An open library of thought
Telling of a law no one can reach.
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
These records present three major works of fiction, read here for their philosophical reception. Kafka’s diaries, letters, aphorisms and many shorter stories are not yet indexed. For The Trial and The Castle, check whether an edition follows Max Brod’s arrangement or the critical text established from the manuscripts.
011915
Written in late 1912, shortly after The Judgment, it appeared in 1915 in the review Die weißen Blätter and then as a small book. Kafka asked his publisher not to have the insect itself drawn on the cover; translators differ on how to render the German word “Ungeziefer”.
021925
Kafka wrote it in 1914 and 1915 and left it unfinished; Max Brod published it in 1925 after deciding the order of the chapters. The critical edition of 1990 follows the manuscript, restores Kafka’s spelling Der Proceß and sets the unfinished chapters apart.
031926
Kafka wrote it in 1922, beginning in the mountain resort of Spindlermühle and at first using the first person before changing the narrator to K. Max Brod published it in 1926; the critical edition of 1982 follows the manuscript and its unfinished ending.