Books by Franz Kafka

Portrait of Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka, one of the most distinctive voices of twentieth‑century literature, is renowned for his unsettling tales that blend the ordinary with the absurd. His writing captures the alienation and anxiety of modern life, often placing isolated individuals within labyrinthine bureaucracies and dreamlike situations that defy logic yet feel intensely real.

Born in Prague in 1883, Kafka wrote primarily in German and left behind a body of work that continues to shape existential and modernist thought. From the haunting transformation of Gregor Samsa to the elusive justice of Josef K., his stories probe identity, guilt and power with unmatched precision, ensuring his influence endures across generations.

Are you this author? Drop us a line to update your details hello@bookcurl.com

286 products


  • Metamorphosis

    Penguin Books Ltd Metamorphosis

    Book SynopsisTrade ReviewHe is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison to him -- Vladimir NabokovKafka described with wonderful imaginative power the future concentration camps, the future instability of the law, the future absolutism of the state, the paralysed, inadequately motivated, floundering lives of the many individual people; everything appeared as a nightmare and with the confusion and inadequacy of a nightmare -- Bertolt Brecht

    £9.99

  • Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    Penguin Books Ltd Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    Book Synopsis

    £8.54

  • The Trial

    Penguin Books Ltd The Trial

    Book SynopsisA terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis - an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life - including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door - becomes increasingly unpredictable. As K. tries to gain control, he succeeds only in accelerating his own excruciating downward spiral.Trade ReviewThe Dante of the Twentieth Century -- W. H. AudenThis compelling, prophetic novel anticipates the insanity of modern bureaucracy and the coming of totalitarianism -- The Daily TelegraphIt is the fate and perhaps the greatness of that work that it offers everything and confirms nothing -- Albert CamusIt was Kafka who made me understand that one can write differently -- Gabriel García Márquez

    £9.25

  • The Essential Kafka: The Castle; The Trial;

    Wordsworth Editions Ltd The Essential Kafka: The Castle; The Trial;

    Book SynopsisLike George Orwell, Franz Kafka has given his name to a world of nightmare, but in Kafka’s world, it is never completely clear just what the nightmare is. The Trial, where the rules are hidden from even the highest officials, and if there is any help to be had, it will come from unexpected sources, is a chilling, blackly amusing tale that maintains, to the very end, a relentless atmosphere of disorientation. Superficially about bureaucracy, it is in the last resort a description of the absurdity of 'normal' human nature. Still more enigmatic is The Castle. Is it an allegory of a quasi-feudal system giving way to a new freedom for the subject? The search by a central European Jew for acceptance into a dominant culture? A spiritual quest for grace or salvation? An individual's struggle between his sense of independence and his need for approval? Is it all of these things? And K? Is he opportunist, victim, or an outsider battling against elusive authority? Finally, in his fables, Kafka deals in dark and quirkily humorous terms with the insoluble dilemmas of a world which offers no reassurance, and no reliable guidance to resolving our existential and emotional uncertainties and anxieties.

    £6.23

  • Letters to Milena: Discover Franz Kafka’s love

    Vintage Publishing Letters to Milena: Discover Franz Kafka’s love

    Book Synopsis'You are the knife I turn inside myself'Franz Kafka's letters to his one-time muse, Milena Jesenska - an intimate window into the desires and hopes of the twentieth-century's most prophetic and important writerKafka first made the acquaintance of Milena Jesenska in 1920 when she was translating his early short prose into Czech. Their relationship quickly developed into a deep attachment. Such was his feeling for her that Kafka showed her his diaries and, in doing so, laid bare his heart and his conscience.While at times Milena's 'genius for living' gave Kafka new life, it ultimately exhausted him, and their relationship was to last little over two years. In 1924 Kafka died in a sanatorium near Vienna, and Milena died in 1944 at the hands of the Nazis, leaving these letters as a moving record of their relationship.Trade ReviewPerhaps the most interesting writer of his generation- a strange and disconcerting genius -- Edwin Muir

    £9.49

  • Penguin Books Ltd Investigations of a Dog

    Book Synopsis''If I think about it, and I have the time and inclination and capacity to do so, we dogs are an odd lot.''How does a dog see the world? How do any of us? In this playful and enigmatic story of a canine philosopher, Kafka explores the limits of knowledge. Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York''s underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.

    £5.63

  • The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    Oxford University Press The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    20 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis new translation includes Kafka's most famous story, The Metamorphosis, together with two other stories, The Judgement and In the Penal Colony, and Meditation and the autobiographical Letter to his Father. The edition includes a detailed introduction, notes, and other helpful items.Trade ReviewThis edition contains a fascinating introduction by Ritchie Robertson, offering Buddhist, Freudian and expressionist readings of the text. * Guardian online, WB Gooderham *Bracing surprises for buffs as well as an easy passage into the labyrinth for newcomers. * Boyd Tonkin, The Independent *Table of ContentsMeditation ; The Judgement ; The Metamorphosis ; In the Penal Colony ; Letter to his Father

    20 in stock

    £8.54

  • Metamorphosis

    Arcturus Publishing Ltd Metamorphosis

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisA masterful mix of horror and absurdity which tells the story of travelling salesman Samsa, who wakes up one day to find out he has turned into a giant insect. Kafka''s novella has been adapted for film and television a number of times, most recently for radio when BBC''s Radio 4 broadcast the story, read by Benedict Cumberbatch, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its first publication.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Classics series brings together high-quality paperback editions of classics works, presented with contemporary graphic cover designs. Together they make a wonderful collection which is perfect for any home library.

    10 in stock

    £6.99

  • Amerika

    Arcturus Publishing Amerika

    Book SynopsisFranz Kafka (1883-1924) was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague. His name has become a byword for alienation and guilt and his harrowing yet humorous work features individuals in an impersonal and bureaucratic world over which they have increasingly little power.

    £7.59

  • Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    Penguin Books Ltd Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    Book Synopsis

    £8.54

  • The Castle

    Arcturus Publishing The Castle

    20 in stock

    Book SynopsisFranz Kafka (1883-1924) was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague. His name has become a byword for alienation and guilt and his harrowing yet humorous work features individuals in an impersonal and bureaucratic world over which they have increasingly little power.

    20 in stock

    £7.59

  • The Trial

    Oxford University Press The Trial

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe Trial is one of the central works of modern literature. This meticulous new translation includes the chapters Kafka left incomplete and is accompanied by a biographical preface, detailed introduction, chronology, bibliography and notes.

    15 in stock

    £8.54

  • The Trial

    Alma Books Ltd The Trial

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisOn his thirtieth birthday, the bank clerk Josef K. is suddenly arrested by mysterious agents for an unspecified crime. He is told that he will be set free, but must make regular appearances at a court in the attic of a tenement building while his trial proceeds. Although he never comes to know the particulars of his case, Josef K. finds his life taken over by the opaque bureaucratic procedures and is tormented by the psychological pressures exerted by his legal nightmare. Published the year after the author's death, but written ten years earlier, The Trial is the most acclaimed of Kafka's three novels, and is both a haunting meditation on freedom and the powerlessness of the individual in the face of state power, and an ominous prefiguration of the totalitarian excesses of the twentieth century.Trade ReviewThose who defend the process... may offer absurd arguments, but they also state the case as clearly as it can be stated. All the humour of Kafka lies here, in the logical pursuit of absurd arguments. -- Zadie Smith

    10 in stock

    £6.99

  • Prakash Books Selected Works of Kafka Deluxe Hardbound Edition

    a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

    £13.50

  • Best of Kafka Collectors Edition

    Wordsworth Editions Ltd Best of Kafka Collectors Edition

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisLike George Orwell, Franz Kafka has given his name to a world of nightmare, but in Kafka's world, it is never completely clear just what the nightmare is. The Trial, where the rules are hidden from even the highest officials, and if there is any help to be had, it will come from unexpected sources, is a chilling, blackly amusing tale that maintains, to the very end, a relentless atmosphere of disorientation. Superficially about bureaucracy, it is in the last resort a description of the absurdity of normal' human nature.Still more enigmatic is The Castle. Is it an allegory of a quasi-feudal system giving way to a new freedom for the subject? The search by a central European Jew for acceptance into a dominant culture? A spiritual quest for grace or salvation? An individual's struggle between his sense of independence and his need for approval? Is it all of these things? And K? Is he opportunist, victim, or an outsider battling against elusive authority?Finally, in his fables, Kafka deals in dark and quirkily humorous terms with the insoluble dilemmas of a world which offers no reassurance, and no reliable guidance to resolving our existential and emotional uncertainties and anxieties.

    10 in stock

    £10.32

  • The Trial

    Penguin Books Ltd The Trial

    20 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    20 in stock

    £9.49

  • In the Penal Colony and Other Stories

    Arcturus Publishing In the Penal Colony and Other Stories

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisFranz Kafka (1883-1924) was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague. His name has become a byword for alienation and guilt and his harrowing yet humorous work features individuals in an impersonal and bureaucratic world over which they have increasingly little power.

    15 in stock

    £7.59

  • The Castle

    Penguin Books Ltd The Castle

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    15 in stock

    £9.49

  • A HungerArtist

    Penguin Books Ltd (UK) A HungerArtist

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    15 in stock

    £5.99

  • The Trial

    Vintage Publishing The Trial

    7 in stock

    Book SynopsisIt is not necessary to accept everything as true, one must only accept it as necessary'Rediscover Kafka''s classic work of psychological horror. The Trial is the terrifying tale of Joseph K, a respectable functionary in a bank, who is suddenly arrested and must defend his innocence against a charge about which he can get no information. A nightmare vision of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the insanity of twentieth-century totalitarianism has resonated with readers for generations.WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY PHILLIPE SANDSTrade ReviewIt is the fate and perhaps the greatness of that work that it offers everything and confirms nothing -- Albert CamusThe Dante of the Twentieth Century -- W. H. AudenNo other voice has borne truer witness to the dark of our times -- George Steiner

    7 in stock

    £8.54

  • Penguin Books Ltd Amerika

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisTrade ReviewNo other voice has borne truer witness to the dark of our times -- George SteienrHe is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison to him -- Vladimir NabokovIt was Kafka who made me understand that one can write differently -- Gabriel García Márquez

    15 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Diaries of Franz Kafka

    Penguin Books Ltd The Diaries of Franz Kafka

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisDating from 1909 to 1923, Franz Kafka's Diaries contains a broad array of writing, including accounts of daily events, assorted reflections and observations, literary sketches, drafts of letters, records of dreams, and unrevised texts of stories. This volume makes available for the first time in English a comprehensive reconstruction of Kafka's handwritten diary entries and provides substantial new content, restoring all the material omitted from previous publications notably, names of people and undisguised details about them, a number of literary writings, and passages of a sexual nature, some of them with homoerotic overtones. By faithfully reproducing the diaries' distinctive and often surprisingly unpolished writing as it appeared in Kafka's notebooks, translator Ross Benjamin brings to light not only the author's use of the diaries for literary invention and unsparing self-examination but also their value as a work of genius in and of themselves.

    15 in stock

    £13.49

  • The Trial

    Pan Macmillan The Trial

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn Kafka's powerful and disturbing novel, an innocent man is arrested and repeatedly interrogated for a crime that is never ever explained. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold-foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is translated from German by Douglas Scott and Chris Waller, and features an afterword by David Stuart Davies.On the morning of his thirtieth birthday, a young bank official named Joseph K is arrested although he has done nothing wrong and is never told what he’s been charged with. The Trial is the chronicle of his fight to prove his innocence, of his struggles and encounters with the invisible Law and the untouchable Court where he must make regular visits. It is an account, ultimately, of state-induced self-destruction presenting in a nightmarish scenario the persecution of the outsider and the incomprehensible machinations of the state. Using the power of simple, straightforward language Kafka draws the reader into this bleak and frightening world so that we too experience the fears, uncertainties and tragedy of Joseph K.Trade ReviewThe Dante of the twentieth century -- W. H. AudenNo other voice has borne truer witness to the dark of our times -- George Steiner

    15 in stock

    £10.44

  • The Castle

    Penguin Books Ltd The Castle

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisFeatures K., the unwanted Land Surveyor who is never to be admitted to the Castle nor accepted in the village, and yet cannot go home. As he encounters dualities of certainty and doubt, hope and fear, and reason and nonsense, K.'s struggles in the labyrinthine world where he finds himself seem to reveals a truth about the nature of existence.Trade Review"The new Schocken edition of The Castle represents a major and long-awaited event in English-language publishing. It is a wonderful piece of news for all Kafka readers who, for more than half a century, have had to rely on flawed, superannuated editions. Mark Harman is to be commended for his success in capturing the fresh, fluid, almost breathless style of Kafka's original manuscript, which leaves the reader hanging in mid-sentence." --Mark M. Anderson, Columbia University"The Castle, published here for the first time in 1930, was the first Kafka to arrive in America. After the war, Hannah Arendt remarked that The Castle might finally be comprehensible to the generation of the forties, who had had the occasion to watch their world become Kafkaesque. What will the generation of the nineties make of The Castle, now that its full message has arrived? Here is the masterpiece behind the masterpiece."--Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, Haverford College"Sparkles with comedy, with zest, and with a fresh visual power, which in the Muir translation were indistinct or lost. This is not just a new, brilliantly insightful, sensitive, and stylish translation, it is a new Castle, and it is a pleasure to read."--Christopher Middleton, University of Texas at Austin"This is the closest to Kafka's original novel and intention that any translation could get, and what is more, it is eminently readable. With this exceptional translation, the time for a new Kafka in English has finally come." --Egon Schwartz, Washington University, St. Louis

    2 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    Dover Publications Inc. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    20 in stock

    Book SynopsisSuperb collection by modern master explores the complexity, anxiety, and futility of modern life. Excellent new English translations of the title story considered by many critics Kafka''s most perfect work plus The Judgment, In the Penal Colony, A Country Doctor and A Report to an Academy. Note.

    20 in stock

    £5.62

  • Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    Vintage Publishing Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis''One of the few great and perfect works of poetic imagination written during this century'' Elias CanettiWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ADAM THIRWELLOne morning, Gregor Samsa wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant insect. His family is understandably perturbed and he finds himself an outsider in his own home. In ''Metamorphosis'' and the other famous stories included here, Kafka explores the confusing nature of human experience with sly wit and compelling originality.Trade ReviewHe is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison to him -- Vladimir NabokovI think of a Kafka story as a perfect work of literary art, as approachable as it is strange, and as strange as it is approachable -- Michael Hofmann

    10 in stock

    £8.54

  • Die Verwandlung/Metamorphosis: Bilingual Parallel

    4 in stock

    £7.99

  • Dearest Father

    Alma Books Ltd Dearest Father

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisConflict between father and son is one of the oldest themes in literature, and in this open letter to his father - a letter which was never sent - Kafka tries to come to terms with one of the most deeply rooted obsessions of his troubled soul. Written as a long, tense and dramatic confession in which writer and man are gathered together in front of an ambivalent figure of authority, "Dearest Father" is a desperate attempt to retrace the origins of a turbulent and highly conflicted relationship between an unflinching parent and an extremely sensitive child. Both a merciless indictment of his father and an impassioned appeal to him, Kafka's inspired work is one of the most lucid and touching psychological documents of the twentieth century.

    5 in stock

    £7.59

  • The Complete Novels

    Vintage Publishing The Complete Novels

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe 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 MUIRTrade ReviewHe is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison to him -- Vladimir NabokovKafka described with wonderful imaginative power the future concentration camps, the future instability of the law, the future absolutism of the state, the paralysed, inadequately motivated, floundering lives of the many individual people; everything appeared as a nightmare and with the confusion and inadequacy of a nightmare -- Bertolt Brecht

    5 in stock

    £15.29

  • Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    Penguin Books Ltd Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisA seemingly ordinary man, Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning only to discover that he has been transformed into a gigantic insect and must deal with the depression over his new physical alteration, as well as the rejection of his family, in a new translation, honoring the 125th anniversary of the author''s birth. Reprint.Trade Review"I think of a Kafka story as a perfect work of literary art, as approachable as it is strange, and as strange as it is approachable." —Michael Hofmann

    3 in stock

    £11.69

  • The Metamorphosis

    W. W. Norton & Company The Metamorphosis

    Book Synopsis"This fine version, with David Cronenberg's inspired introduction and the new translator's beguiling afterword, is, I suspect, the most disturbing though the most comforting of all so far; others will follow, but don't hesitate: this is the transforming text for you."-Richard HowardTrade Review"Bernofsky's vibrant new translation preserves the comedy as well as the tragedy of Kafka's text; it convinces both on its own and when read with the original in mind." -- Times Literary Supplement"...brilliant edition of Kafka's novella...prepare to be pleasantly surprised here as Susan Bernofsky's brilliant translation brings out Kafka's sharp wit." -- The Indpendent

    £9.49

  • The Castle

    Vintage Publishing The Castle

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisFranz Kafka (Author) Franz Kafka (18831924) 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.Trade ReviewEvery time you read The Castle, you find something new in it * Sunday Times *Kafka discovered the hitherto unknown possibilities of the novel -- Milan KunderaKafka may be the most important writer of the twentieth century -- J. G. Ballard

    4 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Complete Short Stories

    Vintage Publishing The Complete Short Stories

    7 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe complete short stories of the 20th century''s greatest visionary''Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man'' W. H. AudenThis volume contains all of Kafka''s shorter fiction, from fragments, parables and sketches to longer tales. Together they reveal the breadth of Kafka''s literary vision and the extraordinary imaginative depth of his thought. Some are well known, others are mere jottings, observations of daily life, given artistic form through Kafka''s unique perception of the world.Trade ReviewNo other voice has borne truer witness to the dark of our times -- George SteinerHe is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison to him -- Vladimir Nabokov

    7 in stock

    £10.44

  • The Metamorphosis (Legend Classics)

    Legend Press Ltd The Metamorphosis (Legend Classics)

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisAs Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.The Metamorphosis - the masterpiece of Franz Kafka -was first published in 1915 and is one of the seminal works of fiction of the twentiethcentury. The novel iscited as a key influence for many of today's leading authors; as Auden wrote:"Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man".Traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, wakes to find himself transformed into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Gregor''s transformation is never revealed, and as he attempts to adjust to his new condition he becomes a burden to his parents and sister, who are repelled by the horrible, verminous creature Gregor has become.A harrowing, yet strangely comic, meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation,The Metamorphosishas taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction.The Legend Classics series:Around the World in Eighty DaysThe Adventures of Huckleberry FinnThe Importance of Being EarnestAlice''s Adventures in WonderlandThe MetamorphosisThe Railway ChildrenThe Hound of the BaskervillesFrankensteinWuthering HeightsThree Men in a BoatThe Time MachineLittle WomenAnne of Green GablesThe Jungle BookThe Yellow Wallpaper and Other StoriesDraculaA Study in ScarletLeaves of GrassThe Secret GardenThe War of the WorldsA Christmas CarolStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr HydeHeart of DarknessThe Scarlet LetterThis Side of ParadiseOliver TwistThe Picture of Dorian GrayTreasure IslandThe Turn of the ScrewThe Adventures of Tom SawyerEmmaThe TrialA Selection of Short Stories by Edgar Allan PoeGrimm Fairy TalesThe AwakeningMrs DallowayGulliver's TravelsThe Castle of OtrantoSilas MarnerHard Times

    4 in stock

    £8.54

  • The Unhappiness of Being a Single Man: Essential

    Pushkin Press The Unhappiness of Being a Single Man: Essential

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis'The supreme fabulist of modern man's cosmic predicament' John Updike 'The stories are dreamlike, allegorical, ghoulishly detached, exquisitely comic, numinous, and prophetic' New York Times The essential stories of one of the twentieth century's greatest and most influential writers No one has captured the modern experience, its wild dreams, strange joys, its neuroses and boredom, better than Franz Kafka. His vision, with its absurdity and twisted humour, has lost none of its force or relevance today. This essential collection, translated and selected by Alexander Starritt, casts fresh light on Kafka's genius. Alongside brutal depictions of violence and justice are jokes and deceptively slight, mysterious fables. These unforgettable pieces reflect the brilliance at the core of Franz Kafka, arguably most fully expressed within his short stories. Together they showcase a writer of unmatched imaginative depth, capable of expressing the most profound reality with a wry smile. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe Translated by Alexander Starritt Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was born to Jewish parents in Prague and wrote in German. He published only a few story collections and individual stories in literary magazines during his lifetime. The rest of his work was published posthumously. He is now considered one of the most influential authors of the twentieth century.Trade ReviewPraise for The Unhappiness of Being a Single Man:'A welcome distillation of Kafka's short fiction, essential indeed.' - Kirkus Reviews'The Unhappiness of Being a Single Man nicely makes a case that readers should not forget Kafka's sly sense of humor and, of course, his humanity, when considering his impact on culture.' - Noah Cruickshank, Forefront, in Shelf AwarenessPraise for the work of Franz Kafka:'The stories are dreamlike, allegorical, symbolic, parabolic, grotesque, ritualistic, nasty, lucent, extremely personal, ghoulishly detached, exquisitely comic, numinous, and prophetic.' - The New York Times'The greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plastic saints in comparison with him.' - Vladimir Nabokov'A genius.' - The Guardian '[Kafka] spoke for millions in their new unease; a century after his birth, he seems the last holy writer, and the supreme fabulist of modern man's cosmic predicament.' - John Updike

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Trial

    Arcturus Publishing The Trial

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisFranz Kafka (1883-1924) was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague. His name has become a byword for alienation and guilt and his harrowing yet humorous work, features individuals in an impersonal and bureaucratic world over which they have increasingly little power.Isabel Tucker studied French and German at Oxford University and Kings College London. After several years teaching Modern Languages, she moved into publishing and now works as a freelance editor and translator.

    2 in stock

    £7.59

  • The Trial

    Everyman The Trial

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe story of the mysterious indictment, trial and reckoning forced upon Kafka’s Joseph K. is one of the twentieth century’s master parables which has influenced almost every major writer since. By rendering the absurd and the terrifying with scrupulous factual accuracy and evenness of tone, Kafka presents the world we recognize in a gripping narrative which is also a revelation of its hidden significance.

    15 in stock

    £13.49

  • The Burrow

    Penguin Books Ltd The Burrow

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA superb translation... alerts us to the strangeness of Kafka's world - often funnier or happier than we give it credit for - without using the word "Kafkaesque", which should be retired as it now means little more than "frustratingly bureaucratic". Kafka's world is richer, and more rewarding than that. -- Nick Lezard * Guardian *Kafka's posthumously published short fiction cry out for a critical exegesis... newly translated by Michael Hofmann, the stories collected in The Burrow mingle dark comedy with a proto-surrealist intent to unsettle...excellent new translations -- Ian Thomson * New Statesman *Hofmann, with his taste for mischief, makes Kafka, often translated in a buttoned-up key, a writer capable of blending old-fashioned literary parlance and contemporary media-speak... the modern touches also emphasise the timelessness of Kafka's themes, the horror of institutions being just one of them. -- Anna Aslanyan * Financial Times *

    3 in stock

    £9.99

  • The Franz Kafka Collection

    Arcturus Publishing The Franz Kafka Collection

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisBorn in Prague into a Jewish family, Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century - his name has become a byword for alienation and guilt - and his work is both harrowing and humorous, featuring individuals caught up in an impersonal and bureaucratic world over which they have increasingly little power.

    4 in stock

    £27.99

  • Metamorphosis

    Arcturus Publishing Ltd Metamorphosis

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA beautiful jacketed hardback edition of Franz Kafka''s classic novel, Metamorphosis, with brand-new, full-colour illustrations by Gaby Verdooren. A masterful mix of horror and absurdity which tells the story of travelling salesman Samsa, who wakes up one day to find out he has turned into a giant insect. Kafka''s novella has been adapted for film and television a number of times, most recently for radio when BBC''s Radio broadcast the story, read by Benedict Cumberbatch, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its first publication.This beautifully illustrated collector''s edition features the complete text, with an original Arcturus translation by Will Aaltonen Pearson and specially-commissioned illustrations by Gaby Verdooren Whether you''re approaching Metamorphosis for the first time, or want to experience it afresh with new illustrations, this collectible edition is perfect for any lover of classic litera

    1 in stock

    £11.69

  • The Metamorphosis and Other Stories: Newly

    Alma Books Ltd The Metamorphosis and Other Stories: Newly

    7 in stock

    Book SynopsisWhen the young salesman Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning transformed into a monstrous insect, his shock and incomprehension are coupled with the panic of being late for work and having to reveal his appearance to family and colleagues. Although over the following weeks he gradually becomes used to this new existence confined within the bounds of the apartment, and his parents and sister adapt to living with a grotesque bug, Gregor notices that their attitudes towards him are changing and he feels increasingly alienated. One of the masterpieces of twentieth-century world literature, ‘The Metamorphosis’ is accompanied in this volume by a selection of other classic tales and sketches by Kafka – such as ‘The Judgement’, ‘In the Penal Colony’ and ‘A Country Doctor’ – all presented in a lively and meticulous new translation by Christopher Moncrieff.Trade ReviewThe only artist I felt could be my brother was Kafka. -- David LynchTable of ContentsContains: Children on a Country Road, Exposing a Confidence Trickster, An Impromptu Walk Resolutions, A Trip to the Mountains, The Plight of a Bachelor, The Shopkeeper, Gazing Distractedly out of the Window, Walking Home, Men Running Past, The Passenger, Dresses, Mutual Rejection, For the Consideration of Gentleman Jockeys, A Window onto the Street, Oh to Be a Red Indian Trees, An Unhappy Being, The Sentence, The Metamorphosis, The Penal Colony, The New Barrister, A Country Doctor, Up in the Gods, An Old Manuscript, The Door of Justice, Jackals and Arabs, A Visit to the Mine, The Next Village, A Message from the Emperor, The Concerns of a Father, Eleven Sons, Fratricide, A Dream, A Report for and Academy, First Sorrow, The Little Woman, The Hunger Artist, Josephine the Singer or the Mousefolk, The Great Wall of China, The Bridge, The Truth about Sancho Panza, The City Coat of Arms, Poseidon, The Silence of the Sirens.

    7 in stock

    £7.44

  • The Trial

    Double 9 Booksllp The Trial

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £12.34

  • The Man who Disappeared

    Oxford University Press The Man who Disappeared

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisYoung immigrant Karl Rossmann has a series of adventures in a vision of an ultra-modern America that is both fantasy and social satire. Full of incident, and blackly humorous, Kafka's first novel is newly translated by Ritchie Robertson in an edition that includes a full introduction and notes.

    2 in stock

    £10.44

  • A Hunger Artist and Other Stories

    Oxford University Press A Hunger Artist and Other Stories

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis new translation includes Kafka's two published collections, A Country Doctor and A Hunger Artist with other, uncollected stories, aphorisms, and parables that have become part of the Kafka canon. Enigmatic, satirical, often bleakly humorous, the stories meditate on art and artists and the human experience. Includes an introduction and notes.Table of ContentsTHE AEROPLANES AT BRESCIA; A COUNTRY DOCTOR: LITTLE TALES; THE RIDER ON THE COAL-SCUTTLE; A HUNGER ARTIST: FOUR STORIES; BLUMFELD, AN ELDERLY BACHELOR; AT THE BUILDING OF THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA; THE HUNTSMAN GRACCHUS; INVESTIGATIONS OF A DOG; THE BURROW; SELECTED SHORTER PIECES; APHORISMS

    1 in stock

    £8.99

  • The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    Union Square & Co. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisOnly yesterday, Gregor Samsa was a meek salesman, browbeaten by his unappreciative employer and depended on fiercely by his ungrateful family. This morning, Gregor awakens to discover that, overnight, he has been transformed into a monstrous insect. As Gregor frantically tries to conceal his predicament, neither his family nor his unsympathetic employer accept that a terrible metamorphosis has upended his existence. Is Gregor's condition only temporary? Will he eventually revert back to the person he was and resume his normal life? Or might he have to accept that his transformation is only an outward expression of how heand those in his lifeactually see him? First published in 1915, Kafka's best-known tale has inspired numerous interpretations for more than a century and helped to establish the term Kafkaesque as a reference to a bizarre and nightmarish experience. This collection of his short fiction, in a new translation, includes more than 30 of his short stories and sketches, inclu

    1 in stock

    £8.99

  • Little, Brown Book Group Franz Kafka Stories 19041924

    Book SynopsisFrom the expressionism of his early prose pieces to his very last work, JOSEPHINE, these stories cover the full range of Kafka''s writing career, culminating in THE METAMORPHOSIS, which Elias Canetti described as one of the few great and perfect works of poetic imagination written during this century.Kafka''s stories, argues Borges in his foreword, are superior even to his novels, which is why this collection gives us the full dimesion of this unique writer.'' J.A Underwood''s acclaimed translation gives the reader all the chilling atmosphere of Kafka''s darkly comic universe, as reflected in the commanding precision of his language.Trade ReviewUnderwood has revitalised that world of painful pedantry and comic obsession... He writes with rhythm, confidence and flair... A typically brief and brilliant foreword by Jorge Luis Borges... Acquire this necessary book. * MARTIN AMIS, OBSERVER *A careful and sensitive English rendering of all the stories published in book form during Kafka's lifetime. * GUARDIAN *A translation that lets us meet his work as something real, * TIME OUT *

    £10.44

  • The Metamorphosis

    WW Norton & Co The Metamorphosis

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis“This fine version, with David Cronenberg’s inspired introduction and the new translator’s beguiling afterword, is, I suspect, the most disturbing though the most comforting of all so far; others will follow, but don’t hesitate: this is the transforming tTrade Review"Bernofsky’s vibrant new translation preserves the comedy as well as the tragedy of Kafka’s text; it convinces both on its own and when read with the original in mind." -- The Times Literary Supplement

    10 in stock

    £20.59

  • The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    Dover Publications The Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £16.58

© 2026 Book Curl

    • American Express
    • Apple Pay
    • Diners Club
    • Discover
    • Google Pay
    • Maestro
    • Mastercard
    • PayPal
    • Shop Pay
    • Union Pay
    • Visa

    Login

    Forgot your password?

    Don't have an account yet?
    Create account