The Complete Stories (forword by John Updike)

Muir, Willa and Edwin: tr., The Castle. London, 1930; New York, 1930, 1941, 1954.

——-: tr., The Trial. London, 1935; New York, 1937, 1957, 1968.

——-: tr., The Trial. New York, 1968 (Schocken D12).

——-: tr., Amerika. London, 1938; Norfolk, Conn., 1946; New York, 1962.

——-: tr., Amerika. New York, 1946, 1962 (Schocken D2).

* ——-: tr., The Great Wall of China. New York, 1946, 1970 (Schocken D1).

* ——-: tr., The Penal Colony. New York, 1948 (Schocken D3).

Politzer, Heinz: ed., Vor dem Gesetz. Berlin, 1934 (Schocken Bücherei).

——-: co-ed., Gesammelte Schriften, vols. I-IV (Schocken A).

Schoeps, Hans Joachim: co-ed., Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer. Berlin, 1931.

Stern, Tania and James: tr., Letters to Milena. New York, 1953 (Schocken D6).

* ——-: tr., Description of a Struggle. New York, 1958 (Schocken D8).

Wilkins, Eithne: see Kaiser, Ernst.

ON THE MATERIAL 

INCLUDED IN THIS VOLUME

Two Introductory Parables

Before the Law

"Vor dem Gesetz," from the ninth chapter of the novel Der Prozess (The Trial), written in the winter of 1914, was first published in the almanac Vom jüngsten Tag, Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1916. See the fragment "I ran past the first watchman," in Dearest Father (Schocken D7), pp. 322 f. Included in the collection of stories Ein Landarzt. Kleine Erzahlungen, Munich and Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1919. Der Prozess was published by Verlag Die Schmiede, Berlin, 1925 (Die Romane des XX. Jahrhunderts). Vor dem Gesetz: Ausgewahlte Erzahlungen und Aphorismen, Berlin: Bücherei des Schocken Verlags, No. 19, 1934. Erzahlungen (Schocken B1 and C5), pp. 144 ff. Penal Colony (Schocken D3), pp. 148 ff.

Diaries, December 13, 1914: "Contentment and a feeling of happiness as the 'Legend' ['Before the Law'] in particular inspires in me."

An Imperial Message

"Eine kaiserliche Botschaft," written in the spring of 1917 as part of the story "The Great Wall of China" (Great Wall, Schocken D1, pp. 93 f.), was published in the Prague Jewish weekly Selbstwehr (September 24, 1919) and in Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor). See Penal Colony (Schocken D3), pp. 158 f.

The Longer Stories

Description of a Struggle

The first draft of the unfinished "Beschreibung eines Kampfes" was written in 1904-5. The story (in two parallel versions) was for a long time considered lost until, in 1935, it turned up in Max Brod's library. Brod edited it as the title story (pp. 9-66) of vol. V of Kafka's Gesammelte Schriften (Schocken A, B, C8), which, in addition, includes fourteen longer and shorter stories and the novelist's only larger piece in dramatic form ("The Warden of the Tomb"). Description of a Struggle (Schocken D8), pp. 9-96.

Kafka to Brod: "The thing that pleases me most about the short story ['Description of a Struggle'] is that I have got rid of it" (Briefe, March 18, 1910, p. 80). Kafka wanted to destroy the manuscript but finally allowed Brod to keep it (Max Brod, Franz Kafka, p. 61). Max Brod prepared a text-critical edition of the two versions and added an epilogue: Franz Kafka, Beschreibung eines Kampfes: Die zwei Fassungen. Herausgegeben und mit einem Nachwort versehen von Max Brod. Text-edition von Ludwig Dietz. Frankfurt a. M.: S. Fischer Verlag, 1969.

In 1909, Kafka published in the March-April issue of the bimonthly Hyperion (Munich), edited by Franz Blei, two pieces taken from the manuscript of version A of Beschreibung eines Kampfes: "Gespräch mit dem Beter" ("Conversation with the Supplicant") and "Gespräch mit dem Betrunkenen" ("Conversation with the Drunk"). The Hyperion version is reprinted in Erzählungen (Schocken B1 and C5), pp. 9-22. See also Beschreibung eines Kampfes, pp. 37-47 and 52-56. Penal Colony (Schocken 03), pp. 9-17, includes "Conversation with the Supplicant." The two pieces are not reproduced in the present volume.

Wedding Preparations in the Country