Customer Reviews

R. Crumb's Kafka

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Crumb's work here is copious and fine, but the serious Crumb collector should know that "R. Crumb's Kafka" is identical in every way (except for title and cover art) to "Introducing Kafka" (US, 1993), as is clearly stated on the new version's copyright page. The book was first published in the UK, in 1993, under the title "Kafka for Beginners."

This is a great literary biography of Franz Kafka, written by David Zane Mairowitz, that is fantastically illustrated by Robert Crumb. It is an outstanding collaboration between a writer and artist, where each person's work enhances the finished product far more than just the sum of the parts. Mairowitz is a Kafka scholar whose words come to life with the brilliant illustrations of R. Crumb. Together they trace Kafka's life, his family and social influences, his relationships with women, and their effects on his various works. Truly a delightful introduction to Kafka and his writings that will serve as a model for future literary introductions.

R. CRUMB'S KAFKA is an odd mixture of biography and analysis illustrated in a variety of ways by the artist Robert Crumb. Not quite a satisfying read, with a few too many psychological evaluations by the author; the book does shine when Crumb illustrates his abridged versions of Kafka's work. The emotional detail of the drawings, where Crumb can focus on anger, lust, or terror, are excellent and are a fitting compliment to Kafka's tales of alienation. The text often just gets in the way becoming a distraction; Crumb's work is often fettered by trying to serve the text. A better book would have been a full blown adaptation of Kafka by Crumb without the forced psychological insights that would be a better fit for some master's thesis.

I found this book an extremely interesting way to introduce Franz Kafka to those who know nothing, or next to nothing, about him. Not only is it a brief but inclusive biography, but it also contains the plots of many of his works, all quite well illustrated by R. Crumb. While purists may complain about the perceived trivializing of Kafka's works and life, I found this book a very good way to have those whose knowledge of Kafka is scant get some grounding into him, his life and times, and his writings. That, above all, is the true worth of this book.

Reviewed by: Tom Hendricks, Musea Review Service. Posted courtesy of the Underground Literary Alliance Book Review Blog.

Tom Hendricks is a ULA member. He has probably never met Robert Crumb, but might want to. I'd like to meet Robert Crumb.

What is it? : Franz Kafka's biography with text by David Mairowitz, and illustrations by celebrated underground comic artist Robert Crumb.

Technical Quality: High. Book is a well made, 175 page, trade paperback. Note the somewhat chilling cover with an orange Prague cityscape drawing , with a green insert of Kafka writing.

Innovative Quality: High. The book uses the graphic novel approach to tell the life story of the troubled but brilliant Franz Kafka. Crumb illustrates the main biographical events and portions from some of Kafka's most celebrated works.

Review: Three parts come together to make this a memorable and notable read: Franz Kafka's life and works, Robert Crumb's illustrations on every page, and an informative biographical text by David Zane Mairowitz.

Mairowitz writes: "Before ever becoming the ADJECTIVE (Kafkaesque) Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a Jew from Prague, born into its inescapable tradition of story-tellers and fantasists, ghetto-dwellers and eternal refugees. His Prague, "a little mother' with 'claws' was a place that suffocated him, but where he nonetheless chose to live all but the last eight months of his life."

That well sums up a lot of the main threads of Kafka's life too. He was a Jew in a country that more and more hated and persecuted the Jews. He had an oppressive and abusive father that, like Prague, he could never escape. He had troubled relationships with all the women he was attracted to, and he never got the respect for his writing in his life time that he deserved.

The book goes into detail on all these issues and lets us see his world - a depressing world where it seems his only escape was his writing. And what writing he did. Throughout the book are illustrated excerpts of major Kafka works including: an early story 'The Judgement', the famous "Metamorphosis' where Gregor Samsa turns into an enormous bug; "The Burrow" an animal fable; "In the Penal Colony" with the new killing machine invention; his best known work, the novel, "The Trial" where 'K' is arrested - but for what?; "The Castle" the 2nd of 3 novels; "A Hunger Artist" who is a sideshow freak for his ability to starve himself, and "Amerika" his last unfinished novel.

At the age of 39 he retired from his insurance job (one that by improving safety standards actually saved many lives) due to tuberculosis. Kafka instructed his friend Max Brod, to destroy almost all his works upon his death. Fortunately for us, Brod did not carry that wish out.

The bio is fascinating, and the excerpts cover some of the best of Kafka's work. Now add to that the superb black and white illustrations of Crumb and we get a very great book indeed.

Crumb, known for his underground comics, has taken that style of art to high art here. His drawing style is the technical equal of any illustrator. Yet beyond that he has a gift for characterization , an eye for detail, and the ability to illustrate any scene. Had the bio and excerpts been any less compelling, the illustrations would have still been notable. Each page was filled with drawings and many of them are minor masterpieces on their own. An example are the illustrations on page 64 and 65. Kafka wrote many letters to Felice Bauer one of 4 women that he had important
relationships with. On the left side we see the couple up to their chests in pages of letters. On the right side of the page, we see Kafka writing at his desk in the bottom right corner with letter after letter stacked through the air, all the way up to the upper left corner.

Wisely Mairowitz, who wrote the text, does not try to embellish his work, instead his comments are sparse and to the point , thus better allowing Kafka the classic writer, and Crumb a world class gifted illustrator, to shine.

High marks all around in this new classic.

The serious student of Kafka or the neophyte will find much to admire in this rendering of the life and work of Kafka.

IT is truer a retelling than Welle's The Trial.

Excellent plot summaries well illustrated and very evocative.

Crumb is the perfect artist to present the life and work of Mr. Kafka, with sincerity and illuminating truth.

I wish Mr. Crumb would do more and full length versions of the Kafka opus

Item came quickly, well wrapped and in perfect condition. What more could I want? Thanks!

Having recently returned from a few days in Prague, I was impressed with both the artwork and the serious history of this book. I highly recommend it for those reasons, as well as its clever summaries of several Kafka tales.

Kafka's life in itself is a very interesting tale, and I would recommend any book concerning the actual events of his life and the strange things that went through his mind. There are so many to choose from. From the multitude of books written about Kafka, R. Crumb's is actually a good addition. It provides something new to the world of Kafka, just as Maus provides something new to the WWII genre. It is sophisticated, intriguing, and downright creepy: definitely a great addition to your library.

A fine collaboration with Robert Crumb and David Z. Mairowitz. This opus reveals two things about Crumb: Crumb's attempt to vent his childhood Hell with his own father and a depth of related emotions uncharacteristic of his personality.