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The Complete Novels

Includes The Trial, Amerika and The Castle
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( 466 ratings, 26 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Complete Novels by Franz Kafka offers a collection of Kafka's major works, showcasing his unique blend of surrealism, dark humour, and existential angst. These novels often explore themes of alienation, bureaucracy, and the absurdity of life, featuring characters who grapple with bewildering and often nightmarish situations. Kafka's storytelling weaves a complex interplay between reality and illusion, leaving readers pondering profound philosophical questions.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're intrigued by surreal narratives that explore the intricacies of the human condition. Kafka’s unique style delves into themes of existential anxiety, alienation, and the absurdity of life, offering thought-provoking insights into the complexities of society and self.

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The complete novels of one of the greatest German writers of all time, collected together in one literary masterpiece.

Kafka’s characters are victims of forces beyond their control, estranged and rootless citizens deceived by authoritarian power.

The complete novels of one of the greatest German writers of all time, collected together in one edition

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The Complete Novels of one of the greatest German writers of all time, collected together in one literary masterpiece.

Kafka's characters are victims of forces beyond their control, estranged and rootless citizens deceived by authoritarian power. Filled with claustrophobic description and existential profundity, Kafka has been compared to a literary Woody Allen.

In The Trial, Joseph K is relentlessly hunted for a crime that remains nameless.

The Castle follows K in his ceaseless attempts to enter the castle and to belong somewhere.

In Amerika, Karl Rossmann also finds himself isolated and confused when he is 'packed off to America by his parents'. Here, ordinary immigrants are also strange, and 'America' is never quite as real as it seems.

The classic translation by Willa and Edwin Muir.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Complete Novels by Franz Kafka is highly praised for its profound and imaginative depth. Vladimir Nabokov considered Kafka one of the greatest German writers, placing him above contemporaries like Rilke and Thomas Mann. Bertolt Brecht highlighted Kafka's ability to foresee and depict future societal issues with nightmare-like qualities, showcasing the instability and absolutism of the state alongside the paralysed existence of individuals.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780099518440

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 April 2008

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Vintage Classics

Contributors:

  • Translated by Willa Muir
  • Translated by Edwin Muir
  • Translated by Edwin Muir
  • Translated by Willa Muir
  • Translated by Edwin Muir
  • Translated by Willa Muir

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 31.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 526g

Pages: 768

About the Author

Franz Kafka (Author) Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was born into a Jewish family in Prague. In 1906 he received a doctorate in jurisprudence, and for many years he worked a tedious job as a civil service lawyer investigating claims at the State Worker's Accident Insurance Institute. He never married, and published only a few slim volumes of stories during his lifetime. Meditation, a collection of sketches, appeared in 1912; The Stoker- A Fragment in 1913; Metamorphosis in 1915; The Judgement in 1916; In the Penal Colony in 1919; and A Country Doctor in 1920. The great novels were not published until after his death from tuberculosis- America, The Trial and The Castle. Edwin Muir (Translator) Edwin Muir (1887 - 1959), one of our most distinguished modern poets, was, too, a traveller, translator, critic and novelist, the author of the famed Structure of the Novel and The Marionette. With his wife, Willa Muir, he was the translator of Kafka's The Castle and The Trial. He received the CBE in 1953, and settled in Cambridgeshire, where he continued to write poetry until his death in 1959.

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