Selection of Kafka's Short Stories (Famous Works, Translated with Illustrations)

Author: Franz Kafka
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Franz Kafka is one of the Western modernist writers familiar and beloved by Chinese readers. During his lifetime, he was almost unknown in the German literary world, but after his death, he attracted widespread attention and became a focal point of intense debates in aesthetics, philosophy, religion, and social concepts. The surname Kafka consists of two powerful initial syllables, sounding as if it could make a resounding impact when pronounced, yet this writer of civil servant background was far from being the tough and resilient figure like Hemingway. In life, he was an undeniable weakling, even though he worked tirelessly in the literary world, he never experienced the joy of success. He died too young. He once said, "On Balzac's cane was inscribed: I crush all obstacles. On my cane was inscribed: All obstacles crush me." These are heartfelt words that truly reflect the bitterness of life. However, there is another layer of meaning in these words—facing the literary maestro who believed he could master everything, he still rolled his eyes at him, revealing a sense of irony. Kafka clearly did not believe that writers could truly grasp the objective world—in the relationship between literature and reality, he had a completely different cognitive path from Balzac. This book collects multiple of Kafka's short and medium-length stories.