Franz Kafka

'...behind them all was New York, looking at Karl with the hundred thousand windows of its skyscrapers' Entering New York harbour, the young immigrant Karl Rossmann sees the Statue of Liberty, 'her arm with the sword stretched upward'. This forbidding introduction sets the tone for Kafka's narrative about an innocent European astray in an ultra-modern America that is both a fantasy and an object of social satire. Expelled by his family after seduction by a maidservant, Karl finds in America a series of surrogate families, but he continues to get into undeserved trouble and is forced to move on once again. Along the way Karl encounters extremes of wealth and poverty, experiences the cruelty of the American work ethic, and has glimpses of the criminal underworld, without losing the basic goodness and resourcefulness that enable him to survive the hazards of the New World. Full of incident, and blackly humorous, Kafka's first novel portrays American civilization with horrified fascination. This edition retains Kafka's distinctive style in a sensitive and natural new translation, together with a penetrating introduction and notes. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range 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, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

'In recent decades, interest in hunger artists has greatly diminished.' Kafka published two collections of short stories in his lifetime, A Country Doctor: Little Tales (1919) and A Hunger Artist: Four Stories (1924). Both collections are included in their entirety in this edition, which also contains other, uncollected stories and a selection of posthumously published works that have become part of the Kafka canon. Enigmatic, satirical, often bleakly humorous, these stories approach human experience at a tangent: a singing mouse, an ape, an inquisitive dog, and a paranoid burrowing creature are among the protagonists, as well as the professional starvation artist. A patient seems to be dying from a metaphysical wound; the war-horse of Alexander the Great steps aside from history and adopts a quiet profession as a lawyer. Fictional meditations on art and artists, and a series of aphorisms that come close to expressing Kafka's philosophy of life, further explore themes that recur in his major novels. Newly translated, and with an invaluable introduction and notes, Kafka's short stories are haunting and unforgettable. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range 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, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Predlagaem nashemu chitatelju znamenityj roman F. Kafki v naibolee polnoj redaktsii. Imenno v takom vide poslednie dvadtsat let vykhodit etot roman v nemetskikh izdanijakh. V kachestve posleslovija v knigu vkljuchena statja L. Belobratova "Protsess "Protsessa": Frants Kafka i ego roman-fragment".

Hovedverket i denne boken, "I straffekolonien", ble utgitt av Franz Kafka i 1919, og hørte ikke til tekstene han ønsket tilintetgjort. Kafka betraktet de store manuskriptene (Prosessen, Slottet osv.) som en krenkelse av Guds Lov, som var blitt en kjensgjerning for ham mot slutten av hans liv. Der var Guds vilje fremstilt som et spøkelse som foruroliget menneskene ved anklager, forfølgelser og dommer. I "Straffekolonien" - og enkelte av de minste fortellingene - kan leses med Kafkas samtykke. Det er den delen av forfatterskapet som ikke forbryter seg mot Loven. Inneholder: I straffekolonien, Den første fortredelighet, Broen, Fellesskap, Dropp det!, Oppbruddet, Styrmannen, Gribben, Prøven, Naboen, Ved natt, På hjemvei, Slaget på herregårdsporten.

From the author of The Metamorphosis and The Trial and one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, his first--and funniest--novel. Amerika tells the story of the young Karl Rossmann who, after an incident involving a housemaid, is banished by his parents to America. Expected to redeem himself in this magical land of opportunity, young Karl is swept up instead in a whirlwind of dizzying reversals, strange escapades, and picaresque adventures. Kafka began writing what he had entitled Der Verschollene (The Missing Person) in 1912 and wrote the last completed chapter in 1914. But it wasn't until 1927, three years after his death, that Max Brod, Kafka's friend and literary executor, edited the unfinished manuscript and published it as Amerika.

One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that he had been changed into an adorable kitten. Thus begins "The Meowmorphosis" - a bold, startling, and fuzzy-wuzzy new edition of Kafka's classic nightmare tale, from the publishers of "Pride and Prejudice" and "Zombies!" Meet Gregor Samsa, a humble young man who works as a fabric salesman to support his parents and sister. His life goes strangely awry when he wakes up late for work and discovers that, inexplicably, he is now a man-sized baby kitten. His family freaks out: Yes, their son is OMG so cute, but what good is cute when there are bills to pay? And how can Gregor be so selfish as to devote all his attention to a scrap of ribbon? As his new feline identity threatens to eat away at his personality, Gregor desperately tries to survive this bizarre, bewhiskered ordeal by accomplishing the one thing he never could as a man: He must flee his parents' house.