The Complete Stories (forword by John Updike)

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Give it Up!

IT WAS very early in the morning, the streets clean and deserted, I was on my way to the station. As I compared the tower clock with my watch I realized it was much later than I had thought and that I had to hurry; the shock of this discovery made me feel uncertain of the way, I wasn't very well acquainted with the town as yet; fortunately, there was a policeman at hand, I ran to him and breathlessly asked him the way. He smiled and said: 'You asking me the way?' 'Yes,' I said, 'since I can't find it myself.' 'Give it up! Give it up!' said he, and turned with a sudden jerk, like someone who wants to be alone with his laughter.

Translated by Tania and James Stern

On Parables

MANY complain that the words of the wise are always merely parables and of no use in daily life, which is the only life we have. When the sage says: 'Go over,' he does not mean that we should cross to some actual place, which we could do anyhow if the labor were worth it; he means some fabulous yonder, something unknown to us, something that he cannot designate more precisely either, and therefore cannot help us here in the very least. All these parables really set out to say merely that the incomprehensible is incomprehensible, and we know that already. But the cares we have to struggle with every day: that is a different matter.

Concerning this a man once said: Why such reluctance? If you only followed the parables you yourselves would become parables and with that rid of all your daily cares.

Another said: I bet that is also a parable.

The first said: You have won.

The second said: But unfortunately only in parable.

The first said: No, in reality: in parable you have lost.

Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir

POSTSCRIPT

Albert Camus once said that 'the whole of Kafka's art consists in compelling the reader to re-read him.' Since the interpretations of Kafka are many and the search for the meaning of his stories seemingly endless, the reader will return to the story itself in the hope of finding guidance from within. Thus a second reading will — hopefully — become a commentary on the first, and subsequent readings will — again hopefully — shed light on the preceding ones. It is the purpose of this volume to provide ready access to the entire corpus of Kafka's stories; they, rather than the novels, constitute the very core of his brief life's work.

The longer stories which form the bulk of the volume are followed by a collection of shorter stories and sketches. All stories published by Kafka during his lifetime and the material from the literary estate that Max Brod selected for publication after Kafka's death are included. Within the two parts (the longer and the shorter stories) a chronological order has been attempted. The notes by Max Brod and, later, the efforts of Klaus Wagenbach, Malcolm Pasley, and Ludwig Dietz to establish a literary chronology have been consulted and have offered welcome aid. Some dates remain approximations only.

Kafka chose the titles of the stories in the case of material published by himself. All other tales were given their titles by Max Brod, except for 'Description of a Struggle,' 'The Village Schoolmaster,' 'The Bucket Rider,' 'The Great Wall of China,' 'A Crossbreed,' and 'The Problem of Our Laws,' which come from Kafka's hand.

'The Stoker,' though published by Kafka as a separate story, is not included; it has its rightful place as the first chapter of the novel Amerika. Two brief dialogues, 'Conversation with the Supplicant' and 'Conversation with the Drunk,' also published by Kafka, have been omitted; they reappear in their proper context in 'Description of a Struggle.' However, 'The Trees,' 'Clothes,' and 'Excursion into the Mountains' — also from 'Description of a Struggle' — were retained. And, because of their special significance, two pieces, parts of other works by Kafka, are reproduced here as 'introductory parables': 'Before the Law,' which reappears in the novel The Trial; and 'An Imperial Message,' whose place is in 'The Great Wall of China.' The fragments of 'The Hunter Gracchus', 'The Great Wall of China,' and 'A Report to an Academy' are placed after the stories that bear these titles. 'The Warden of the Tomb,' Kafka's only piece in dramatic form, was given hospitality in this volume of stories.

In 1934, a decade after Franz Kafka's death, Schocken Verlag, Berlin, acquired the world rights to his works in an agreement made with Kafka's mother and with Max Brod, whom the author had appointed his literary executor. Between 1935 and 1937, Schocken Verlag published the first German edition of Kafka's collected writings. In 1946, Schocken Books Inc., New York, reissued this German-language edition, and has since published English-language translations of most of the works (see Bibliography). In 1950, Schocken granted a license to S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, for German publication of Kafka's oeuvre. Kafka's writings have been translated and published in many countries, east and west. British editions are published by Martin Seeker & Warburg Ltd., London.

A critical edition of Kafka's complete works is being planned. This edition will make use of the original manuscripts deposited in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and of other collections.

NAHUM N. GLATZER

June 1971

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. KAFKA'S STORIES AND COLLECTIONS OF STORIES PUBLISHED DURING HIS LIFETIME

(For details, see the notes to the individual stories.)

Betrachtung. Leipzig: Rowohlc Verlag, 1913.

Das Urteil. Eine Geschichte. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1913.

Der Heizer. Ein Fragment, Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1913.

Die Verwandlimg. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1915; 2d ed., 1918.

In der Strafkolonie. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1919.

Ein Landarzt. Kleine Erzahlungen. Munich and Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1919.

Ein Hungerkunstler. Vier Geschichten.