Description About the Author Franz Kafka was a novelist and writer from Prague who wrote in German. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic, and typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. His work explores themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. Kafka was trained as a lawyer, and after completing his legal education was employed full-time in various legal jobs. Few of his works were published during his lifetime, and the ones that were, received little attention. He is said to have burned an estimated 90 percent of his total work due to persistent struggles with self-doubt. In his will, Kafka instructed his close friend and literary executor Max Brod to destroy what remained of his work. However Brod ignored this request and published his novels and collections of short stories between 1925 and 1935 saving Kafka from obscurity. Kafka’s writings became famous after World War II and have influenced literature the world over ever since. About the Translator We are happy to present Kafka’s iconic story in the original German and in a new translation made especially for our edition by John Hargraves. John is an accomplished writer and translator, former professor of German literature at Yale and Connecticut College, and winner of the celebrated Helen and Kurt Wolff Prize for exceptional translation of German literature into English. He is a celebrated connoisseur of the German language and of classical music. Also a gifted pianist and musical director, John bridges his interest in music and literature in remarkable ways. He has written a book and multiple articles on both and translated numerous German works into English. John is co-founder of Musical Masterworks in Old Lyme, a chamber music series there, and also serves as a board member of the Vienna Philharmonic Society of New York.
