List of works by Franz Kafka

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Franz Kafka bibliography
First page of Kafka's letter to his father
First page of Kafka's letter to his father
Releases
Novels 3
Stories 16
Collections 4
Plays 1

Selected works by Franz Kafka are shown in a sortable table, their publications in English in a second one, with notes about the difficulties to translate his prose to English.

Works and first publications in German

Kafka, a German-language writer of novels and short stories, regarded by critics as one of the most influential authors of the 20th century, was trained as a lawyer and was employed by an insurance company, writing only in his spare time. He wrote hundreds of letters to family and close female friends, including his father, his fiancée Felice Bauer, and his youngest sister Ottla.

Only a few of Kafka's works were published during his lifetime: the story collections Betrachtung (Contemplation) and Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor), and individual stories (such as "Die Verwandlung" ("The Metamorphosis")) in literary magazines. He prepared the story collection Ein Hungerkünstler (A Hunger Artist) for print, but it was not published until after his death. Kafka's unfinished works, including his novels Der Process, Das Schloss and Amerika (also known as Der Verschollene, The Man Who Disappeared), were published posthumously, mostly by his friend Max Brod, who ignored Kafka's wish to have the manuscripts destroyed. Brod also published letters, diaries and aphorisms.

Many of Kafka's works have uncertain dates of writing and/or were written over long periods of time. In such cases the year the writing of the work began is used. Year and place of the first publication is shown. For many works the German text is available, for several works also an English translation. It is linked in columns "de" (short for "deutsch", German) and "en" (short for English).

Selected works published in German

Standard English title German title Literal English title de en Genre Date of writing Date of first publication Place of publication Cover Remarks
Amerika or The Man Who Disappeared Amerika or
Der Verschollene
America de novel 1912 1927 Leipzig 75px title Amerika by Brod, contains "Der Heizer" ("The Stoker")
The Trial Der Process de novel 1914 1925 Berlin 75px also spelled in German as Der Prozess and Der Prozeß
The Castle Das Schloss The Castle de novel 1922 1926 Leipzig Kafka Das Schloss 1926.jpg also spelled in German as Das Schloß
Contemplation
also known as Meditation
Betrachtung de story collection 1904–1912 1912 Leipzig Kafka Betrachtung 1912.jpg some stories from 1908 in Hyperion
A Country Doctor Ein Landarzt de story collection 1919 1919 Leipzig 75px
A Hunger Artist Ein Hungerkünstler de story collection 1922 1924 Prague 75px
The Great Wall of China Beim Bau der chinesischen Mauer de story collection 1918 1931 Berlin
The Warden of the Tomb Der Gruftwächter play 1916–1917 1958 New York in Description of a Struggle
"Description of a Struggle"
including "Conversation with the Supplicant",

"Conversation with the Drunk"

"Beschreibung eines Kampfes" including "Gespräch mit dem Beter",

"Gespräch mit dem Betrunkenen"

Urteil, Beter, Betrunkener story 1904 1909 Munich dialogues first in Hyperion
"Wedding Preparations in the Country" "Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande" de story 1907–1908 1954 London an incomplete work intended to be a novel
"The Aeroplanes At Brescia" "Die Aeroplane in Brescia" de story 1909 1909 September Prague first in Bohemia
The First Long Journey by Rail (Prague-Zurich) story 1912 May 1912 in Herderblätter first chapter of unfinished novel Richard und Samuel: Eine kleine Reise durch mitteleuropäische Gegenden
"The Judgment" "Das Urteil" The Verdict de story 1912 22–23 September 1913 Leipzig in the literary yearbook Arkadia
"The Metamorphosis" "Die Verwandlung" The Transformation de en story 1912 1915 Leipzig Metamorphosis.jpg in Die Weißen Blätter
"The Stoker" "Der Heizer" de story 1913 1927 Leipzig in Amerika
"Before the Law" "Vor dem Gesetz" de en story 1914 1915 Prague in the independent Jewish weekly Selbstwehr, in Ein Landarzt, in Der Process
"In the Penal Colony" "In der Strafkolonie" de en story 1914 1919 Leipzig
"The Village Schoolmaster"
("The Giant Mole")
"Der Dorfschullehrer" or "Der Riesenmaulwurf" de story 1914–1915 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" "Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle" de story 1915 1958 New York in Description of a Struggle
"The Hunter Gracchus" "Der Jäger Gracchus" de story 1917 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"A Common Confusion" "Eine alltägliche Verwirrung" de story 1917 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"The Bridge" "Die Brücke" de story 1917 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"A Report to an Academy" "Ein Bericht für eine Akademie" de en story 1917 1917 Prague in Der Jude
"Jackals and Arabs" "Schakale und Araber" de en story 1917 1917 Prague in Der Jude
"A Crossbreed" "Eine Kreuzung" de story 1917 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"The Knock at the Manor Gate" "Der Schlag ans Hoftor" de story 1917 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"The Silence of the Sirens" "Das Schweigen der Sirenen" de story 1917 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"The Truth about Sancho Panza" "Die Wahrheit über Sancho Pansa" de story 1917 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"The Great Wall of China" "Beim Bau der chinesischen Mauer" At the building of the Chinese Wall de en story 1918 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"Prometheus" "Prometheus" de story 1918 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"A Country Doctor" "Ein Landarzt" de en story 1919 1919 Leipzig in Ein Landarzt
"An Old Manuscript" "Ein altes Blatt" "An old page" or "An old leaf" de story 1919 1920 Leipzig in Ein Landarzt
"The City Coat of Arms" "Das Stadtwappen" de story 1920 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"The Problem of Our Laws" "Zur Frage der Gesetze" de story 1920 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"On Parables" "Von den Gleichnissen" de story 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"A Little Fable" "Kleine Fabel" de story 1920 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"Poseidon" "Poseidon" de story 1920 1936 in collection Beschreibung eines Kampfes
"The Refusal" "Die Abweisung" The Rejection story 1920 1970 Frankfurt title by Brod, same as a different earlier story by Kafka
"The Bucket Rider" "Der Kübelreiter" de (1921), de (1931) story 1921 1921 Prag in Prager Presse
"A Hunger Artist"
("A Fasting Artist",
"A Starvation Artist")
"Ein Hungerkünstler" de en story 1922 1922 Prague in Die neue Rundschau, then in Ein Hungerkünstler
"First Sorrow" "Erstes Leid" de story 1921–1922 1922 Leipzig in periodical Genius
"Investigations of a Dog" "Forschungen eines Hundes" de story 1923 1931 Berlin in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
"A Little Woman" "Eine kleine Frau" de story 1923–1924 1924 Prague in Prager Tagblatt, then in Ein Hungerkünstler
"The Burrow" "Der Bau" de story 1923–1924 1924 in Ein Hungerkünstler
"Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" "Josefine, die Sängerin, oder Das Volk der Mäuse" de story 1923 1924 Prague in Prager Presse, then in Ein Hungerkünstler
Franz Kafka's Diaries Tagebücher diary 1910–1923 1948 New York
The Blue Octavo Notebooks Oxforder Oktavhefte Oxford Octavo Notebooks notebook 1917–1919 1954 New York also known as The Eight Octavo Notebooks
Letter to His Father Brief an den Vater de letter 1919 November 1966 New York
Letters to Felice Briefe an Felice letter collection 1912–1917 1967 Frankfurt am Main
Letters to Ottla Briefe an Ottla und die Familie Letters to Ottla and to the family letter collection 1909–1924 1974 Frankfurt am Main includes some letters to his parents and other family members
Letters to Milena Briefe an Milena letter collection 1920–23 1952 Frankfurt am Main
Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors Briefe 1902–1924 letter collection 1900–24 1959 New York most of the letters are to Brod
Zürau Aphorisms, The Die Zürauer Aphorismen or Betrachtungen über Sünde, Hoffnung, Leid und den wahren Weg Reflections on Sin, Hope, Suffering, and the True Way de aphorisms 1917–18 1931 Cologne Title by Brod

Translation problems to English

Kafka often made extensive use of a characteristic particular to the German language allowing for long sentences that sometimes can span an entire page. Kafka's sentences then deliver an unexpected impact just before the full stop—that being the finalizing meaning and focus. This is achieved due to the construction of certain sentences in German which require that the verb be positioned at the end of the sentence. Such constructions are difficult to duplicate in other languages, so it is up to the resourceful translator to provide the reader with the same (or at least equivalent) effect found in the original text.[1] German's more flexible word order is not the only problem translating German into other languages. German also lacks an informal language register, uses modal connectives, and syntactic structures which can be translated in more than one way.[2] Kafka did not write in standard High German, but rather in a Praguean German heavily influenced by the Yiddish and Czech languages.[3] This has led philosophers Deleuze and Guattari to describe Kafka's linguistic style as "deterritorialized", characterized by a "withered vocabulary" and an "incorrect syntax".[3]

German sentences also have a different syntactic structure. Unlike English, German is a verb-final language, which places the main verb of a verb string (e.g., "transformed" in "had been transformed") at the end of a phrase. The difference can be seen in the contrast between the original German version of the first sentence in Kafka's "The Metamorphosis":

Dependency tree illustrating the difference in syntax between the first sentence of Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" in translation by Ian Johnston and in the original German
Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Traumen erwachte fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheuren Ungeziefer verwandelt. (Original)
As Gregor Samsa one morning from restless dreams awoke, found he himself in his bed into an enormous vermin transformed. (literal word for word translation)[4][5]

Another virtually insurmountable problem facing translators is how to deal with the author's intentional use of ambiguous idioms and words that have several meanings which result in writings difficult to precisely translate.[6][7] One such instance is found in the first sentence of "The Metamorphosis".[8] English translators have often sought to render the word Ungeziefer as "insect"; in today's German it means vermin. It is sometimes used colloquially to mean "bug" – a very general term, unlike the scientific sounding "insect". Kafka had no intention of labeling Gregor, the protagonist of the story, as any specific thing, but instead wanted to convey Gregor's disgust at his transformation. Translators have chosen numerous inexact and unsatisfactory ways to represent "[zu einem] ungeheuren Ungeziefer", unable to convey the repetition of the first two syllables and the equal four syllables of the two words in German:

  • "gigantic insect" (Muir, 1948)
  • "monstrous vermin" (Corngold, 1972, Neugroschel, 1993/1995, Freed, 1996)
  • "giant bug" (Underwood, 1981)
  • "monstrous insect" (Pasley, 1992)
  • "enormous bug" (Appelbaum, 1996)
  • "monstrous cockroach" (Hofmann, 2007)

Another example is Kafka's use of the German noun Verkehr in the final sentence of The Judgment. Literally, Verkehr means intercourse and, as in English, can have either a sexual or non-sexual meaning; in addition, it is used to mean transport or traffic. The sentence can be translated as: "At that moment an unending stream of traffic crossed over the bridge".[9] What gives added weight to the obvious double meaning of 'Verkehr' is Kafka's confession to Brod that when he wrote that final line, he was thinking of "a violent ejaculation".[10][11]

Selected publications in English

Title Genre Translator Publisher Date of publication Place of publication Remarks
The Castle novel Willa and Edwin Muir Secker & Warburg 1930 London
The Great Wall of China story collection Willa and Edwin Muir Martin Secker 1933 London
The Trial novel Willa and Edwin Muir Victor Gollancz 1937 London
America novel Willa and Edwin Muir Schocken Books 1938 United States
The Diaries Of Franz Kafka diaries Joseph Kresh, Martin Greenberg and Hannah Arendt Peregrine Books 1963
Amerika novel Mark Harman Schocken Books 2008 United States
The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces story collection Willa and Edwin Muir Schocken Books 1948 United States
Dearest Father. Stories and Other Writings letters Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins Schocken Books 1954 United States
Description of a Struggle story collection Tania and James Stern Schocken Books 1958 United States
Parables and Paradoxes story collection Clement Greenberg, Ernst Kaiser & Eithne Wilkins, Willa & Edwin Muir, Tania & James Stern Schocken Books 1961 United States
The Complete Stories story collection Willa & Edwin Muir, Tania & James Stern Schocken Books 1971 United States
Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors letters Richard and Clara Winston Schocken Books 1977 United States
The Sons story collection Schocken Books 1989 United States
The Zürau Aphorisms aphorisms Michael Hofmann Schocken Books 2006 United States

References

  1. Kafka 1996, p. xi.
  2. Newmark 1991, pp. 63-64.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Deleuze & Guattari 1986, pp. 22-25.
  4. Prinsky 2002.
  5. Poulakis 2005.
  6. Lawson 1960, pp. 216-219.
  7. Rhine 1989, pp. 447-458.
  8. Lawson 1960, pp. 216–219.
  9. Kafka 1996, p. 75.
  10. Brod 1960, p. 129.
  11. Hawes 2008, p. 50.

Bibliography

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