The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces
by Franz Kafka 
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This collection brings together all the stories Kafka allowed to be published during his lifetime. Those titles include Meditation, The Metamorphosis, The Country Doctor and In the Penal Colony.Tags
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The Judgement, I was disappointed to discover, I had already read in another translation as The Sentence, although this translation feels more modern and fluid.
I was told by an acquaintance who happens to be "a Kafka scholar" that they consider these two stories - The Penal Colony and The Judgement (or The Sentence) to be the epitome of Kafka's writing, the most representative of his literary essence.
Of course, so dream-like as they are, but while The Sentence is very easy to interpret, The Penal Colony is such a fertile ground for exploration. What came most immediately to mind was Adam Phillips' comment in Equals of "the sadist being the masochist in unconscious fantasy, and vice versa," (although there is more to be made of the show more story than that, for me it loomed the largest apparent message). show less
I was told by an acquaintance who happens to be "a Kafka scholar" that they consider these two stories - The Penal Colony and The Judgement (or The Sentence) to be the epitome of Kafka's writing, the most representative of his literary essence.
Of course, so dream-like as they are, but while The Sentence is very easy to interpret, The Penal Colony is such a fertile ground for exploration. What came most immediately to mind was Adam Phillips' comment in Equals of "the sadist being the masochist in unconscious fantasy, and vice versa," (although there is more to be made of the show more story than that, for me it loomed the largest apparent message). show less
In true Kafka style, this is a compelling work subject to many different interpretations. Is it an allegory about the demise of religious belief, or a totalitarian government, etc? Your guess is as good as mine. A fascinating and grisly short story about a 19th century penal colony and various persons response to a horrific execution device.
The novella is standard Kafka although not quite as depressing as some, but definitely as absurd. The condemnation of a man to execution without benefit of trial or defense is the kind of thing that is taken matter-of-factly in Kafka's world. And the delight shown in describing the execution device by the executioner is downright chilling.
stop before you get through all of these. most folks get this volumen because of the oft-lauded and popularized-by-high-school Metomorphosis. Certainly don't read them all in a row, and not all in a row in one weekend. [i might never be the same, and i can't say it's for the better, but my teenage angst just ate it up.]
why is kafka revered? he's so boring, so structured.
Metamorphosis is good.
Contains:
Conversation with the supplicant --
Meditation --
The judgement --
The metamorphosis --
A country doctor --
In the penal colony --
A hunger artist.
Conversation with the supplicant --
Meditation --
The judgement --
The metamorphosis --
A country doctor --
In the penal colony --
A hunger artist.
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Trinity College Booklist (1951): Class Nine, Foreign Literatures
161 works; 3 members
Author Information
1,506+ Works 103,839 Members
Franz Kafka -- July 3, 1883 - June 3, 1924 Franz Kafka was born to middle-class Jewish parents in Prague, Czechoslovakia on July 3, 1883. He received a law degree at the University of Prague. After performing an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts, he obtained a position in the workman's compensation show more division of the Austrian government. Always neurotic, insecure, and filled with a sense of inadequacy, his writing is a search for personal fulfillment and understanding. He wrote very slowly and deliberately, publishing very little in his lifetime. At his death he asked a close friend to burn his remaining manuscripts, but the friend refused the request. Instead the friend arranged for publication Kafka's longer stories, which have since brought him worldwide fame and have influenced many contemporary writers. His works include The Metamorphosis, The Castle, The Trial, and Amerika. Kafka was diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) in August 1917. As his disease progressed, his throat became affected by the TB and he could not eat regularly because it was painful. He died from starvation in a sanatorium in Kierling, near Vienna, after admitting himself for treatment there on April 10, 1924. He died on June 3 at the age of 40. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Franz Kafka has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the Legacy Libraries group.
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces
- Original publication date
- 1919-10
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 833.91
- Canonical LCC
- PT2621.A26
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Statistics
- Members
- 982
- Popularity
- 26,777
- Reviews
- 8
- Rating
- (3.98)
- Languages
- 7 — English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Portuguese, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 22
- ASINs
- 14
