The Metamorphosis and Other Stories , by Franz Kafka , is part of the Barnes & Noble Classicsseries, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:
New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars
Biographies of the authors
Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
Footnotes and endnotes
Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work
Comments by other famous authors
Study questions to challenge the readers viewpoints and expectations
Bibliographies for further reading
Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate
All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each readers understanding of these enduring works.
Virtually unknown during his lifetime, Franz Kafka is now one of the world’s most widely read and discussed authors. His nightmarish novels and short stories have come to symbolize modern man’s anxiety and alienation in a bizarre, hostile, and dehumanized world. This vision is most fully realized in Kafka’s masterpiece, “ The Metamorphosis ,” a story that is both harrowing and amusing, and a landmark of modern literature.
Bringing together some of Kafka’s finest work, this collection demonstrates the richness and variety of the author’s artistry. “ The Judgment ,” which Kafka considered to be his decisive breakthrough, and “ The Stoker ,” which became the first chapter of his novel Amerika , are here included. These two, along with “ The Metamorphosis ,” form a suite of stories Kafka referred to as “The Sons,” and they collectively present a devastating portrait of the modern family.
Also included are “ In the Penal Colony ,” a story of a torture machine and its operators and victims, and “ A Hunger Artist ,” about the absurdity of an artist trying to communicate with a misunderstanding public. Kafka’s lucid, succinct writing chronicles the labyrinthine complexities, the futility-laden horror, and the stifling oppressiveness that permeate his vision of modern life.
Jason Baker is a writer of short stories living in Brooklyn, New York.
It is one of the most memorable first lines in all of literature: "When Gregor Samsa woke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into some kind of monstrous vermin." So begins Kafka's famous short story, The Metamorphosis. Kafka considered publishing it with two of the stories included here in a volume to be called Punishments. The Judgment explores an enigmatic power struggle between a father and son, while In the Penal Colony examines questions of power, justice, punishment, and the meaning of pain in a colonial setting. These three stories are flanked by two very different works. Meditation , the first book Kafka published, consists of light, whimsical, often poignant mood-pictures, while the autobiographical Letter to his Father analyzes his difficult relationship with his father in devastating detail. This new translation by Joyce Crick pays particular attention to the nuances of Kafka's style, and the Introduction and notes by Ritchie Robertson provide guidance to this most enigmatic and rewarding of writers. There is also a Biographical Preface, an up-to-date bibliography, and a chronology of Kafka's life.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Review
aI think of a Kafka story as a perfect work of literary art, as approachable as it is strange, and as strange as it is approachable.a aMichael Hofmann
I think of a Kafka story as a perfect work of literary art, as approachable as it is strange, and as strange as it is approachable. Michael Hofmann
About the Author
Joyce Crick is an award-winning translator who taught at University College London for many years. Ritchie Robertson is Fellow and Tutor in German at St. John's College, Oxford.
Description:
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories , by Franz Kafka , is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:
All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each readers understanding of these enduring works.
Virtually unknown during his lifetime, Franz Kafka is now one of the world’s most widely read and discussed authors. His nightmarish novels and short stories have come to symbolize modern man’s anxiety and alienation in a bizarre, hostile, and dehumanized world. This vision is most fully realized in Kafka’s masterpiece, “ The Metamorphosis ,” a story that is both harrowing and amusing, and a landmark of modern literature.
Bringing together some of Kafka’s finest work, this collection demonstrates the richness and variety of the author’s artistry. “ The Judgment ,” which Kafka considered to be his decisive breakthrough, and “ The Stoker ,” which became the first chapter of his novel Amerika , are here included. These two, along with “ The Metamorphosis ,” form a suite of stories Kafka referred to as “The Sons,” and they collectively present a devastating portrait of the modern family.
Also included are “ In the Penal Colony ,” a story of a torture machine and its operators and victims, and “ A Hunger Artist ,” about the absurdity of an artist trying to communicate with a misunderstanding public. Kafka’s lucid, succinct writing chronicles the labyrinthine complexities, the futility-laden horror, and the stifling oppressiveness that permeate his vision of modern life.
Jason Baker is a writer of short stories living in Brooklyn, New York.
It is one of the most memorable first lines in all of literature: "When Gregor Samsa woke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into some kind of monstrous vermin." So begins Kafka's famous short story, The Metamorphosis. Kafka considered publishing it with two of the stories included here in a volume to be called Punishments. The Judgment explores an enigmatic power struggle between a father and son, while In the Penal Colony examines questions of power, justice, punishment, and the meaning of pain in a colonial setting. These three stories are flanked by two very different works. Meditation , the first book Kafka published, consists of light, whimsical, often poignant mood-pictures, while the autobiographical Letter to his Father analyzes his difficult relationship with his father in devastating detail. This new translation by Joyce Crick pays particular attention to the nuances of Kafka's style, and the Introduction and notes by Ritchie Robertson provide guidance to this most enigmatic and rewarding of writers. There is also a Biographical Preface, an up-to-date bibliography, and a chronology of Kafka's life.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Review
aI think of a Kafka story as a perfect work of literary art, as approachable as it is strange, and as strange as it is approachable.a
aMichael Hofmann
I think of a Kafka story as a perfect work of literary art, as approachable as it is strange, and as strange as it is approachable.
Michael Hofmann
About the Author
Joyce Crick is an award-winning translator who taught at University College London for many years.
Ritchie Robertson is Fellow and Tutor in German at St. John's College, Oxford.