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The Complete Novels of Kafka
 
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The Complete Novels of Kafka (Paperback)

by Franz Kafka (Author)
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
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The Complete Novels of Kafka + The Complete Short Stories (Vintage classics) + The Metamorphosis (Dover Thrift)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage Classics (3 April 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099518449
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099518440
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 49,575 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #7 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Kafka, Franz

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Product Description

Product Description

In "America" Karl Rossmann is 'packed off to American by his parents' to experience Oedipal and cultural isolation. Here, ordinary immigrants are also strange, and 'America' is never quite as real as it should be. "Kafka", a Czech writing in German, never acutally visited America; so, as Max Brod commented, 'the innocence of his fantasy gives this book if advanture its peculiar colour.' Both Joseph K in "The Trial" and K in "The Castle" are victims of anonymous governing forces beyond their control. Both are atomised, estranged and rootless citizens decieved by authoritarian power. Whereas Joseph K is relentlessly hunted down for a crime that remains nameless, K ceaselessly attempts to enter the castle and so belong somewhere. Together these novels may be read as powerful allegories of totalitarian government in whatever guise it appears today.


About the 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; The Metamorphosis in 1915; The Judgement in 1916; In the Penal Colony in 1919; and A Country Doctor in 1920. Only a few of his friends knew that Kafka was also at work on the great novels that were published after his death from tuberculosis: America, The Trial, and The Castle.

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Complete Novels of Kafka
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The Complete Novels of Kafka 3.2 out of 5 stars (4)
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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.2 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
4.0 out of 5 stars Lighten up! Kafka is FUNNY!, 5 Oct 2009
By D. E. Pawson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I've always thought that Kafka is poorly served by the support of many of his greatest fans, like D H Lawrence and Joseph Heller.

His work is appreciated by me as dark, ironical - deliberately overdone depictions of neurotics and obsessives : Kafka as a sort of literary Woody Allen, rather than something reaching towards existentialist profundity (in the mode of Camus.)(Yes, I know Woody Allen writes books!)

Perhaps many of his readers would reject my view, but where does the authority of the 'critic' here, who describes his work as 'overrated drivel' come from? At 51, I hesitate to find a remark within my experience for which I have more contempt. His remark is opinion, not criticism (might I suggest Kafka will remain better admired and remembered than he is?) I regret the wasted seconds I spent reading and responding to his 'drivel'.

These books are FUNNY!
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Overrated, 9 Jul 2009
By M. Wardle - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Some nice little inclusions, i.e. Metamorphosis, but on the whole it is just overrated drivel.
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing., 21 Jun 2009
Having readhis Complete Short Stories I thought I'd be in for a treat with this compendium - after all, it's Kafka, but longer, right?

Wrong.

Kafka famously decreed in his will that nothing more of his works should be published, and now I've read this cover to cover I can see why. True - The Trial is a fantastic exploration of claustrophobic description, and America has its own naive charm, but The Castle - at the same time the longest and most convoluted work - is just a mess. I actually found myself wanting to kill the character, as he was at best angry and at worst completely one-sided and passive. This would be all well and good if the events around him were somehow fantastical, but this wasn't to be - it's essentially a novel about a man who tries to talk to the authorities and fails. A number of times. It's not even comical, and the surrealism Kafka's famous for is just completely absent here.

As isolated novels, it's variable - The Trial is certainly worth a read, just for the odd nausea it induces, and America has a curious sort of liberation attached to it and a couple of larger-than-life characters. As a collection, though, it's not worth it - you get half-way through well enough, but the last half of the book (The Castle) is a painful slog, from start to finish.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars great ;)
I bought this book because i didn't read all the novel of Kafka.
The book is great, if you like such type of writing. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Magdalena Kilarska

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