Metamorphosis and Other Stories: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) [Paperback]

Franz Kafka (Author), Michael Hofmann (Translator, Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 26, 2008 | Series: Penguin Classics Deluxe Editio

For the 125th anniversary of Kafka's birth, an astonishing new translation of his best-known stories, in a spectacular graphic package

For all his fame, Franz Kafka published only a small number of stories in his lifetime. This new translation of those stories, by Michael Hofmann, one of the most respected German-to-English translators at work today, makes Kafka's best-known works available to a new generation of readers. Metamorphosis gives full expression to the breadth of Kafka's literary vision and the extraordinary depth of his imagination.

Editorial Reviews

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

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (February 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143105248
• ISBN-13: 978-0143105244
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #593,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Kindle edition not the translation advertised, August 25, 2010

By 

John M. Robinson "jakeboyo" (Alameda, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Penguin Modern Classics) (Kindle Edition)

I'm sure you will be shocked to learn the Kindle edition is NOT the Michael Hofmann translation. Amazon, do a better job.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Look, I'm a Bug!, June 13, 2002

By 

A.Trendl HungarianBookstore.com "What should ... (Glen Ellyn, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

"Look, I'm a Bug!" No, no, no... the plight of Gregor Samsa as he awoke as a beetle is no laughing matter. In this tidy little Dover edition, Kafka's famous short story breathes of the futility and alienation men face, and the fear in the midst of it all.

"The Metamorphosis and Other Stories" is worth every penny.

The beauty of the Dover edition is the ability to sample Kafka, rather than indulge in a complete works. He is not for everyone, but at such an inexpensive price, you'll get to taste his style and complex ideas.

Note that there are several stories here, including the oddly-styled one paragraph "A Country Doctor," which effectively challenges the view of common man of the almost godlike pedestal we put doctors on.

Stories include:
The Judgment
The Metamorphosis
In a Penal Colony
A Country Doctor
A Report to an Academy

I fully recommend "The Metamorphosis and Other Stories" by Franz Kafka. The price can't be beat, and would make a great addition to a larger Amazon purchase.

Anthony Trendl

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bewilderingly blunt and terrifying. Sizzling in frustration., May 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

Kafka presents to the reader a shockingly horrific account of a man, subservient to his aging parents' financial needs, awakening one morning to find himself a bug. Readers are awestruck by his response to this, as Gregor's immediate thoughts shift to fear of missing the train and the "five or six years of debts" he must pay to his employer on behalf of his parents. Struggling with such "arbitrary confusion", Gregor's journey through several months of living with his disastrous calamity is horrific to his audience in it's disgusting truth in the thrill of the routine and thus we see that this metamorphosis is really strictly a physical one, as Gregor has always been an "insect" and object of income to the household. Splendidly executed, Kafka provokes otherwise dormant sentiments of passiveness and futility in his reader and ultimately elicits bewildering feelings of helplessly gradual servility and suppression in one's environment.