsa, a young traveling salesman who lives with and financially supports his parents and younger sister. One morning he wakes up to discover that during the night he has been transformed into a "monstrous vermin" or insect. At first he is preoccupied with practical, everyday concerns: How to get out of bed and walk with his numerous legs? Can he still make it to the office on time?

Soon his abilities, tastes, and interests begin to change. No one can understand his insect-speech. He likes to scurry under the furniture and eat rotten scraps of food. Gregor's family, horrified that Gregor has become an enormous insect, keep him in his bedroom and refuse to interact with him. This is a great short story representing modern man and the modern life... END

I just read this book a few days ago, and it more than worthy of being called a classic. I'm still drawing thoughts as to what the symbolism means. The way I veiw it, Samsa was main source of income on the family, because of the father's aging problems and not being able to work, and is only truely noticed when he isn't working dependably "don't just stay in bed making yourself useless". To his family and to his boss (kafka hated his job and his boss in real life) he was looked at as something as a horse, good only to do work; but horses are still adored and loved by numerous people so that would an inferior symbol as to how samsa's company saw him. Instead of a horse samsa turns into a bug, which can also represent a time in any person's life when they feel that everyone is watching them and judging them.

So by turning all the outside concerns of samsa's (the way people view him and general physical looks) he can focus on his inner self. This is proven by two passages, one when gregor's furniture is taken out and he starts loosing his human identity (further isolating him from society to be alone with his inner slef) and when he reaches for what he wants, not what his boss or parents want, even though he ultimately fails at getting his sister to play her violin to him alone.

As for other reviewers, sebastian and gregory: 1)kafka is not a romantic writer. the deffinition of a romantic is any writers that flees from the present and aviods the facts, be it to the past, the future or some vague fog. Kafka is an existentialist writer, which is not same. When I first saw that metamorphosis got only 4 stars I wanted to search for any bad reviews, and i stopped with gregory's measly 3 star review. First off samsa turns into an insect that is more like a cockaroach than a fly. If your theory that the book's message is that one day you will have to deal with huge changes in your life is correct, then why didn't samsa "deal" with his change? Instead he dies, and that message sounds like, someday you will have huge changes in your life that will kill you if you do nothing about them...eh i don't think so... the meaning behind samsa's death is that death is inevitable, with most stories it ends with something like living happily ever after, but all those characters eventually have to die, which is one of beliefs of existentialism

This was the first novel by Kafka that I read and I wasn't terribly impressed. However, being his lightest novel it was an easy and entertaining read. Amerika is a tale of Karl Rossman, a recent emmigrant to America from Germany and his mis-adventures. Karl gets himself into many precarious situations which were the only real sources of entertainment in the novel. Otherwise all of Kafka's characters are very simple and none are none of them are devloped to satifaction, not even Karl, whom I would consider emotionally flat. Even when presented with pitfalls that would be devastating to most anyone, Karl reacts with little emotion. All the reader sees of Karl is a young man with good morals and motivation to improve his lot in a new and strange country, but we know nothing of Karl's heart and soul. This makes it difficult to get in tune with Karl and consequently the novel as a whole. Still, when reading Amerika you can sense Kafka's potential and Amerika has motivated me to read his more celebrated works such as The Trial and The castle.

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) started writing this novel in 1913 and this, like most of his other work, was published after his death. He never visited America, but reality is not an important factor in his work. Rather, he creates a surreal landscape for his main character, Karl, a 16-year old who has been sent away from his homeland because of an unfortunate relationship with a servant girl. Karl is a victim throughout in a series of improbable adventures, and constantly struggles through a confused labyrinth of streets and buildings and random acts of cruelty and compassion. Always, he is under stress and the choices he makes keep leading to even more preposterous predicaments. I was constantly annoyed with him and yet identified with him as he fumbled through his very uncomfortable life. This is the only Kafka work I've ever read and don't plan on reading any more, even though I can acknowledge his artistry. It's just too disturbing. But I still do recommend this book because it challenged and expanded my perceptions. And I do appreciate the legacy he left to the world.

"Amerika" was the first book by Franz Kafka that I read, and it was definitely a treat.

Poor Karl Rossman, shipped off to America by his parents for having a child with a maid, has his first adventure on the boat in New York's harbor. Helping a stoker who feels he's being treated unfairly, he (Karl) happens to find his Uncle Jacob on the boat. The very Uncle Jacob who was waiting for his arrival!

So it's the cushy life for Karl right? Weeeell, not exactly. It starts out that way but eventually Karl ends up on his own.

"Amerika" has more humor in it than Kafka's other novels and it may have you chuckling and cheering for Karl on his journey. It did me.

What happens to Karl and how exactly does he end up in Oklahoma? You're going to have to read the book to find that out. Oh, and make sure to notice all the "cramped" situations Karl gets stuck in. Very amusing!

Admittedly, Kafka is not an easy read. The Metamorphosis and In the Penal Colony are the two parts of this book I am most familiar with, and I definitely recommend them to interested readers. Both are strangely imaginative stories, sometimes lacking in action, but more than making up for it in depth. I think Kafka's stories are riveting due to the psychological tension he creates, especially in 'Penal Colony'. That particular short story is also an operetta, which I recently saw. To see it acted out is a uniquely disturbing experience. Read on, but brace yourselves.

Said plainly, Kafka was one bizarre man. His Contemplation is not much more than various mental wanderings, but The Metamorphosis and In the Penal Colony make for wonderful short stories. Curl up and read THIS on your dark and stormy night! These are really delicious stories.

I've looked into other translations, and I wasn't pleased ... this one seems far superior. Joachim Neugroschel goes for the most basic, uncluttered, uncomplicated way of interpreting Kafka. One would think that this would make the text thin and anemic, but it really makes all the greater impact: "One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin." Other translations seem to wander, and find larger, more complicated ways of saying "agitated dreams" or "monstrous vermin." Even though I wish I knew German, I find this English translation of a very high quality.

This is a splendid initiation into the warped imagination of Franz Kafka. In one swoop the reader gets the infamous Freudian "Metamorphosis" as well as some of Kafka's other macabre short stories.

Perhaps the best of these is "In the Penal Colony." It reads like Michel Foucault's "Discipline And Punish" on acid. It is almost like a satire on what Hegel liked to refer to as the "slaughterhouse of history." The story is at once terrifying and grotesquely comical.

The rest of the stories are typical Kafka; perverse but fascinating. For those who have a morose fascination with ghastly world of this author's literary fantasy, this is an exceptional book to begin with.