The Complete Stories (forword by John Updike)

"Forschungen eines Hundes," written probably in the spring of 1922, was first published in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer, pp. 154-211, and reprinted in Beschreibung eines Kampfes (Schocken Bv), pp. 233-78. Great Wall of China (Schocken D1), pp. 1-43. The story "is virtually complete" (E. Muir, Introductory Note to the first English edition, p. xvii).

A Little Woman

"Eine kleine Frau," written toward the end of 1923, was included in Bin Hungerkünstler (q.v.), Erzählungen (Schocken B1 and C5), pp. 244-54. Penal Colony (Schocken D3), pp. 234-43.

At the end of September 1923, Kafka, with his companion Dora Dymant, moved to Berlin-Steglitz. "There was written the comparatively happy story, 'A Little Woman.' The 'little woman-judge' who lives her life in constant anger with her own 'ego,' which is really a stranger to her, is none other than their landlady." (Max Brod, Franz Kafka, p. 197).

The Burrow

"Der Bau," written in the winter of 1923-24, was first published in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer, pp. 77-130, and reprinted in Beschreibung ernes Kampfes (Schocken Bv), pp. 172-214. The end of the story was lost. Great Wall of China (Schocken D1), pp. 44-82. The story "is virtually finished" (E. Muir, Introductory Note to the first English edition, p. xvii).

Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk

"Josephine, die Sängerin, oder Das Volk der Mäuse," written in the spring of 1924, is Kafka's last finished work. It was first published in the Prager Presse, April 20, 1924 (Easter edition), and included in Bin Hungerkünstler (q.v.). Erzählungen (Schocken B1 and C5), pp. 268-91. Penal Colony (Schocken D3), pp. 256-77.

The Shorter Stories

The first eighteen stories (from "Children on a Country Road" to "Resolutions") were written between 1904 and 1912. In 1908, Kafka published eight pieces, selected from this group, entitled "Betrachtung," in the bimonthly Hyperion, vol. I, edited by Franz Blei and Carl Sternheim. It was Kafka's first publication. In 1910, he selected five more pieces for publication in the Prague daily Bohemia (March 27). "The Trees," "Clothes," and "Excursion into the Mountains" are taken from "Description of a Struggle" (Schocken D8), pp. 84, 89 f., and 36 f. "Children on a Country Road" is taken from the same story, chap. II of version B, a section not included in the version of "Description of a Struggle" reprinted in this volume. The first version of "Bachelor's Ill Luck" appeared in Diaries, November 14, 1911. "The Sudden Walk": see the entry in the Diaries, January 5, 1912. "Resolutions": see the text in Diaries, February 5, 1912. The entire group appeared, in a sequence established by Kafka, under the title Betrachtung (Leipzig: Rowohlt Verlag, 1913) — Erzählungen (Schocken C5), pp. 23-50. Penal Colony (Schocken D3), pp. 21-45 ("Meditation").

Kafka's own sequence in the collection "Meditation" is as follows: "Children on a Country Road"; "Unmasking a Confidence Trickster"; "The Sudden Walk"; "Resolutions"; "Excursion into the Mountains"; "Bachelor's Ill Luck"; "The Tradesman"; "Absent-minded Window-gazing"; "The Way Home"; "Passers-by"; "On the Tram"; "Clothes"; "Rejection"; "Reflections for Gentlemen-Jockeys"; "The Street Window"; "The Wish to Be a Red Indian"; "The Trees"; "Unhappiness."

Diaries, August 15, 1912: "Again read old diaries instead of keeping away from them. I live as irrationally as is at all possible. And the publication of the thirty-one pages is to blame for everything. Even more to blame, of course, is my weakness, which permits a thing of this sort to influence me."

Diaries, August 11, 1912: "Now, after the publication of the book, I will have to stay away from magazines and reviews even more than before, if I do not wish to be content with just sticking the tips of my fingers into the truth."