Stories 1904-1924     by Franz Kafka, Translated by J A Underwood Original language: German Published by Abacus Pub. Date: 2002 Format: Paperback ISBN: 0349106592 List Price: $14.95, £8.99 Buy online from Amazon.co.uk for £8.99 Buy online from Amazon.com for $10.47 Published by Futura Pub. Date: 1983 Format: Paperback Not available for ordering Published by Cardinal Pub. Date: 1990 Format: Paperback Not available for ordering Published by Macdonald Pub. Date: 1981 Format: Hardcover Not available for ordering

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Kafka is one of the defining writers of the twentieth century, perhaps the one who, more than any other writer, reflected modern man’s feeling about the world. In particular, it is his articulation of the sense of being an outsider, which can be seen by different readers in personal, social, religious or psychological terms, that so many have found compelling.

The very nature of Kafka’s stories means there is a multitude of opinions as to their precise significance. With their realistic style and fantastic content, they are not portrayals of individualised characters, but parables of existence. What Kafka has left out, is the truth these parables illustrate: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like unto a mustard seed’ Christ said; what is ‘like unto’ being transformed into a gigantic, verminous insect? This openness of interpretation is one reason for the power these stories have exerted over readers all over the world.

The most famous story of all, The Metamorphosis, begins with the hero Gregory Samsa (his surname, like those of so many of Kafka’s main characters, echoes the author’s) waking up to find he has been transformed into a huge verminous insect. As he tries to get up and carry on with his normal life, there is a touching and humorous contrast between his thoughts, which try to ignore the change, and his actions, which implicitly acknowledge it. There is more humour in Kafka than is often recognised.

Much of the story concerns the reactions of the family, as observed and interpreted by Gregory. His sister is the only one able to accept Gregory in his new form and she automatically takes charge of looking after him. But she is also the first to face up to the fact that for her this insect is no longer her brother, the first to call him ‘it’. At the end Gregory’s transformation is paralleled by his sister’s positive change from an adolescent girl into a young woman.

His mother swoons at the sight of him in a bustle of underskirts, and avoids actually having to see him, thus managing to retain her image of Gregory her son. His father reacts aggressively, and also reassumes his role as family breadwinner which Gregory had taken over from him. (The same father-son relationship/conflict is the subject of another story, The Judgement.)

The story is in three sections. At the end of each Gregory ‘breaks out’ (as the family see it) of his bedroom, to be driven back by his father. In his final emergence, he is drawn by his sister’s violin-playing. For some time he has found the insect-food his sister puts out as unpalatable as human food, and the music seems to be the spiritual nourishment he has been looking for. His death is peaceful, just a gradual fading away, a willing sacrifice to, or at least acquiescence in, the family’s interests. The acceptance of guilt (whether real or imagined) is one of the pervading themes of Kafka’s stories and novels.

Guilt, punishment and redemption are the themes of another of the longer stories, In the Penal Colony. A distinguished foreign traveller is visiting a penal settlement situated in some tropical colony where he witnesses a demonstration of a curious execution machine. The condemned man is strapped into the device, which then inscribes the law he has broken on his body, gradually cutting deeper and deeper until, after twelve hours, the man dies. The officer in charge of the machine is both judge and executioner, although his first role is not very onerous, since he bases his decisions on the principle that guilt is invariably beyond doubt. He believes that before they die the victims achieve insight into their crimes, and transfiguration, which is visible in the look of enlightenment that appears on their faces at the sixth hour.

The officer’s demonstration of the machine develops into a harangue to persuade the traveller to speak up in support of it. It was developed by the old commandant, and the new commandant would like to see it abolished. When the traveller refuses, the officer lets the condemned man out of the machine, strips, and takes his place. The machine adjusts itself to receive him and starts of its own accord. Soon the old machine begins to disintegrate and the officer, instead of being inscribed, is merely spiked. The end is typically ambiguous. The expected look of enlightenment cannot be seen on his face, but the expression in the dead man’s eyes is ‘one of calm conviction’.

‘Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug. He was lying on his back, which was of a shell-like hardness, and when he lifted his head a little he could see his dome-shaped brown belly, banded with what looked like reinforcing arches, on top of which his quilt, while threatening to slip off completely at any moment, still maintained a precarious hold. His many legs, pitifully thin in relation to the rest of him, threshed ineffectually before his eyes.

«What’s happened to me?» he thought. This was no dream. His room, a normal human room except that it was rather too small, lay peacefully between the four familiar walls.’ p91