Franz Kafka: Parables and Paradoxes

Franz Kafka: Metamorphosis (1915)

When I was but thirteen or so
I went into a golden land,
Chimborazo, Cotopaxi
Took me by the hand.

- W. J. Turner, "Romance" (1920)

It wasn't quite like that for me. I'd have to rewrite it as follows:

When I was but fourteen or so
I went into a troubled land,
Josef K., Gregor Samsa
Took me by the hand.

That "Romance" poem has always struck me as a bit off, in any case. That idea of the genocidal conquest of the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors acting as a cheap source of thrills for European romantics seems crass, to say the least. Though of course that may be the point that Turner is trying to make:

My father died, my brother too,
They passed like fleeting dreams,
I stood where Popocatapetl
In the sunlight gleams.

Clearly this "great golden dream" is not being endorsed as altogether a good thing.

Franz Kafka: The Castle (1927)

Most people start with The Trial, but in my case it was The Castle which first pulled me into Franz Kafka's sinister and baffling world. I had a mania for being "well-read" in those days, just after advancing to High School. I'd heard the phrase somewhere and was not yet canny enough to know what a fata morgana such an ambition could be. In any case, I read on the back of the Penguin edition pictured above that it was widely considered one of the most important modern novels, so that was enough for me.

Some things in it were immediately recognisable. The idea of being constantly, insidiously thwarted in everything you set out to do: that was familiar enough as a simple description of my everyday life as the last in line of four children - not to mention the youngest in my class at school. Other details of the book's background would not start to resonate with me until I finally visited Prague, many years later. I hadn't realised the extent to which the Castle there literally dominates the whole city.

Boris Stroujko: Prague Castle (1927)

It looks picturesque enough in the tourist photo above, but on a midwinter morning it can seem as grim and threatening as any Transylvanian peak. And of course 'the Castle' has always been shorthand there for the government, just as 'the Beehive' is for us. For a young Jewish man belonging to one of the subject races of the profoundly anti-semitic Austro-Hungarian Empire, seeing it glowering down on you can hardly have been a happy experience.

But there remains something mysterious and unknowable about Kafka's genius. Many writers before and since have expressed themselves in this fable-like, hyper-real manner, but there's a unique gravity and inevitability to the situations he creates. Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, Primo Levi - all have been influenced by Kafka, but none have surpassed him. Stories such as "Metamorphosis," "In the Penal Settlement," or (my favourite) "The Burrow" continue to speak to us more than a century after he wrote them.

Max Brod (1884-1968)

Though the situation isn't really as simple as that. The facts of his life have become, in their own way, as emblematic as his fiction. The story, after all, is a famous one. He died from tuberculosis at the age of 40, and left all his writings, both published and unpublished, to his friend and fellow-writer Max Brod, with the following request:

Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread.

It depends on your own point of view on these matters whether it makes him a hero or a villain, but Brod ignored these instructions, and printed not only the three incomplete novels Kafka had been working on for so long, but also a mass of unpublished stories, letters, and other material.

Edwin Muir: An Autobiography (1954)

Posterity could be said to have vindicated Max Brod. Kafka's work has never been out of print from that day to this, and he would make any list of the top ten twentieth-century German writers with ease. Possibly his greatest influence has been exerted abroad, in translation, however.

Kafka had the good fortune to fall into the hands of one of Scotland's finest modern poets, Orkneyman Edwin Muir, and his wife Willa Muir (née Anderson), who gradually translated the three novels - The Castle (1930), The Trial (1937), and America (1938) - as well as most of the canonical stories - The Great Wall of China and Other Pieces (1933), and The Metamorphosis (1935) - into clear and elegant English prose.

Nigel McIsaac: Willa Anderson, Mrs Edwin Muir, 1890-1970 (1944)

There's no doubt that Willa was the superior linguist and the senior partner in the enterprise. Here's her own description of how it went, from her memoir Belonging (1968):

We divided the book in two, Edwin translated one half and I the other, then we went over each other's translations as with a fine-tooth comb.

Elsewhere in her journals, she clarified that he "only helped."

One can't help feeling that something in the lives and backgrounds of these two Scots in exile contributed to their instinctive understanding of Kafka. Though born in Montrose, on the mainland, Willa Anderson's parents were both born in the Shetlands, and she grew up speaking Shetland dialect as well as English.

Kirkwall, Orkney (2015)

Edwin, too, born in the Orkney islands, grew up speaking the Orcadian variant of Scots before being forced to move to Glasgow when he was fourteen. All of his work was dominated by this contrast between the 'Eden' of his earliest experiences, and the grimness and despair of life in an industrial slum.

Kafka, too, though Czech by birth, wrote only in literary German. His position as an outsider to the language in which he was forced to express himself can find parallels not only in the experience of the Muirs and other Scots writers, but also in that of Irish writers such as James Joyce and John Synge.

Franz Kafka: The Trial (1925)

It's become rather fashionable to denounce the work of these two pioneers, working (as they did) from inadequate texts, with insufficient information, in favour of the more scholarly efforts of later translators. Here's the first sentence of The Trial in the Muirs' 1937 translation:

Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.

Franz Kafka: The Trial: Definitive Edition (1956)

What was my surprise, on purchasing the (so-called) 1956 "definitive" edition of the novel, "revised, with additional chapter and notes, by Professor E. M. Butler," to find that this sentence had been recast as follows:

Someone must have traduced Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning.

"Traduced"! Of all the clumsy, latinate words one could possibly have selected! The simple expressiveness of that "telling lies about" is ruined, along with the entire rhythm of the sentence, out of pure pedantry. So much for Professor Butler as a prose stylist ...

But wait a second, you may interject at this point, what did Kafka actually say? The original opening sentence reads as follows:

Jemand Mußte Josef K. verleumdet haben, denn ohne daß er etwas Böses getan hätte, wurde er eines Morgens verhaftet.

A literal translation of this would read more or less as follow:

Somebody must Josef K. have slandered, because without that he anything wicked had done, was he one morning arrested.

Or, in more normal English:

Somebody must have slandered Josef K., because he was arrested one morning without having done anything bad.

Even "slandered" is better than that word "traduced" - but what's wrong with "telling lies about"? It's far more expressive, and brings the whole sentence to life.

Franz Kafka: The Trial: A New Translation Based on the Restored Text (1998)

The whole subject is discussed at length by Breon Mitchell, whose translation of The Trial was published in 1998. He's worried that both the Muirs and Butler fail to allow for the uncertain nature of that statement of Josef K.'s innocence. Their smoothing out of "getan hätte," a subjunctive tense, in his view renders too absolute the claim that he'd done no wrong. Mitchell's own version reads as follows:

Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested.

"Truly wrong"! Not only is this a clumsy expression, but it also swings the pendulum too far in the opposite direction. Now we're being set up to regard Josef K. with a certain suspicion - thus obscuring the generally accepted point of Kafka's book.

Willa Muir: Imagined Corners (1931)

The Muirs were fascinating people, and they were already accomplished writers before turning to translation as a means of making extra income. Both wrote fiction, and memoirs, and they had a clear sense of just how a novel should work. You can't retain all the possible niggles of meaning in your own head, let alone in a phrase from a foreign language, when you're setting the tone for an entire narrative with your opening sentence.

Perhaps Breon Mitchell is right. I'm sure he knows far more about the German subjunctive - and the complex state of Kafka's texts - than I ever will. But he clearly doesn't know much about writing good English prose. His own sentence is clumsy, ill-balanced, and contains too many subordinate clauses. It's more use as a crib than as a translation.

It's interesting, too, how little this quibble over tenses seems to have influenced the other five or six translators who've made their own complete versions of The Trial. Were they all wrong? Or is it just a way of justifying monkeying around further with one of the most famous opening sentences in modern literature?

I'm sure that there are many things that require revision in these early translations, especially given the extra materials which have since been unearthed, and the inexorable succession of newly edited critical editions so beloved of German scholars (each new one requiring a new English translation, naturally).

Edwin Muir: Selected Poems (1965)

But don't criticise Edwin and Willa Muir for a lack of style. They'll run rings around you unless you, too, are in the habit of publishing original literary works on a regular basis. There are things you learn when constructing your own poems and stories which come as a great help when you're trying to make a translated author sound natural and idiomatic in a new linguistic matrix.

At least there's a certain fixity to these three novels, however. There are, unequivocally, three of them. Nor have the 'extra chapters' and 'abandoned drafts' which have been soldered more or less awkwardly into Brod's original versions from time to time altered the main lines of each of the narratives.

Franz Kafka: The Man Who Disappeared (1998)

There have, admittedly, been a few irritating attempts to alter the title of America (or Amerika, if you prefer) to some variation on its alternative name Der Verschollene [The Man Who Disappeared]. This culminated in Michael Hofmann's 1996 translation entitled The Man Who Disappeared (Amerika). Honestly, who cares?

The real issue for completists such as myself is the short stories. Or the sketches and short stories. Or the short stories, sketches, and parables. How many are there? How are they to be defined? Which editions have which of them? Are any of the various collections of them to date actually "complete"? What is a story - in Kafkaesque terms - anyway?

The whole thing started inoccuously enough. In his lifetime Kafka published three small collections of stories - or sketches - or parables. They are as follows (you can find complete, bilingual lists of their contents in the bibliography below):

Franz Kafka: Betrachtung (1912 [1913])



1. Betrachtung [Contemplation]. Leipzig: Rowohlt Verlag, 1912 [or, rather, printed at the end of 1912, but with a title page listing it as "1913," hence the use of both dates in different bibliographies]. A collection of 18 stories.


Franz Kafka: Ein Landarzt (1919)



2. Ein Landarzt [A Country Doctor]. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff, 1919. A collection of 14 stories.


Franz Kafka: Ein Hungerkünstler (1924)



3. Ein Hungerkünstler [A Hunger Artist]. Leipzig: Verlag Die Schmiede 1924. A collection of four stories, prepared for publication by Kafka, but published a few months after his death.

He also published the following stories, some of his most famous among them, in periodicals here and there:

1. Das Urteil [The Judgment] (1913)
2. Die Verwandlung [The Metamorphosis] (1915)
3. Der Heizer [The Stoker] (1913) [Included in Amerika (1927)]
4. In der Strafkolonie [In the Penal Colony] (1919)

You can find all of these "authorised" stories collected conveniently in the following volume:

Stories 1904-1924. Trans. J. A. Underwood. Foreword by Jorge Luis Borges. 1981. A Futura Book. London: Macdonald & Co, 1983.

After that, however, things get a bit more complicated. Max Brod found a great many stories among Kafka's papers, some of which he published in the volume Beim Bau der chinesischen Mauer [The Great Wall of China] in 1931. The Muirs translated it in 1933.

Franz Kafka: The Great Wall of China and Other Pieces (1933)

Successive attempts to publish the remainder of the stories resulted in a number of overlapping collections in English over the next couple of decades. Here's a selection of the major ones - three in the Secker & Warburg "definitive edition", and three similar but not identical collections in the Penguin Classics:

Franz Kafka: In the Penal Settlement (1949)



1. In the Penal Settlement: Tales and Short Prose Works. Definitive Edition. 1935. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir. London: Secker & Warburg, 1949.


Franz Kafka: Wedding Preparations in the Country (1953)



2. Wedding Preparations in the Country and Other Posthumous Prose Writings: Definitive Edition. 1953. Trans. Ernst Kaiser & Eithne Wilkins. London: Secker & Warburg, 1954.


Franz Kafka: Description of a Struggle and The Great Wall of China (1958)



3. Description of a Struggle and The Great Wall of China: Definitive Edition. 1933. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir and Tania & James Stern. 1958. London: Secker & Warburg, 1960.


Franz Kafka: Metamorphosis and Other Stories (1974)



4. Metamorphosis and Other Stories. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir. 1933 & 1958. Penguin Modern Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974.


Franz Kafka: Wedding Preparations in the Country and Other Stories (1978)



5. Wedding Preparations in the Country and Other Stories. Trans. Ernst Kaiser & Eithne Wilkins. 1953. Penguin Modern Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978.


Franz Kafka: Description of a Struggle and Other Stories (1979)



6. Description of a Struggle and Other Stories. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir, Malcolm Pasley, Tania & James Stern. 1973. Penguin Modern Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.

Between them, these two sets of three volumes contain virtually everything publishable from Kafka's Nachlaß, or literary remains.

The situation in the USA is quite different, however. There the diffusion of Kafka's short stories is dominated by two books, both compiled and edited by Nahum Glatzer. They are:

Franz Kafka: Parables and Paradoxes (1961)



1. Parables and Paradoxes (Parabeln und Paradoxe). Ed. Nahum N. Glatzer. Trans. Clement Greenberg; Ernst Kaiser & Eithne Wilkins; Willa & Edwin Muir; Tania and James Stern. New York: Schocken Books, 1961.


Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories (1971)



2. The Complete Stories. Ed. Nahum N. Glatzer. New York: Schocken Books, 1971.

Between them, these two books contain virtually everything in Kafka's literary remains which could possibly be regarded as a 'story', including pieces taken from novel drafts, diaries, and other miscellaneous sources.

In the following list (cribbed mainly from the Wikipedia page devoted to Franz Kafka's Bibliography) you can see the inclusiveness of Glatzer's two collections:

[bold = included in Complete Stories (1971) /
underlined = included in Parables and Paradoxes (1961)]


1. Betrachtung [Contemplation] (1912)
   1. Kinder auf der Landstraße [Children on a Country Road]
   2. Die Bäume [The Trees]
   3. Kleider [Clothes]
   4. Der Ausflug ins Gebirge [Excursion into the Mountains]
   5. Die Abweisung [Rejection]
   6. Das Gassenfenster [The Street Window]
   7. Der Kaufmann [The Tradesman]
   8. Zerstreutes Hinausschaun [Absent-minded Window-gazing]
   9. Der Nachhauseweg [The Way Home]
   10. Die Vorüberlaufenden [Passers-by]
   11. Der Fahrgast [On the Tram]
   12. Zum Nachdenken für Herrenreiter [Reflections for Gentlemen-Jockeys]
   13. Wunsch, Indianer zu werden [The Wish to be a Red Indian]
   14. Unglücklichsein [Unhappiness]
   15. Das Unglück des Junggesellen [Bachelor's Ill Luck]
   16. Entlarvung eines Bauernfängers [Unmasking a Confidence Trickster]
   17. Der plötzliche Spaziergang [The Sudden Walk]
   18. Entschlüsse [Resolutions]


2. Ein Landarzt [A Country Doctor] (1919)
   1. Der neue Advokat [The New Advocate]
   2. Ein Landarzt [A Country Doctor]
   3. Auf der Galerie [Up in the Gallery]
   4. Ein altes Blatt [An Old Manuscript]
   5. Vor dem Gesetz [Before the Law]
   6. Schakale und Araber [Jackals and Arabs]
   7. Ein Besuch im Bergwerk [A Visit to a Mine]
   8. Das nächste Dorf [The Next Village]
   9. Eine kaiserliche Botschaft [A Message from the Emperor]
   10. Die Sorge des Hausvaters [The Cares of a Family Man]
   11. Elf Söhne [Eleven Sons]
   12. Der Mord / Ein Brudermord [A Fratricide]
   13. Ein Traum [A Dream]
   14. Ein Bericht für eine Akademie [A Report to an Academy]


3. Miscellaneous:
   1. Der Unredliche in seinem Herzen [Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart] (1902) [Included in Letters to Friends, Family & Editors (1959)]
   2. Beschreibung eines Kampfes [Description of a Struggle] (1909)
      1. Gespräch mit dem Beter [Conversation with the Supplicant]
      2. Gespräch mit dem Betrunkenen [Conversation with the Drunk]
   3. Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande [Wedding Preparations in the Country] (1907-1908)
   4. Das Urteil [The Judgment] (1913)
   5. Die Verwandlung [The Metamorphosis] (1915)
   6. Der Heizer [The Stoker] (1913) [In Amerika (1927)]
   7. In der Strafkolonie [In the Penal Colony] (1919)
   8. Der Dorfschullehrer / Der Riesenmaulwurf [The Village Schoolmaster / The Giant Mole] (1915)
   9. Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle [Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor] (1913)
   10. Der Gruftwächter [The Warden of the Tomb] (1916-17)
   11. Der Jäger Gracchus [The Hunter Gracchus] (1917)
   12. Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer [The Great Wall of China] (1917)
   13. Die Abweisung [The Refusal] (1920)
   14. Ein Hungerkünstler [A Hunger Artist] (1922)
   15. Forschungen eines Hundes [Investigations of a Dog] (1922)
   16. Eine kleine Frau [A Little Woman] (1924)
   17. Der Bau [The Burrow] (1931)
   18. Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse [Josephine the Singer, or The Mouse Folk] (1924)
   19. Die Brücke [The Bridge]
   20. Der Kübelreiter [The Bucket Rider] (1917)
   21. Der Schlag ans Hoftor [The Knock at the Manor Gate]
   22. Der Nachbar [My Neighbour] (1917)
   23. Eine Kreuzung [A Crossbreed]
   24. Eine alltägliche Verwirrung [A Common Confusion]
   25. Die Wahrheit über Sancho Pansa [The Truth about Sancho Panza]
   26. Das Schweigen der Sirenen [The Silence of the Sirens]
   27. Prometheus [Prometheus] (1917-23)
   28. Das Stadtwappen [The City Coat of Arms]
   29. Poseidon [Poseidon] (1920)
   30. Gemeinschaft [Fellowship]
   31. Nachts [At Night]
   32. Zur Frage der Gesetze [The Problem of Our Laws]
   33. Die Truppenaushebung [The Conscription of Troops]
   34. Die Prüfung [The Test]
   35. Der Geier [The Vulture]
   36. Der Steuermann [The Helmsman]
   37. Der Kreisel [The Top]
   38. Kleine Fabel [A Little Fable]
   39. Heimkehr [Home-Coming]
   40. Erstes Leid [First Sorrow] (1921-22)
   41. Der Aufbruch [The Departure] (1920-21)
   42. Fürsprecher [Advocates] (1922)
   43. Das Ehepaar [The Married Couple] (1922)
   44. Gibs auf! [Give It Up!]
   45. Von den Gleichnissen [On Parables]
   46. Der Kaiser von Peking [Peking and the Emperor]
   47. Die Chinesische Mauer und der Turmbau von Babel [The Great Wall and the Tower of Babel]
   48. Das Paradies [Paradise]
   49. Der Turm zu Babel [The Tower of Babel]
   50. Der Schacht von Babel [The Pit of Babel]
   51. Abraham [Abraham]
   52. Der Berg Sinai [Mount Sinai]
   53. Der Tempelbau [The Building of the Temple]
   54. Das Tier in der Synagoge [The Animal in the Synagogue]
   55. Der Wächter [The Watchman]
   56. Das Kommen des Messias [The Coming of the Messiah]
   57. Die Sirenen [The Sirens]
   58. Leoparden in Tempel [Leopards in the Temple]
   59. Alexander der Grosse [Alexander the Great]
   60. Diogenes [Diogenes]
   61. Der Bau einer Stadt [The Building of a City]
   62. Der Kaiserliche Oberst [The Imperial Colonel]
   63. Der Kaiser [The Emperor]
   64. In der Karawanserei [In the Caravansary]
   65. Die Zelle [The Cell]
   66. Die Erfindung des Teufels [The Invention of the Devil]
   67. Die Wilden [The Savages]
   68. Der Grüne Drache [The Green Dragon]
   69. Der Tiger [The Tiger]
   70. Kuriere [Couriers]
   71. Ein Geduldspiel [A Chinese Puzzle]
   72. Robinson Crusoe [Robinson Crusoe]
   73. Die Quelle [The Spring]
   74. Die Unersättlichsten [The Hunger Strike]
   75. Das Ziel [My Destination]




Franz Kafka: The Lost Writings, trans. Michael Hofmann (2020)


No doubt volumes such as the above - with its tantalising promise of "seventy-four pieces ... lost to sight for decades ... two of them [never] translated into English before," will continue to appear.

However, if you just want to read Kafka but have been unsure where to start - and you should: Kafka's shorter work is a revelation! - I'd advise either trying to obtain the two Nahum Glatzer edited collections mentioned above, or else the three readily available Penguin Classics compilations.

Unless you're lucky enough to be able to read German, that is, in which case you could probably content yourself with this:




Franz Kafka: Sämtliche Erzählungen (1970)




•


Franz Kafka (1923)

Franz Kafka
(1883-1924)



Novels:


1. The Trial. ['Der Prozess', 1925]. Trans. Willa and Edwin Muir (1937). In The Trial / America / The Castle / Metamorphosis / In the Penal Settlement / The Great Wall of China / Investigations of a Dog / Letter to His Father / The Diaries 1910-1923. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir et al. London: Secker & Warburg / Octopus, 1976.
   • The Trial: Definitive Edition. 1925. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir. 1937. Rev. E. M. Butler. 1956. London: Secker & Warburg, 1963.
   • The Trial. 1925. Trans. Douglas Scott & Chris Waller. Introduction by J. P. Stern. 1977. London: Picador, 1980.


2. The Castle. ['Das Schloss', 1926]. Trans. Willa and Edwin Muir (1930). In The Trial / America / The Castle / Metamorphosis / In the Penal Settlement / The Great Wall of China / Investigations of a Dog / Letter to His Father / The Diaries 1910-1923. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir et al. London: Secker & Warburg / Octopus, 1976.
   • The Castle: Definitive Edition. 1926. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir. 1930. Rev. Eithne Wilkins & Ernst Kaiser. 1953. London: Secker & Warburg, 1961.


3. America. ['Amerika oder Der Verschollene', 1927]. Trans. Willa and Edwin Muir (1938). In The Trial / America / The Castle / Metamorphosis / In the Penal Settlement / The Great Wall of China / Investigations of a Dog / Letter to His Father / The Diaries 1910-1923. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir et al. London: Secker & Warburg / Octopus, 1976.
   • Amerika: Roman. 1935. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1985.
   • America: Definitive Edition. 1927. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir. 1938. Rev. ed. London: Secker & Warburg, 1949.
   • The Man Who Disappeared (Amerika). 1927. Trans. Michael Hofmann. Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1996.

Collections:


4. Sämtliche Erzählungen. Ed. Paul Raabe. 1970. Hamburg: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1983.
   I. Die vom Autor veröffentlichten Bücher
   1. Betrachtung (1913)
      1. Kinder auf der Landstraße
      2. Entlarvung eines Bauernfängers
      3. Der plötzliche Spaziergang
      4. Entschlüsse
      5. Der Ausflug ins Gebirge
      6. Das Unglück des Junggesellen
      7. Der Kaufmann
      8. Zerstreutes Hinausschaun
      9. Der Nachhauseweg
      10. Die Vorüberlaufenden
      11. Der Fahrgast
      12. Kleider
      13. Die Abweisung
      14. Zum Nachdenken für Herrenreiter
      15. Das Gassenfenster
      16. Wunsch, Indianer zu werden
      17. Die Bäume
      18. Unglücklichsein
   2. Das Urteil (1913)
   3. Der Heizer (1913)
   4. Die Verwandlung (1915)
   5. In der Strafkolonie (1919)
   6. Ein Landarzt (1919)
      1. Der neue Advokat
      2. Ein Landarzt
      3. Auf der Galerie
      4. Ein altes Blatt
      5. Vor dem Gesetz
      6. Schakale und Araber
      7. Ein Besuch im Bergwerk
      8. Das nächste Dorf
      9. Eine kaiserliche Botschaft
      10. Die Sorge des Hausvaters
      11. Elf Söhne
      12. Ein Brudermord
      13. Ein Traum
      14. Ein Bericht für eine Akademie
   7. Ein Hungerkünstler (1924)
      1. Erstes Leid
      2. Eine kleine Frau
      3. Ein Hungerkünstler
      4. Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse
   II. Zerstreut veröffentlichte, nicht von Kafka in Bücher aufgenommene Erzählungen
   8. Gespräch mit dem Beter
   9. Gespräch mit dem Betrunkenen
   10. Großer Lärm
   11. Der Kübelreiter
   III. Die Erzählungen aus dem Nachlaß
   12. Beschreibung eines Kampfes
   13. Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande
   14. Der Dorfschullehrer
   15. Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle
   16. Die Brücke
   17. Der Jäger Gracchus
   18. Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
   19. Der Schlag ans Hoftor
   20. Der Nachbar
   21. Eine Kreuzung
   22. Eine alltägliche Verwirrung
   23. Die Wahrheit über Sancho Pansa
   24. Das Schweigen der Sirenen
   25. Prometheus
   26. Das Stadtwappen
   27. Poseidon
   28. Gemeinschaft
   29. Nachts
   30. Die Abweisung
   31. Zur Frage der Gesetze
   32. Die Truppenaushebung
   33. Die Prüfung
   34. Der Geier
   35. Der Steuermann
   36. Der Kreisel
   37. Kleine Fabel
   38. Heimkehr
   39. Der Aufbruch
   40. Fürsprecher
   41. Forschungen eines Hundes
   42. Das Ehepaar
   43. Gibs auf!
   44. Von den Gleichnissen
   45. Der Bau


5. The Great Wall of China and Other Pieces. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir. 1933. Rev. ed. London: Secker & Warburg, 1946.
   Longer Stories:
   1. Investigations of a Dog [Forschungen eines Hundes]
   2. The Burrow [Der Bau]
   3. The Great Wall of China [Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer]
   4. The Giant Mole [Der Riesenmaulwurf]
   Shorter Stories and Fables:
   5. The Hunter Gracchus [Der Jäger Gracchus]
   6. The Married Couple [Das Ehepaar]
   7. My Neighbour [Der Nachbar]
   8. A Common Confusion [Eine alltägliche Verwirrung]
   9. The Bridge [Die Brücke]
   10. The Bucket Rider [Der Kübelreiter]
   11. A Crossbreed [Eine Kreuzung]
   12. The Knock at the Manor Gate [Der Schlag ans Hoftor]
   13. The City Coat of Arms [Das Stadtwappen]
   14. The Silence of the Sirens [Das Schweigen der Sirenen]
   15. Prometheus [Prometheus]
   16. The Truth about Sancho Panza [Die Wahrheit über Sancho Pansa]
   17. The Problem of Our Laws [Zur Frage der Gesetze]
   18. On Parables [Von den Gleichnissen]
   19. A Little Fable [Kleine Fabel]
   Aphorisms:
   20. "He"
   21. Reflections on Sin, Pain, Hope and the True Way [Betrachtungen über Sünde, Hoffnung, Leid und den wahren Weg]


6. The Metamorphosis / Die Verwandlung. 1935. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir. 1968. New York: Schocken Books, 1974.


7. In the Penal Settlement: Tales and Short Prose Works. Definitive Edition. 1935. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir. London: Secker & Warburg, 1949.
   1. Two Dialogues (From a work later destroyed: 'Description of a Struggle' [Beschreibung eines Kampfes])
      1. Conversation with the Suppliant [Gespräch mit dem Beter]
      2. Conversation with the Drunken Man [Gespräch mit dem Betrunkenen]
   2. Meditation [Betrachtung]
      1. Children on a Country Road [Kinder auf der Landstraße]
      2. Unmasking a Confidence Trickster [Entlarvung eines Bauernfängers]
      3. The Sudden Walk [Der plötzliche Spaziergang]
      4. Resolutions [Entschlüsse]
      5. Excursion into the Mountains [Der Ausflug ins Gebirge]
      6. Bachelor's Ill Luck [Das Unglück des Junggesellen]
      7. The Tradesman [Der Kaufmann]
      8. Absent-minded Window-gazing [Zerstreutes Hinausschaun]
      9. The Way Home [Der Nachhauseweg]
      10. Passers-by [Die Vorüberlaufenden]
      11. On the Tram [Der Fahrgast]
      12. Clothes [Kleider]
      13. Rejection [Die Abweisung]
      14. Reflections for Gentlemen Jockeys [Zum Nachdenken für Herrenreiter]
      15. The Street Window [Das Gassenfenster]
      16. The Wish to be a Red Indian [Wunsch, Indianer zu werden]
      17. The Trees [Die Bäume]
      18. Unhappiness [Unglücklichsein]
   3. The Judgement [Das Urteil]
   4. The Transformation [Die Verwandlung]
   5. A Country Doctor [Ein Landarzt]
      1. The New Advocate [Der neue Advokat]
      2. A Country Doctor [Ein Landarzt]
      3. Up in the Gallery [Auf der Galerie]
      4. An Old Manuscript [Ein altes Blatt]
      5. Before the Law [Vor dem Gesetz]
      6. Jackals and Arabs [Schakale und Araber]
      7. A Visit to a Mine [Ein Besuch im Bergwerk]
      8. The Next Village [Das nächste Dorf]
      9. A Message from the Emperor [Eine kaiserliche Botschaft]
      10. Troubles of a Householder [Die Sorge des Hausvaters]
      11. Eleven Sons [Elf Söhne]
      12. A Brother's Murder [Ein Brudermord]
      13. A Dream [Ein Traum]
      14. A Report to an Academy [Ein Bericht für eine Akademie]
   6. In the Penal Settlement [In der Strafkolonie]
   7. A Hunger Artist [Ein Hungerkünstler]
      1. First Sorrow [Erstes Leid]
      2. A Little Woman [Eine kleine Frau]
      3. A Fasting Showman [Ein Hungerkünstler]
      4. Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse-folk [Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse]
   Appendix:
   8. First Chapter of the Book Richard and Samuel, by Max Brod and Franz Kafka
      1. Foreword [Vorwort]
      2. The First Long Train Journey [Die erste lange Eisenbahnfahrt]
   9. Epilogue (Publisher's Note)


8. Wedding Preparations in the Country and Other Posthumous Prose Writings: Definitive Edition. 1953. Trans. Ernst Kaiser & Eithne Wilkins. London: Secker & Warburg, 1954.
   1. Wedding Preparations in the Country [Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande]
   2. Reflections on Sin, Pain, Hope and the True Way [Betrachtungen über Sünde, Hoffnung, Leid und den wahren Weg]
   3. The Eight Octavo Notebooks [Oxforder Oktavhefte]
   4. Letter to His Father [Brief an den Vater]
   5. Fragments from Note-books and Loose Pages
   6. Paralipomena


9. Description of a Struggle and The Great Wall of China: Definitive Edition. 1933. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir and Tania & James Stern. 1958. London: Secker & Warburg, 1960.
   1. Introduction by Edwin Muir to The Great Wall of China
   2. Description of a Struggle [Beschreibung eines Kampfes]
   3. The Great Wall of China [Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer]
   4. The Refusal [Die Abweisung]
   5. The Problem of Our Laws [Zur Frage der Gesetze]
   6. The City Coat of Arms [Das Stadtwappen]
   7. On Parables [Von den Gleichnissen]
   8. Poseidon [Poseidon]
   9. The Hunter Gracchus [Der Jäger Gracchus]
   10. The Knock at the Manor Gate [Der Schlag ans Hoftor]
   11. A Crossbreed [Eine Kreuzung]
   12. The Bridge [Die Brücke]
   13. The Vulture [Der Geier]
   14. The Departure [Der Aufbruch]
   15. Give it Up! [Gibs auf!]
   16. At Night [Nachts]
   17. The Helmsman [Der Steuermann]
   18. The Top [Der Kreisel]
   19. A Little Fable [Kleine Fabel]
   20. The Bucket Rider [Der Kübelreiter]
   21. The Married Couple [Das Ehepaar]
   22. My Neighbour [Der Nachbar]
   23. The Test [Die Prüfung]
   24. Advocates [Fürsprecher]
   25. Home-coming [Heimkehr]
   26. Fellowship [Gemeinschaft]
   27. Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor [Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle]
   28. The Burrow [Der Bau]
   29. The Giant Mole [Der Riesenmaulwurf]
   30. Investigations of a Dog [Forschungen eines Hundes]
   31. "He"
   32. The Warden of the Tomb [Der Gruftwächter]
   33. Fragments of 'A Report to an Academy' [Ein Bericht für eine Akademie]
   34. Fragment of 'The Great Wall of China' [Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer]
   35. The Conscription of Troops [Die Truppenaushebung]
   36. Fragment of 'The Hunter Gracchus' [Der Jäger Gracchus]
   37. Postscript by Max Brod to the German Edition


10. Metamorphosis and Other Stories. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir. 1933 & 1958. Penguin Modern Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974.
    1. Metamorphosis [Die Verwandlung]
    2. The Great Wall of China [Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer]
    3. Investigations of a Dog [Forschungen eines Hundes]
    4. The Burrow [Der Bau]
    5. In the Penal Settlement [In der Strafkolonie]
    6. The Giant Mole [Der Riesenmaulwurf]


11. Wedding Preparations in the Country and Other Stories. Trans. Ernst Kaiser & Eithne Wilkins. 1953. Penguin Modern Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978.
    1. Wedding Preparations in the Country [Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande]
    2. Letter to His Father [Brief an den Vater]
    3. Two Dialogues (From a work later destroyed: 'Description of a Struggle' [Beschreibung eines Kampfes])
       1. Conversation with the Suppliant [Gespräch mit dem Beter]
       2. Conversation with the Drunken Man [Gespräch mit dem Betrunkenen]
    4. Meditation [Betrachtung]
       1. Children on a Country Road [Kinder auf der Landstraße]
       2. Unmasking a Confidence Trickster [Entlarvung eines Bauernfängers]
       3. The Sudden Walk [Der plötzliche Spaziergang]
       4. Resolutions [Entschlüsse]
       5. Excursion into the Mountains [Der Ausflug ins Gebirge]
       6. Bachelor's Ill Luck [Das Unglück des Junggesellen]
       7. The Tradesman [Der Kaufmann]
       8. Absent-minded Window-gazing [Zerstreutes Hinausschaun]
       9. The Way Home [Der Nachhauseweg]
       10. Passers-by [Die Vorüberlaufenden]
       11. On the Tram [Der Fahrgast]
       12. Clothes [Kleider]
       13. Rejection [Die Abweisung]
       14. Reflections for Gentlemen Jockeys [Zum Nachdenken für Herrenreiter]
       15. The Street Window [Das Gassenfenster]
       16. The Wish to be a Red Indian [Wunsch, Indianer zu werden]
       17. The Trees [Die Bäume]
       18. Unhappiness [Unglücklichsein]
    5. The Judgement [Das Urteil]
    6. A Country Doctor [Ein Landarzt]
       1. The New Advocate [Der neue Advokat]
       2. A Country Doctor [Ein Landarzt]
       3. Up in the Gallery [Auf der Galerie]
       4. An Old Manuscript [Ein altes Blatt]
       5. Before the Law [Vor dem Gesetz]
       6. Jackals and Arabs [Schakale und Araber]
       7. A Visit to a Mine [Ein Besuch im Bergwerk]
       8. The Next Village [Das nächste Dorf]
       9. A Message from the Emperor [Eine kaiserliche Botschaft]
       10. Troubles of a Householder [Die Sorge des Hausvaters]
       11. Eleven Sons [Elf Söhne]
       12. A Brother's Murder [Ein Brudermord]
       13. A Dream [Ein Traum]
       14. A Report to an Academy [Ein Bericht für eine Akademie]
    7. A Hunger Artist [Ein Hungerkünstler]
       1. First Sorrow [Erstes Leid]
       2. A Little Woman [Eine kleine Frau]
       3. A Fasting Showman [Ein Hungerkünstler]
       4. Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse-folk [Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse]


12. Description of a Struggle and Other Stories. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir, Malcolm Pasley, Tania & James Stern. 1973. Penguin Modern Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.
    1. Description of a Struggle [Beschreibung eines Kampfes]
    2. Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor [Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle]
    3. The Warden of the Tomb [Der Gruftwächter]
    4. The Bridge [Die Brücke]
    5. The Hunter Gracchus [Der Jäger Gracchus]
    6. Fragments of 'A Report to an Academy' [Ein Bericht für eine Akademie]
    7. The Bucket Rider [Der Kübelreiter]
    8. The Knock at the Manor Gate [Der Schlag ans Hoftor]
    9. My Neighbour [Der Nachbar]
    10. A Crossbreed [Eine Kreuzung]
    11. An Everyday Occurrence [Eine alltägliche Verwirrung]
    12. The Truth about Sancho Panza [Die Wahrheit über Sancho Pansa]
    13. The Silence of the Sirens [Das Schweigen der Sirenen]
    14. Prometheus [Prometheus]
    15. The City Coat of Arms [Das Stadtwappen]
    16. Poseidon [Poseidon]
    17. Fellowship [Gemeinschaft]
    18. At Night [Nachts]
    19. The Refusal [Die Abweisung]
    20. The Problem of Our Laws [Zur Frage der Gesetze]
    21. The Conscription of Troops [Die Truppenaushebung]
    22. The Test [Die Prüfung]
    23. The Vulture [Der Geier]
    24. The Helmsman [Der Steuermann]
    25. The Top [Der Kreisel]
    26. A Little Fable [Kleine Fabel]
    27. Homecoming [Heimkehr]
    28. The Departure [Der Aufbruch]
    29. Advocates [Fürsprecher]
    30. The Married Couple [Das Ehepaar]
    31. A Comment [Gibs auf!]
    32. On Parables [Von den Gleichnissen]


13. Parables and Paradoxes (Parabeln und Paradoxe). Trans. Clement Greenberg; Ernst Kaiser & Eithne Wilkins; Willa & Edwin Muir; Tania and James Stern . Ed. Nahum N. Glatzer. New York: Schocken Books, 1961.
    1. On Parables
    I
    2. An Imperial Message
    3. Peking and the Emperor
    4. The News of the Building of the Wall: a Fragment
    5. The Great wall and the Tower of Babel
    II
    6. Paradise
    7. The Tower of Babel
    8. The Pit of Babel
    9. The City Coat of Arms
    10. Abraham
    11. Mount Sinai
    12. The Building of the Temple
    13. The Animal in the Synagogue
    14. Before the Law
    15. The Watchman
    16. The Coming of the Messiah
    III
    17. Prometheus
    18. Poseidon
    19. The Silence of the Sirens
    20. The Sirens
    21. Leopards in the Temple
    22. Alexander the Great
    23. Diogenes
    24. The New Attorney
    IV
    25. The Building of a City
    26. The Imperial Colonel
    27. The Emperor
    28. In the Caravansary
    29. The Cell
    30. The Invention of the Devil
    31. The Savages
    32. The Hunter Gracchus + Fragment
    33. The Vulture
    34. The Green Dragon
    35. The Tiger
    36. The Problem of Our Laws
    37. The Refusal
    38. Couriers
    39. A Chinese Puzzle
    40. The Truth about Sancho Panza
    41. The Test
    42. Robinson Crusoe
    43. The Spring
    44. The Hunger Strike
    45. My Destination


14. The Complete Stories. Ed. Nahum N. Glatzer. 1971. New York: Schocken Books, 1976.
    Two Introductory Parables:
    1. Before the Law [from The Trial]
    2. An Imperial Message [from "The Great Wall of China"]
    The Longer Stories:
    3. Description of a Struggle
    4. Wedding Preparations in the Country
    5. The Judgment
    6. The Metamorphosis
    7. In the Penal Colony
    8. The Village Schoolmaster (The Giant Mole)
    9. Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor
    10. The Warden of the Tomb
    11. A Country Doctor
    12. The Hunter Gracchus + fragment
    13. The Great Wall of China + fragment
    14. A Report to an Academy + two fragments
    15. The Refusal
    16. A Hunger Artist
    17. Investigations of a Dog
    18. A Little Woman
    19. The Burrow
    20. Josephine the Singer, or The Mouse Folk
    The Shorter Stories:
    21. Children on a Country Road
    22. The Trees
    23. Clothes
    24. Excursion into the Mountains
    25. The Rejection
    26. The Street Window
    27. The Tradesman
    28. Absent-minded Window-gazing
    29. The Way Home
    30. Passers-by
    31. On the Tram
    32. Reflections for Gentlemen-Jockeys
    33. The Wish to be a Red Indian
    34. Unhappiness
    35. Bachelor's Ill Luck
    36. Unmasking a Confidence Trickster
    37. The Sudden Walk
    38. Resolutions
    39. A Dream
    40. Up in the Gallery
    41. A Fratricide
    42. The Next Village
    43. A Visit to a Mine
    44. Jackals and Arabs
    45. The Bridge
    46. The Bucket Rider
    47. The New Advocate
    48. An Old Manuscript
    49. The Knock at the Manor Gate
    50. Eleven Sons
    51. My Neighbor
    52. A Crossbreed
    53. The Cares of a Family Man
    54. A Common Confusion
    55. The Truth about Sancho Panza
    56. The Silence of the Sirens
    57. Prometheus
    58. The City Coat of Arms
    59. Poseidon
    60. Fellowship
    61. At Night
    62. The Problem of Our Laws
    63. The Conscription of Troops
    64. The Test
    65. The Vulture
    66. The Helmsman
    67. The Top
    68. A Little Fable
    69. Home-Coming
    70. First Sorrow
    71. The Departure
    72. Advocates
    73. The Married Couple
    74. Give it Up!
    75. On Parables
    Postscript, by Nahum N. Glatzer


15. Stories 1904-1924. Trans. J. A. Underwood. Foreword by Jorge Luis Borges. 1981. A Futura Book. London: Macdonald & Co, 1983.
    1. Looking to See [Betrachtung]
       1. Children in the lane [Kinder auf der Landstraße]
       2. Unmasking a confidence trickster [Entlarvung eines Bauernfängers]
       3. The spur-of-the-moment stroll [Der plötzliche Spaziergang]
       4. Decisions [Entschlüsse]
       5. The excursion into the mountains [Der Ausflug ins Gebirge]
       6. The bachelor's lot [Das Unglück des Junggesellen]
       7. The businessman [Der Kaufmann]
       8. Wool-gathering at the window [Zerstreutes Hinausschaun]
       9. The way home [Der Nachhauseweg]
       10. Passers-by [Die Vorüberlaufenden]
       11. The passenger [Der Fahrgast]
       12. Dresses [Kleider]
       13. The rebuff [Die Abweisung]
       14. For jockeys to ponder [Zum Nachdenken für Herrenreiter]
       15. The window on the street [Das Gassenfenster]
       16. Wanting to be a Red Indian [Wunsch, Indianer zu werden]
       17. The trees [Die Bäume]
       18. Unhappiness [Unglücklichsein]
    2. The Judgement [Das Urteil]
    3. The Stoker [Der Heizer]
    4. The Metamorphosis [Die Verwandlung]
    5. In the Penal Colony [In der Strafkolonie]
    6. A Country Doctor [Ein Landarzt]
       1. The new attorney [Der neue Advokat]
       2. A country doctor [Ein Landarzt]
       3. In the gallery [Auf der Galerie]
       4. A leaf from the past [Ein altes Blatt]
       5. At the door of the law [Vor dem Gesetz]
       6. Jackals and Arabs [Schakale und Araber]
       7. A mine visit [Ein Besuch im Bergwerk]
       8. The next village [Das nächste Dorf]
       9. A message from the emperor [Eine kaiserliche Botschaft]
       10. The householder's concern [Die Sorge des Hausvaters]
       11. Eleven sons [Elf Söhne]
       12. A case of fratricide [Ein Brudermord]
       13. A dream [Ein Traum]
       14. A report for an academy [Ein Bericht für eine Akademie]
    7. A Fasting-Artist [Ein Hungerkünstler]
       1. First sorrow [Erstes Leid]
       2. A little woman [Eine kleine Frau]
       3. A fasting-artist [Ein Hungerkünstler]
       4. Josephine the singer, or The mouse people [Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse]


16. Metamorphosis and Other Stories. Trans. Michael Hoffman. Modern Classics. London: Penguin, 2007.
    1. Contemplation [Betrachtung] (1913)
       1. Children on the Road [Kinder auf der Landstraße]
       2. Unmasking a Confidence Trickster [Entlarvung eines Bauernfängers]
       3. The Sudden Walk [Der plötzliche Spaziergang]
       4. Resolutions [Entschlüsse]
       5. The Excursion into the Mountains [Der Ausflug ins Gebirge]
       6. The Plight of the Bachelor [Das Unglück des Junggesellen]
       7. The Businessman [Der Kaufmann]
       8. Looking out Distractedly [Zerstreutes Hinausschaun]
       9. The Way Home [Der Nachhauseweg]
       10. The Men Running Past [Die Vorüberlaufenden]
       11. The Passenger [Der Fahrgast]
       12. Dresses [Kleider]
       13. The Rejection [Die Abweisung]
       14. For the Consideration of Amateur Jockeys [Zum Nachdenken für Herrenreiter]
       15. The Window on to the Street [Das Gassenfenster]
       16. Desire to be a Red Indian [Wunsch, Indianer zu werden]
       17. The Trees [Die Bäume]
       18. Being Unhappy [Unglücklichsein]
    2. The Judgement: A Story for F. [Das Urteil] (1913)
    3. The Stoker: A Fragment [Der Heizer] (1913)
    4. Metamorphosis [Die Verwandlung] (1913)
    5. In the Penal Colony [In der Strafkolonie] (1919)
    6. A Country Doctor: Short Prose for my Father [Ein Landarzt] (2020)
       1. The New Advocate [Der neue Advokat]
       2. A Country Doctor [Ein Landarzt]
       3. In the Gallery [Auf der Galerie]
       4. An Old Journal [Ein altes Blatt]
       5. Before the Law [Vor dem Gesetz]
       6. Jackals and Arabs [Schakale und Araber]
       7. A Visit to the Mine [Ein Besuch im Bergwerk]
       8. The Neighbouring Village [Das nächste Dorf]
       9. A Message from the Emperor [Eine kaiserliche Botschaft]
       10. The Worries of a Head of Household [Die Sorge des Hausvaters]
       11. Eleven Sons [Elf Söhne]
       12. A Fratricide [Ein Brudermord]
       13. A Dream [Ein Traum]
       14. A Report to an Academy [Ein Bericht für eine Akademie]
    7. A Hunger-Artist: Four Stories [Ein Hungerkünstler] (1924)
       1. First Sorrow [Erstes Leid]
       2. A Little Woman [Eine kleine Frau]
       3. A Hunger-Artist [Ein Hungerkünstler]
       4. Josefine, the Singer, or The Mouse People [Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse]
    8. Appendix
       1. Aeroplanes in Brescia [Die Aeroplane in Brescia] (1909)
       2. Great Noise [Großer Lärm] (1912)
       3. The Coal-Scuttle Rider [Der Kübelreiter] (1921)


17. Abandoned Fragments: The Unedited Works of Franz Kafka, 1897-1917. ["Nachgelassene Schriften und Fragmente", Vol. 1 of 2, 1992]. Trans. Ida Pfitzner. USA: Sun Vision Press, 2012.


18. Investigations of a Dog & Other Creatures. Trans. Michael Hofmann. New York: New Directions Press, 2017.


19. The Lost Writings. ["Nachgelassene Schriften und Fragmente", 2 vols, 1992-93]. Ed. Reiner Stach. Trans. Michael Hoffman. A New Directions Paperbook. New York: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2020.

Essays:


20. Die Aeroplane in Brescia [Aeroplanes in Brescia] (1909)
21. [with Max Brod] Die erste lange Eisenbahnfahrt [The First Long Train Journey] (1912)
22. Eine entschlafene Zeitschrift [Review of Hyperion]
23. Ein Roman der Jugend: Felix Sternheim, Die Geschichte des jungen Oswald [Review of A Novel about Youth]
24. Über Kleist's Anekdoten [On Kleist's "Anecdotes"]


25. Franz Kafka: The Office Writings. Ed. & Trans. Eric Patton & Ruth Hein. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008.

Diaries:


26. "Reflections on Sin, Pain, Hope and the True Way." ['Die Zürauer Aphorismen' oder 'Betrachtungen über Sünde, Hoffnung, Leid und den wahren Weg', 1931]. In The Great Wall of China and Other Pieces. Trans. Willa & Edwin Muir. 1933. Rev. ed. London: Secker & Warburg, 1946. 142-59.
    • The Zürau Aphorisms. Ed. Roberto Calasso. London: Harvill Secker, 2014.


27. The Diaries of Franz Kafka: 1910-23. ['Tagebücher 1910–1923', ed. Max Brod, 1948]. Trans. Joseph Kresh and Martin Greenberg with Hannah Arendt. 2 vols. 1948 & 1949. Peregrine Books. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1964.


28. "The Eight Octavo Notebooks." ['Oxforder Oktavhefte', 1953]. In Wedding Preparations in the Country and Other Posthumous Prose Writings: Definitive Edition. 1953. Trans. Ernst Kaiser & Eithne Wilkins. London: Secker & Warburg, 1954. 54-156.

Letters:


29. Letters to Milena. ['Briefe an Milena', ed. Willy Haas, 1952]. Trans. Tania & James Stern. 1953. London: Corgi Books, 1967.


30. Letter to His Father. ['Brief an den Vater', 1953]. Trans. Ernst Kaiser & Eithne Wilkins (1954). In Wedding Preparations in the Country and Other Posthumous Prose Writings: Definitive Edition. 1953. Trans. Ernst Kaiser & Eithne Wilkins. London: Secker & Warburg, 1954. 157-217.


31. Letters to Friends, Family and Editors. ['Briefe 1902–1924', 1959]. Trans. Richard & Clara Winston. 1977. Richmond, Surrey: Alma Classics Ltd., 2014.


32. Letters to Felice. ['Briefe an Felice und andere Korrespondenz aus der Verlobungszeit, ed. Erich Heller & Jürgen Born, 1967]. Trans. James Stern & Elizabeth Duckworth. 1973. With Elias Canetti: Kafka’s Other Trial. 1969. Trans. Christopher Middleton. 1974. Penguin Modern Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978.


33. Letters to Ottla and the Family. ['Briefe an Ottla und die Familie', 1974]. Trans. Robert Boettcher (1982)


34. I Am a Memory Come Alive: Autobiographical Writings. Ed. Nahum N. Glatzer. 1974. New York: Schocken Books Inc., 1977.

Secondary:


35. Brod, Max. Franz Kafka: A Biography. 1937. Trans. G. Humphreys Roberts. 1947. Rev. Richard Winston. 1960. New York: Schocken Books, 1973.


36. Janousch, Gustav. Conversations with Kafka. 1953. Rev. ed. 1968. Trans. Goronwy Rees. New York: New Directions, 1971.


37. Hayman, Ronald. K: A Biography Of Kafka. 1981. An Abacus Book. London: Sphere Books, 1983.


38. Pawel, Ernst. The Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka. 1984. London: Collins Harvill, 1988.


39. Calasso, Roberto. K. 2002. Trans. Geoffrey Brock. Jonathan Cape. London: Random House, 2005.



•

'I Am Lost Without My Boswell'

Sir Joshua Reynolds: James Boswell of Auchinleck (1785)

The 1944 poem "Reading in Wartime" by Scottish poet (and pioneering translator of Kafka) Edwin Muir begins with the lines: "Boswell by my bed, / Tolstoy on my table":

Boswell's turbulent friend
And his deafening verbal strife,
Ivan Ilych's death
Tell me more about life,
The meaning and the end
Of our familiar breath,
Both being personal,
Than all the carnage can,
Retrieve the shape of man,
Lost and anonymous,
Tell me wherever I look
That not one soul can die
Of this or any clan
Who is not one of us
And has a personal tie
Perhaps to someone now
Searching an ancient book,
Folk-tale or country song
In many and many a tongue,
To find the original face,
The individual soul,
The eye, the lip, the brow
For ever gone from their place,
And gather an image whole.

If I understand him correctly, he seems to be saying that no-one can really die - no-one, that is, who leaves behind some kind of memory with the living.

If that is the case, then it's hard to imagine anyone who's left behind a more comprehensive record of himself than James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (1740-1795).

Sir Joshua Reynolds: Samuel Johnson (1775)

Most important of all, of course, is his massive (and still well worth reading) Life of Samuel Johnson (1791). But it's worth remembering that he was known in his lifetime as 'Corsica Boswell,' for his account of that little-known island in the throes of its struggle for freedom against the Genoese.

James Boswell: Journal of a Tour to Corsica; and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli (1768)

Here's a short list of his works (or most of the ones published in his lifetime, at any rate):

1. Boswell, James. Journal of a Tour to Corsica; and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli. 1768. Ed. Morchard Bishop. London: Williams & Norgate Ltd., 1951.


2. Boswell, James. Boswell’s Column: Being his Seventy Contributions to the London Magazine under the pseudonym The Hypochondriack from 1777 to 1783 Here First printed In Book Form in England. Ed. Margery Bailey. London: William Kimber, 1951.


3. Boswell, James. The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson. 1785. Introduction by T. C. Livingstone. Collins Classics. London & Glasgow: Collins, 1955.


4. Johnson, Dr. Samuel & James Boswell. Johnson’s Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland & Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson LL.D. 1775 & 1785. Ed. R. W. Chapman. 1924. London: Oxford University Press, 1970.


5. Boswell, James, Esq. The Life of Samuel Johnson, L.L.D. 1791. Introduction by Herbert Askwith. The Modern Library of the World’s Best Books. New York: Random House Inc., n.d.


6. Boswell, James. Boswell’s Life of Johnson. 1791. Ed. R. W. Chapman. Oxford Standard Authors. 1904. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege / Oxford University Press, 1953.

Johnson & Boswell: Journey to the Western Islands & A Tour to the Hebrides (1775 & 1785)

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George Willison: James Boswell in Rome (1765)

Funnily enough, the real story started long after his death. After a memorable slagging off by Macaulay, Boswell's stock sank pretty low during most of the nineteenth century. He was seen as a kind of glorified shorthand reporter, whose sole claim to fame was that he happened to be present during some memorable events.

His undoubted skill in submerging himself in the moment worked very much against him, strangely enough. People continued to read the Life of Johnson, but Boswell's part in creating it was depreciated to the point of invisibility: as if a great book could somehow come into being despite its author.

It was thought, also, that the extensive archives of letters and journals he drew on to create the book had all perished in a 'fire in Scotland.' A few attempts were made to investigate this, but the family rebuffed them for various reasons - mostly to do with the very complicated state of their finances, partially due to the early deaths of both of Boswell's sons: James of illness, and Alexander, his direct heir, in a duel.

David Buchanan: The Treasure of Auchinleck (1974)

Until, that is, Colonel Isham came to tea. The tea party in question was in Malahide Castle near Dublin, the home of the direct heir to the line of Auchinleck, the time the 1920s, and the result of this fishing expedition by a well-connected American book collector forms the subject of two books: David Buchanan's The Treasure of Auchinleck (which focusses principally on Isham's fascinating thirty-year quest to unite the Boswell papers), and Frederick A. Pottle's more general history of the whole strange saga, Pride and Negligence.

Frederick A. Pottle: Pride and Negligence (1981)

The story is too complicated to summarise here, but suffice it to say that the papers spread over houses in two different countries, in attics and haylofts and cabinets in old dusty rooms, were eventually united - after various vexatious law-suits - at Yale University, whence they've been issuing in a steady stream ever since.

The jewel in the crown of all these efforts was undoubtedly Boswell's incomparable journal, kept on and off for four decades, and now published (not quite in full) with extensive annotations and commentary in a series of 13 volumes:

Frederick A. Pottle, ed.: Boswell's London Journal (1950)

1. Boswell, James. Boswell’s London Journal, 1762-1763. As First Published in 1950 from the Original Mss. Ed. Frederick A. Pottle. 1950. London: The Reprint Society, 1952.


2. Boswell, James. Boswell in Holland, 1763-1764: Including His Correspondence with Belle de Zuylen (Zélide). Ed. Frederick A. Pottle. Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell (Trade Editions, 2). London: William Heinemann, 1952.


3. Boswell, James. Boswell on the Grand Tour: Germany and Switzerland, 1764. Ed. Frederick A. Pottle. Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell (Trade Editions, 4). London: William Heinemann, 1953.


4. Boswell, James. Boswell on the Grand Tour: Italy, Corsica, and France, 1765-1766. Ed. Frank Brady & Frederick A. Pottle. Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell (Trade Editions, 5). London: William Heinemann, 1955.


5. Boswell, James. Boswell in Search of a Wife, 1766-1769. Ed. Frank Brady & Frederick A. Pottle. 1957. London: The Reprint Society, 1958.


6. Boswell, James. Boswell for the Defence, 1769-1774. Ed. William K. Wimsatt & Frederick A. Pottle. Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell (Trade Editions, 7). London: William Heinemann, 1959.


7. Boswell, James. Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, 1773. Ed. Frederick A. Pottle & Charles H. Bennett. Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell (Trade Editions, 8). London: William Heinemann, 1963.


8. Boswell, James. Boswell: The Ominous Years, 1774-1776. Ed. Charles Ryskamp & Frederick A. Pottle. Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell (Trade Editions, 9). London: William Heinemann, 1963.


9. Boswell, James. Boswell in Extremes, 1776–1778. Ed. Charles McC. Weis & Frederick A. Pottle. Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell (Trade Editions, 10). New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1970.


10. Boswell, James. Boswell: Laird of Auchinleck, 1778-1782. Ed. Joseph W. Reed & Frederick A. Pottle. Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell (Trade Editions, 11). New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1977.


11. Boswell, James. Boswell: The Applause of the Jury, 1782-1785. Ed. Irma S. Lustig & Frederick A. Pottle. Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell (Trade Editions, 12). New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1981.


12. Boswell, James. Boswell: The English Experiment, 1785-1789. Ed. Irma S. Lustig & Frederick A. Pottle. Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell (Trade Editions, 13). New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1986.


13. Boswell, James. Boswell: The Great Biographer, 1789-1795. Ed. Marlies K. Danziger & Frank Brady. Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell (Trade Editions, 14). New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1989.

Marlies K. Danziger & Frank Brady, ed.: Boswell: The Great Biographer (1989)

The first of the volumes, Boswell's London Journal (1762-63), which records his famous meeting with Dr. Johnson ('I come from Scotland, but I cannot help it'), was a publishing sensation. Appearing when it did, in buttoned-up 1950, its revelations of Boswell's whoring ways among the street women and courtesans of the metropolis, certainly made it seem like a saucy, rollicking read.

With the best will in the world, the subsequent volumes could not really keep up this reputation, and by the time the series finished in 1989, its British publishers had given up on it entirely, and only MCgraw-Hill in America was prepared to keep on issuing it faithfully. All of which is a bit of a pity, because Boswell's skill as an autobiographer certainly didn't lessen over the years.

What other pieces of Boswelliana ought one to mention? Well, there's the fascinating (and previously unknown) collection of biographical sketches of his friends by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which was found among Boswell's papers, and therefore formed part of the Yale edition of his writings (there are actually two editions: one for the general reader, and another - far more expensive and slow to appear - of critical editions of all the papers in the collection):

1. Reynolds, Sir Joshua. Portraits: Character Sketches of Oliver Goldsmith, Samuel Johnson, and David Garrick, together with other Manuscripts of Reynolds Recently Discovered among the Private Papers of James Boswell and now first published. Ed. Frederick W. Hilles Bodman. Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell (Trade Editions, 3). London: William Heinemann, 1952.


2. Boswell, James. Boswell’s Book of Bad Verse (A Verse Self-Portrait), or ‘Love Poems and Other Verses.’ Ed. Jack Werner. London: White Lion Publishers Limited, 1974.

Then there's the collection (above) of Boswell's poetry, for the really keen.

The standard biography is in two parts, the first by Frederick A. Pottle, the second by his long-time collaborator on the papers, Frank Brady. Adam Sisman's book, below, gives a good, succinct account of the complex process of composition which led to Boswell's immortal biography.

1. Pottle, Frederick A. James Boswell: The Earlier Years, 1740-1769. London: Heinemann, 1966.


2. Brady, Frank. James Boswell: The Later Years, 1769-1795. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1984.


3. Sisman, Adam. Boswell’s Presumptuous Task. 2000. London: Penguin, 2001.

So next time anyone solemnly informs you that Boswell was a good writer by accident rather than by design, or that it was somehow easy to compile the greatest biography in the English language, tell them they're full of it. That pompous old windbag Macaulay (as so often) was dead wrong on that one.

Boswell's long journal, together with his lifetime's crop of letters, constitute one of the most entertaining reads you'll ever come across, as well as being an incomparable source of information on just about everything to do with British - and Continental - culture in the late eighteenth century.

Thomas Rowlandson: The High Street in Edinburgh (1786)