The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...

 is a compilation of all Kafka's short stories. With the exception of Kafka's three novels (The Trial

The Trial

The Trial is a novel by Franz Kafka, first published in 1925. One of Kafka's best-known works, it tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor the reader.Like Kafka's other novels, The Trial was never...

, The Castle and Amerika

Amerika (Kafka novel)

Amerika, also known as Der Verschollene or The Man Who Disappeared, is the incomplete first novel of author Franz Kafka, published posthumously in 1927...

), this collection includes all of Kafka's narrative work. The book was originally edited by Nahum N. Glatzer

Nahum Norbert Glatzer

Nahum Norbert Glatzer was a noted Jewish-American literary scholar, theologian, and editor.Glatzer was born in Lemberg, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire . In 1914 his family abandoned Lemberg in the face of the advancing Russian army and arrived in Bodenbach, Bohemia, in 1915...

 and published by Schocken Books

Schocken Books

Schocken Books is a publishing company that was established in Berlin with a publishing office in Prague in 1931 by the Schocken Department Store owner Salman Schocken. It published the writings of Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Franz Kafka and S. Y...

 in 1971. It was reprinted in 1995 with an introduction by John Updike

John Updike

John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....

.

The collection includes all the works published during Kafka's lifetime, with the exception of The Stoker

The Stoker

"The Stoker" is a short story by Franz Kafka. Kafka intended to include the story as the first chapter in a novel he did not complete; the novel was posthumously published under the title Amerika.-Plot :...

which is usually incorporated as the first chapter of his unfinished novel Amerika. Some of the stories included in the book are fragmented or in various states of incompletion. Most of the stories are translated by Willa and Edwin Muir

Edwin Muir

Edwin Muir was an Orcadian poet, novelist and translator born on a farm in Deerness on the Orkney Islands. He was remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry in plain language with few stylistic preoccupations....

, with occasional translations by Tania and James Stern

James Stern

James Stern Anglo-Irish writer of short stories and non-fiction.The son of a British cavalry officer of Jewish descent and an Anglo-Irish Protestant mother, Stern was born in County Meath, Ireland. After working in Southern Rhodesia as a young man, he worked for his family's bank in London and...

.

Several fables, parables and philosophical pieces are not included in this collection, as they were never meant to be independent stories or never intended for publication. These can be found in Kafka's diaries

Franz Kafka's Diaries

Franz Kafka's Diaries, written in German language between 1910-1923, include casual observations, details of daily life, reflections on philosophical ideas, accounts of dreams, and ideas for stories...

, notebooks

The Blue Octavo Notebooks

The Blue Octavo Notebooks is a series of eight notebooks written by Franz Kafka from late 1917 until June 1919. The name was given to them by Max Brod, Kafka's literary executor, to differentiate them from the regular quarto-sized notebooks Kafka used as diaries...

 and letters.

Two Introductory Parables

• "Before the Law
  Before the Law
  "Before the Law" is a parable in the novel The Trial , by Franz Kafka. "Before the Law" was published in Kafka's lifetime, while The Trial was not published until after Kafka's death.-"Before the Law":...
  
  " from the ninth chapter of the novel The Trial
• "An Imperial Message" from the short story "The Great Wall of China"

The Longer Stories

• Description of a Struggle
  Description of a Struggle
  "Description of a Struggle" is a short story by Franz Kafka.-Origins:"Description of a Struggle" is one of Kafka's earliest stories that was not destroyed and is usually the earliest included in collections of his work...
  
  
• Wedding Preparations in the Country
  Wedding Preparations in the Country
  Wedding Preparations in the Country is an incomplete work by Franz Kafka which depicts in great detail the journey of the groom, Raban, travelling to the country to meet his future wife, Betty...
  
  
• The Judgment
  The Judgment
  "The Judgment" is a short story written by Franz Kafka in 1912. It is about the relationship between a man and his father.-Plot summary:...
  
  
• The Metamorphosis
  The Metamorphosis
  The Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It is often cited as one of the seminal works of short fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the western world...
  
  
• In the Penal Colony
• The Village Schoolmaster (The Giant Mole)
• Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor
  Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor
  Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor is an incomplete story by Franz Kafka. Probably written in the beginning of 1915, it first appeared in Beschreibung eines Kampfes . It relates part of the life of Blumfeld, an elderly bachelor, who upon arriving home finds two balls bouncing off the ground of their...
  
  
• The Warden of the Tomb
  The Warden of the Tomb
  The Warden of the Tomb is an expressionist play by Franz Kafka. Written in the winter of 1916-1917, it was published for the first time in Description of a Struggle.-Characters:...
  
  
• A Country Doctor

• The Hunter Gracchus
  The Hunter Gracchus
  The Hunter Gracchus is a short story written by Franz Kafka.The story presents a death boat carrying the long dead Hunter Gracchus as it arrives at a port. The Burgomaster of Riva enters the boat and inside he meets Gracchus who gives him an account of his death while hunting and how he is...
  
  + fragment
• The Great Wall of China
  The Great Wall of China (short story)
  The Great Wall of China is a short story written by Franz Kafka in 1917. It was not published until 1931, seven years after his death. Contained within the story is a paragraph that was separately published as A Message from the Emperor...
  
  + fragment
• A Report to an Academy
  A Report to an Academy
  A Report to an Academy" is a short story by Franz Kafka, written and published in 1917. In the story, an ape named Red Peter, who has learned to behave like a human, presents to an academy the story of how he effected his transformation...
  
  + two fragments
• The Refusal
  The Refusal
  The Refusal is a short story by Franz Kafka. Written in the autumn of 1920, it was not published in Kafka's lifetime.The story involves the narration of a young boy living in a small town that is fairly distanced from its capital...
  
  
• A Hunger Artist
  A Hunger Artist
  "A Hunger Artist" , also translated as "A Fasting Artist" and "A Starvation Artist", is a short story by Franz Kafka published in Die Neue Rundschau in 1922. The story was also included in the collection A Hunger Artist published by Verlag Die Schmiede soon after Kafka's death...
  
  
• Investigations of a Dog
  Investigations of a Dog
  "Investigations of a Dog" is a short story by Franz Kafka written in 1922 and published posthumously in 1931. Told from the perspective of a dog, the story concerns the nature and limits of knowledge, by way of the dog's inquiries into the practices of his culture."Investigations of a Dog" was...
  
  
• A Little Woman
  A Little Woman
  "A Little Woman" is a short story by Franz Kafka written between December 1923 and the end of January 1924. It was first published in the Easter supplement of Prager Tagblatt on 20 April 1924...
  
  
• The Burrow
  The Burrow (short story)
  The Burrow is an unfinished short story by Franz Kafka in which a mole-like being burrows through an elaborate system of tunnels it has built over the course of its life....
  
  
• Josephine the Singer, or The Mouse Folk
  Josephine the Singer
  Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk is the last short story written by Franz Kafka. It primarily details a community and its relationship to a renowned singer named Josephine...
  
  

The Shorter Stories

• Children on a Country Road
• The Trees
• Clothes
• Excursion into the Mountains
• Rejection
• The Street Window
• The Tradesman
• Absent-minded Window-gazing
• The Way Home
• Passers-by
• On the Tram
• Reflections for Gentlemen-Jockeys
• The Wish to be a Red Indian
• Unhappiness
• Bachelor's Ill Luck
• Unmasking a Confidence Trickster
• The Sudden Walk
• Resolutions
• A Dream
• Up in the Gallery
  Up in the Gallery
  Up in the Gallery is a short piece of fiction by Franz Kafka.The piece contains a narrative where a circus performer is riding around in the middle of the rink...
  
  
• A Fratricide
  A Fratricide
  "A Fratricide" is a short story by Franz Kafka written between December 1916 and January 1917. It is one of Kafka's most realistically descriptive and graphically violent stories which tells the story of a murderer, Schmar, and his victim, Wese...
  
  
• The Next Village
  The Next Village
  "The Next Village" is a short story by Franz Kafka written between 1917 and 1923. The story presents a grandfather's comment that life is too short even to get to the neighbouring village.-References:...
  
  
• A Visit to a Mine
  A Visit to a Mine
  A Visit to a Mine is a short story written by Franz Kafka. The story told by a narrator who works planning the drilling of a mine. It opens with orders from above to the workers around the mine. He details the elaborate rank and file system amongst the workers. There are ten engineers total, and...
  
  
• Jackals and Arabs
  Jackals and Arabs
  "Jackals and Arabs" is a short story by Franz Kafka, written and published in 1917. The story was first published by Martin Buber in the German monthly Der Jude. It appeared again in a 1919 collection titled A Country Doctor .-Plot:A European traveler from the North, accompanied by Arab guides,...
  
  
• The Bridge
• The Bucket Rider
  The Bucket Rider
  The Bucket Rider is a story fragment by Franz Kafka. Written in 1921, the story is about a man looking for coal to fill his bucket. He is a poor man and hopes that the coaldealer will be generous enough to loan him some coal. He claims he'll pay the man back later...
  
  
• The New Advocate
  The New Advocate
  The New Advocate is a short story by Franz Kafka. It is a very brief piece, but bears importance because it illustrates Kafka's view on lawyers. A firm has hired a new associate, Bucephalos...
  
  
• An Old Manuscript
  An Old Manuscript
  "An Old Manuscript" , alternatively translated as "An Old Leaf", is a short story by Franz Kafka. It was originally written in 1919 in German.-Plot summary :...
  
  

• The Knock at the Manor Gate
  The Knock at the Manor Gate
  The Knock at the Manor Gate is a short story by Franz Kafka. The short story--one of many pieces of what is now considered flash fiction--illustrates many important themes in Kafka's works. The narrator details a ride with his sister on the way towards home. His sister playfully knocks on the door...
  
  
• Eleven Sons
  Eleven Sons
  Eleven Sons is a short story by Franz Kafka.The story begins with a father's declaration: "I have eleven sons." He then goes on to describe each one of them in detail. Kafka told Max Brod: "The eleven sons are quite simply eleven stories I am working on this very moment." The story was written...
  
  
• My Neighbor
• A Crossbreed
• The Cares of a Family Man
  The Cares of a Family Man
  "The Cares of a Family Man" is a short story by Franz Kafka which deals mostly with a small creature called Odradek. The creature has drawn the attention of many philosophers and literary critics, who have all attempted to interpret its meaning. The story was written between 1914 and 1917. In 1919...
  
  
• A Common Confusion
  A Common Confusion
  A Common Confusion is a short story by Franz Kafka. The story details transactions between A and B. A meets B at H and comes home pleased with the events. Following this, he meets B again but only after a delay to the very same H he arrived at successfully previously. B is not there. To add insult...
  
  
• The Truth about Sancho Panza
  The Truth about Sancho Panza
  The Truth about Sancho Panza is a short story by Franz Kafka. As much a parable as a story, the short piece centers on the role of Sancho Panza, a principal character in Don Quixote. The narrator theorizes that Panza was in fact a well of tales, lore and wisdom, as well as having a particular demon...
  
  
• The Silence of the Sirens
  The Silence of the Sirens
  The Silence of the Sirens is a short story by Franz Kafka.The story briefly discusses and re-analyzes the famous journey of Ulysses in which he confronts the deadly Sirens. Canonically, Ulysses tied himself to his ship's mast and blocked his ears so that he could experience the Sirens without...
  
  
• Prometheus
• The City Coat of Arms
  The City Coat of Arms
  -Plot:The short story details the creation of the Tower of Babel. The narrator notes how many different people, from various nationalities had a hand in the construction. The massive scale of the project creates so many logistical and societal complications that it becomes impossible for...
  
  
• Poseidon
• Fellowship
• At Night
• The Problem of Our Laws
  The Problem of Our Laws
  The Problem of Our Laws is a short story by Franz Kafka.The story is actually a short narrative, where laws of the land are described as esoteric, created by the elite. Thus, being such they are out of the hands by the common people, yet binding. Nobility is seen as the authority, the creator and...
  
  
• The Conscription of Troops
  The Conscription of Troops
  The Conscription of Troops is a short story by Franz Kafka. The piece details the process of organizing troops for combat. First, every citizen reports to their homes, then the chief inspects each residence, both to assure every member of the house is home and that the people who are fit for...
  
  
• The Test
• The Vulture
• The Helmsman
• The Top
• A Little Fable
  A Little Fable
  "A Little Fable" is a short story written by Franz Kafka between 1917 and 1923. The anecdote, only one paragraph in length, was not published in Kafka's lifetime Ω and first appeared in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer .-Plot:...
  
  
• Home-Coming
• First Sorrow
  First Sorrow
  "First Sorrow" is a short story by Franz Kafka probably written between the fall of 1921 and the spring of 1922. It appeared in Kurt Wolff Verlag's art periodical Genius, III no. 2 and in the Christmas 1923 supplement to the "Prager Presse"...
  
  
• The Departure
• Advocates
• The Married Couple
  The Married Couple
  -Plot:The story is about a businessman who is desolate. He becomes bored in his day to day affairs at the office and decides to contact some of his customers personally. One of them, N., is an old man whose had previous personal and business contact with. He meets N at his house, and notices how...
  
  
• Give it Up!
• On Parables
  On Parables
  On Parables is a short story fragment by Franz Kafka. The piece consists of a narrative on the merit of parables. If in fact, the debate over if they are useful or merely folklore handed down from one generation to the next...
  
  

Postscript

By Nahum N. Glatzer

On the material included in this volume

Notes on the writing and publication history of the stories and fragments.

Editions

• Kafka, Franz (ed. Nahum N. Glatzer). The Complete Stories. New York: Schocken Books, 1971 (Hardcover) ISBN 0805234195, 1988 (Paperback) ISBN 0805208739
• Kafka, Franz (ed. Nahum N. Glatzer). The Complete Stories. New York: Schocken Books, 1995. With a foreword by John Updike ISBN 0805210555 (Paperback)