The Trial Page 2

  There is another Kafka Project based at San Diego State University, which began in 1998 as the official international search for Kafka’s last writings. Consisting of 20 notebooks and 35 letters to Kafka’s last companion, Dora Diamant (later, Dymant-Lask), this missing literary treasure was confiscated from her by the Gestapo in Berlin 1933. The Kafka Project’s four-month search of government archives in Berlin in 1998 uncovered the confiscation order and other significant documents. In 2003, the Kafka Project discovered three original Kafka letters, written in 1923. Building on the search conducted by Max Brod and Klaus Wagenbach in the mid-1950s, the Kafka Project at SDSU has an advisory committee of international scholars and researchers, and is calling for volunteers who want to help solve a literary mystery.[29]

  In 2008, academic and Kafka expert James Hawes accused scholars of suppressing details of the pornography hidden in Kafka’s journals to preserve the writer’s image.[30]

  Translations

  There are two primary sources for the translations based on the two German editions. The earliest English translations were by Edwin and Willa Muir and published by Alfred A. Knopf. These editions were widely published and spurred the late-1940s surge in Kafka’s popularity in the United States. Later editions (notably the 1954 editions) had the addition of the deleted text translated by Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser. These are known as “Definitive Editions.” They translated both The Trial, Definitive and The Castle, Definitive among other writings. Definitive Editions are generally accepted to have a number of biases and to be dated in interpretation.

  After Pasley and Schillemeit completed their recompilation of the German text, the new translations were completed and published – The Castle, Critical by Mark Harman (Schocken Books, 1998), The Trial, Critical by Breon Mitchell (Schocken Books, 1998) and Amerika: The Man Who Disappeared by Michael Hoffman (New Directions Publishing, 2004). These editions are often noted as being based on the restored text.

  Published works

  Short stories

  · Description of a Struggle (Beschreibung eines Kampfes, 1904-1905)

  · Wedding Preparations in the Country (Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande, 1907-1908)

  · Contemplation (Betrachtung, 1904-1912)

  · The Judgment (Das Urteil - 22-23 September 1912)

  · The Stoker

  · In the Penal Colony (In der Strafkolonie, October 1914)

  · The Village Schoolmaster (The Giant Mole) (Der Dorfschullehrer or Der Riesenmaulwurf, 1914-1915)

  · Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor (Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle, 1915)

  · The Warden of the Tomb (Der Gruftwächter, 1916-1917), the only play Kafka wrote

  · The Hunter Gracchus (Der Jäger Gracchus, 1917)

  · The Great Wall of China (Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer, 1917)

  · A Report to an Academy (Ein Bericht für eine Akademie, 1917)

  · Jackals and Arabs (Schakale und Araber, 1917)

  · A Country Doctor (Ein Landarzt, 1919)

  · A Message from the Emperor (Eine kaiserliche Botschaft, 1919)

  · An Old Leaf (Ein altes Blatt, 1919)

  · The Refusal (Die Abweisung, 1920)

  · A Hunger Artist (Ein Hungerkünstler, 1924)

  · Investigations of a Dog (Forschungen eines Hundes, 1922)

  · A Little Woman (Eine kleine Frau, 1923)

  · First Sorrow (Erstes Leid, 1921-1922)

  · The Burrow (Der Bau, 1923-1924)

  · Josephine the Singer, or The Mouse Folk (Josephine, die Sängerin, oder Das Volk der Mäuse, 1924)

  Many collections of the stories have been published, and they include:

  · The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces. New York: Schocken Books, 1948.

  · The Complete Stories, (ed. Nahum N. Glatzer). New York: Schocken Books, 1971.

  · The Basic Kafka. New York: Pocket Books, 1979.

  · The Sons. New York: Schocken Books, 1989.

  · The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and Other Stories. New York: Schocken Books, 1995.

  · Contemplation. Twisted Spoon Press, 1998.

  · Metamorphosis and Other Stories. Penguin Classics, 2007

  Novellas

  · The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung - November-December 1915)

  Novels

  · The Trial (Der Prozeß - 1925) (includes short story Before the Law)

  · The Castle (Das Schloß - 1926)

  · Amerika (Amerika or Der Verschollene - 1927)

  Diaries and notebooks

  · Diaries 1910-1923

  · The Blue Octavo Notebooks

  Letters

  · Letter to His Father

  · Letters to Felice

  · Letters to Ottla

  · Letters to Milena

  · Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors

  Commemoration

  Franz Kafka has a museum dedicated to his work in Prague, Czech Republic. The term “Kafkaesque” is widely used to describe concepts, situations, and ideas which are reminiscent of Kafka’s works, particularly The Trial and “The Metamorphosis”.

  In Mexico, the phrase “Si Franz Kafka fuera mexicano, sería costumbrista” (If Franz Kafka were Mexican, he would be a Costumbrista writer) is commonly used in newspapers, blogs, and online forums to tell how hopeless and absurd the situation in the country is.[31]

  It has been noted that “from the Czech point of view, Kafka was German, and from the German point of view he was, above all, Jewish” and that this was a common “fate of much of Western Jewry.”[9]

  Literary and cultural references

  Literature

  · Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote a short story called “A Friend of Kafka,” which was about a Yiddish actor called Jacques Kohn who said he knew Franz Kafka. In this story, according to Jacques Kohn, Kafka believed in the Golem, a legendary creature from Jewish folklore.[32]

  · Kafka Americana by Jonathan Lethem and Carter Scholz is a collection of stories based on Kafka’s life and works.

  · Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

  · Kafka was the Rage, a Greenwich Village Memoir by Anatole Broyard

  · Kafka’s Curse by Achmat Dangor

  · The Kafka Effekt by American bizarro author D. Harlan Wilson, who relates his take on the irrealism genre of literature to that of Franz Kafka, and to that of William S. Burroughs.

  · Criminal (comics) by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips contains, within a re-occurring comic strip seen in characters newspapers, the adventures of ‘Franz Kafka PI’. The 4th story arc of the book also involves the creator of the strip. There is talk of a spin off series written by Matt Fraction.

  Short stories

  · Zoetrope : an experimental avant-garde short film by Charlie Deaux, Zoetrope (1999) at the Internet Movie Database. Adaptation of “In the Penal Colony”.

  · The Hunger Artist (2002) at the Internet Movie Database : an animated feature by Tom Gibbons

  · Menschenkörper (2004) at the Internet Movie Database[33] Adaptation of “A Country Doctor”. Short film by Tobias Frühmorgen

  · A Country Doctor (2007) at the Internet Movie Database Adaptation of “A Country Doctor”. Short film by Koji Yamamura

  Film

  · Kafka (1990) Jeremy Irons stars as the eponymous author. Written by Lem Dobbs and directed by Steven Soderbergh, the movie mixes his life and fiction providing a semi-biographical presentation of Kafka’s life and works. The story concerns Kafka investigating the disappearance of one of his work colleagues. The plot takes Kafka through many of the writer’s own works, most notably The Castle and The Trial.

  · Franz Kafka (1992) at the Internet Movie Database : an animated film by Piotr DumaBa

  · The Trial (1962) Orson Welles wrote and directed this adaptation of the novel starring Anthony Perkins. In a 1962 BBC Interview with Huw Wheldon, Orson Welles noted, “Say what you like, but The Trial is the best film I have ever made”.

  · Klassenverhältniss
e Class Relations (1984) Directed by the experimental filmmaking duo of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet based on Kafka’s novel Amerika.

  · The Trial (1993) Starring Kyle MacLachlan as Joseph K. with Anthony Hopkins in a cameo role as the priest as a strictly faithful adaptation with a screenplay by playwright Harold Pinter.

  · (The Castle) Das Schloß (1997) at the Internet Movie Database by Michael Haneke

  · In an episode of Adult Swim’s Home Movies (TV Series), Duane of the rock group Scab wrote a rock opera about the life of Franz Kafka and played the title character.

  Metamorphosis

  · Die Verwandlung (1975) at the Internet Movie Database

  · Förvandlingen (1976/I) at the Internet Movie Database

  · The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (1977) at the Internet Movie Database : an animated short by Caroline Leaf

  · Metamorphosis (1987) at the Internet Movie Database

  · Franz Kafka’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ (1993) is an Oscar-winning short film written and directed by Peter Capaldi and starring Richard E. Grant as Kafka. The film blends “Metamorphosis” with Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life.

  · The Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka (1993) by Carlos Atanes, at YouTube.

  · Prevrashcheniye (2002) at the Internet Movie Database

  · Metamorfosis (2004) at the Internet Movie Database

  Theatre

  · Alan Bennett, Kafka’s Dick, 1986, a play in which the ghosts of Kafka, his father Hermann, and Max Brod arrive at the home of an English insurance clerk (and Kafka aficionado) and his wife.

  · Milan Richter, Kafka’s Hell-Paradise, 2006, a play with 5 characters, using Kafka’s aphorisms, dreams and re-telling his relations to his father and to the women. Translated from the Slovak by Ewald Osers.

  · Milan Richter, Kafka’s Second Life, 2007, a play with 17 characters, starting in Kierling where Kafka is dying and ending in Prague in 1961. Translated from the Slovak by Ewald Osers.

  · Tadeusz Ró|ewicz, PuBapka (The Trap), 1982, a play loosely based on Kafka’s diaries and letters

  References

  1. a b (Spanish)Contijoch, Francesc Miralles (2000) “Franz Kafka”. Oceano Grupo Editorial, S.A. Barcelona. ISBN 84-494-1811-9.

  2. Corngold 1973

  3. Franz Kafka’s Letter to his father www.kafka-franz.com

  4. Gilman, Sander L. (2005) Franz Kafka. Reaktion Books Ltd. London, UK. p.20-21. ISBN 1-88187-264-5.

  5. Hamalian ([1975], 3).

  6. Danuta Czech: Kalendarz wydarzeD w KL Auschwitz, O[wicim 1992, p. 534. In the archives of the camp a list with the names of the guardians was preserved.

  7. Franz Kafka Biography www.kafka-franz.com

  8. Letter to his Father, pg. 150

  9. a b The Metamorphosis and Other Stories, notes. Herberth Czermak. Lincoln, Nebraska: Cliffs Notes 1973, 1996.

  10. http://victorian.fortunecity.com/vermeer/287/judaism.htm

  11. Ryan McKittrick speaks with director Dominique Serrand and Gideon Lester about Amerika www.amrep.org

  12. Lothar Hempel www.atlegerhardsen.com

  13. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1040561.html, Sadness in Palestine

  14. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1040561.html, Sadness in Palestine

  15. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1040561.html, Sadness in Palestine

  16. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1040561.html, Sadness in Palestine

  17. http://victorian.fortunecity.com/vermeer/287/judaism.htm

  18. Quoted in Publisher’s Note to The Castle, Schocken Books.

  19. Kafka (1996, xi).

  20. Kafka (1996, 75).

  21. Kafka (1996, xii).

  22. a b c Franz Kafka 1883 – 1924 www.coskunfineart.com

  23. A Kafka For The 21st century by Arthur Samuelson, publisher, Schocken Books www.jhom.com

  24. Schocken Books, 1998

  25. (German) Herzlich Willkommen www.dla-marbach.de

  26. (publisher’s note, The Trial, Schocken Books, 1998

  27. Stepping into Kafka’s head, Jeremy Adler, Times Literary Supplement, 13 October 1995 (http://www.textkritik.de/rezensionen/kafka/einl_04.htm)

  28. The Kafka Project - Kafka’s Works in German According to the Manuscript www.kafka.org

  29. Sources: Kafka, by Nicolas Murray, pages 367, 374; Kafka’s Last Love, by Kathi Diamant; “Summary of the Results of the Kafka Project Berlin Research 1 June-September 1998” published in December 1998 Kafka Katern, quarterly of the Kafka Circle of the Netherlands. More information is available at http://www.kafkaproject.com

  30. Franz Kafka’s porn brought out of the closet - Times Online at entertainment.timesonline.co.uk

  31. Aquella, Daniel (2006-11-22). “México kafkiano y costumbrista”. Daquella manera:Paseo personal por inquietudes culturales, sociales y lo que tengamos a bien obrar.. http://www.daquellamanera.org/?q=node/144. Retrieved on 2007-02-16.

  32. Bashevis Singer, Isaac (1970). A Friend of Kafka, and Other Stories. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 311. ISBN 0-37415-880-0.

  33. (German) Menschenkörper movie website www.menschenkoerper.de

  Bibliography

  · Adorno, Theodor. Prisms. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1967.

  · Corngold, Stanley. Introduction to The Metamorphosis. Bantam Classics, 1972. ISBN 0-553-21369-5.

  · Hamalian, Leo, ed. Franz Kafka: A Collection of Criticism. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974. ISBN 0-07-025702-7.

  · Heller, Paul. Franz Kafka: Wissenschaft und Wissenschaftskritik. Tuebingen: Stauffenburg, 1989. ISBN 3-923-72140-4.

  · Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories. Trans. Donna Freed. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1996. ISBN 1-56619-969-7.

  · Kafka, Franz. Kafka’s Selected Stories. Norton Critical Edition. Trans. Stanley Corngold. New York: Norton, 2005. ISBN 9780393924794.

  · Brod, Max. Franz Kafka: A Biography. New York: Da Capo Press, 1995. ISBN 0-306-80670-3

  · Brod, Max. The Biography of Franz Kafka, tr. from the German by G. Humphreys Roberts. London: Secker & Warburg, 1947. OCLC 2771397

  · Calasso, Roberto. K. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4189-9

  · Citati, Pietro, Kafka, 1987. ISBN 0-7859-2173-7

  · Coots, Steve. Franz Kafka (Beginner’s Guide). Headway, 2002, ISBN 0-340-84648-8

  · Deleuze, Gilles & Félix Guattari. Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature (Theory and History of Literature, Vol 30). Minneapolis, University of Minnesota, 1986. ISBN 0-8166-1515-2

  · Danta, Chris. “Sarah’s Laughter: Kafka’s Abraham” in Modernism/modernity 15:2 ([1] April 2008), 343-59.

  · Glatzer, Nahum N., The Loves of Franz Kafka. New York: Schocken Books, 1986. ISBN 0-8052-4001-2

  · Greenberg, Martin, The Terror of Art: Kafka and Modern Literature. New York, Basic Books, 1968. ISBN 0-465-08415-X

  · Gordimer, Nadine (1984). “Letter from His Father” in Something Out There, London, Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-007711-1

  · Hayman, Ronald. K, a Biography of Kafka. London: Phoenix Press, 2001.ISBN 1-84212-415-3

  · Janouch, Gustav. Conversations with Kafka. New York: New Directions Books, second edition 1971. (Translated by Goronwy Rees.)ISBN 0-8112-0071-X

  · Murray, Nicholas. Kafka. New Haven: Yale, 2004.

  · Pawel, Ernst. The Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka. New York: Vintage Books, 1985. ISBN 0-374-52335-5

  · Thiher, Allen (ed.). Franz Kafka: A Study of the Short Fiction (Twayne’s Studies in Short Fiction, No. 12). ISBN 0-8057-8323-7

  · Philippe Zard: La fiction de l’Occident : Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, Albert Cohen, Paris, P.U.F., 1999.

  · Philippe Zard (ed) : Sillage de Kafka, Paris, Le Manuscrit, 2007, ISBN 2-7481-8610-9

  The Overview of The Trial