The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka  

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The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka is a compilation of all Kafka's short stories. With the exception of Kafka's three novels (The Trial, The Castle and Amerika), this collection includes all of Kafka's narrative work. The book was originally edited by Nahum N. Glatzer and published by Schocken Books in 1971. It was reprinted in 1995 with an introduction by John Updike.

The collection includes all the works published during Kafka's lifetime, with the exception of The Stoker 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, with occasional translations by Tania and James Stern.

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, notebooks and letters.

Contents

Foreword by John Updike (1995 edition only)

Two Introductory Parables

• "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
• Wedding Preparations in the Country
• The Judgment
• The Metamorphosis
• In the Penal Colony
• The Village Schoolmaster (The Giant Mole)
• Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor
• The Warden of the Tomb
• A Country Doctor

• The Hunter Gracchus + fragment
• The Great Wall of China + fragment
• A Report to an Academy + two fragments
• The Refusal
• A Hunger Artist
• Investigations of a Dog
• A Little Woman
• The Burrow
• Josephine the Singer, or The Mouse Folk

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
• A Fratricide
• The Next Village
• A Visit to a Mine
• Jackals and Arabs
• The Bridge
• The Bucket Rider
• The New Advocate
• An Old Manuscript

• The Knock at the Manor Gate
• Eleven Sons
• My Neighbor
• A Crossbreed
• The Cares of a Family Man
• A Common Confusion
• The Truth about Sancho Panza
• The Silence of the Sirens
• Prometheus
• The City Coat of Arms
• Poseidon
• Fellowship
• At Night
• The Problem of Our Laws
• The Conscription of Troops
• The Test
• The Vulture
• The Helmsman
• The Top
• A Little Fable
• Home-Coming
• First Sorrow
• The Departure
• Advocates
• The Married Couple
• Give it Up!
• On Parables

Postscript

By Nahum N. Glatzer

Bibliography

• Kafka's stories and collections of stories published during his lifetime
• Kafka's works published after his death
• Collected works in German
• Schocken editions of Kafka's works in English
• Other editions of Kafka's works in English
• Supplement

Editors and Translators

On the material included in this volume

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

Chronology

Chronology of Kafka's life and writing.

Selected writings on Kafka

A list of critical and biographical essays on Kafka.

Notes

• The first eighteen of "The Shorter Stories" are usually grouped under the title Contemplation (Betrachtung), or Meditation .

Editions

• Kafka, Franz (ed. Nahum N. Glatzer). The Complete Stories. New York: Schocken Books, 1971 (Hardcover) ISBN 0-8052-3419-5, 1988 (Paperback) ISBN 0-8052-0873-9
• Kafka, Franz (ed. Nahum N. Glatzer). The Complete Stories. New York: Schocken Books, 1995. With a foreword by John Updike ISBN 0-8052-1055-5 (Paperback)