HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

The Castle (1926)

by Franz Kafka

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
8,128861,024 (3.94)168
Classic Literature. Fiction. Literature. HTML:

Translated and with a preface by Mark Harman

Left unfinished by Kafka in 1922 and not published until 1926, two years after his death, The Castle is the haunting tale of K.â??s relentless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority in order to gain access to the Castle. Scrupulously following the fluidity and breathlessness of the sparsely punctuated original manuscript, Mark Harmanâ??s new translation reveals levels of comedy, energy, and visual power previously unknown to English language readers… (more)

  1. 42
    The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro (chrisharpe)
  2. 10
    The Music of Chance by Paul Auster (susanbooks)
  3. 10
    The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips (4leschats)
    4leschats: Both deal with the surreality and dehumanization of bureaucracy
  4. 00
    Metropole by Ferenc Karinthy (alzo)
    alzo: more kafka-esque than kafka, a man finds himself in an uknown city with an unrecognisable language, trying to find a way out of the city back home
  5. 00
    The Investigation by Philippe Claudel (jodocus)
  6. 00
    Ice by Anna Kavan (razorsoccamremembers)
  7. 01
    Crash Gordon and the Mysteries of Kingsburg by Derek Swannson (jasbro)
  8. 01
    The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati (chrisharpe)
  9. 13
    Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami (alzo)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 168 mentions

English (70)  Catalan (2)  French (2)  Italian (2)  Dutch (2)  Portuguese (Portugal) (1)  German (1)  Portuguese (Brazil) (1)  Spanish (1)  Swedish (1)  All languages (83)
Showing 1-5 of 70 (next | show all)
I mean... it's really disappointing when reaching the last few pages of a book, getting suspenseful and then have the ending be just in the middle of a random sentence which is not at all any closure to the story, characters or anything of the like. The defining moment of the book is definitely K. rejecting Pepi on her theory (or deceit) to K. about Frieda's plotting to use him for her own benefit. I have to admit that I will probably forget this book in a day or two already though since it was just such a bore with an absurd amount of filler content (especially the chapters with Olga / Amalia) which were not focal to the story. It was okay. That's it ( )
  AskG | Jul 6, 2023 |
Too much Kafka in too little time, DNF ( )
  bspar | Jan 1, 2023 |
I have absolutely no idea how to rate this book… ( )
  diveteamzissou | Dec 2, 2022 |
a very long 50-page novella. though the author has the good sense (albeit belated) to give it the conclusion it deserves ( )
  Joe.Olipo | Nov 26, 2022 |
Do you remember the story of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet following the trail of a woozle? They think the woozles are multiplying because their own footprints are multiplying as they circle the tree? The absurdity of following your own footprints without conclusion - that is exactly what reading The Castle is like. K. is a land surveyor who thinks he has been hired to do a job for the Castle only for some inane reason he cannot gain entry. Barriers abound everywhere. How can he measure and estimate if he cannot visit this very important castle? K. is literally thwarted at every turn. No matter how hard he tries, no matter how many schemes he concocts, he never does any surveying for anyone. On a deeper level, it seems Kafka is trying to tell us K. abandons his home for a quest for meaning.
Beside the strangeness of K.'s insistence to do a job he obviously wasn't hired for, there are other bizarre moments: K. randomly throwing snowballs at people or calling both assistants by the same name because he cannot tell them apart (and why does he need assistants when he can't do the job in the first place?). All of a sudden he is engaged to Herr Klamm's lover, Frieda. They are given classrooms as a place to live as they are hired to take care of the school and vegetable garden, only they have to vacate the room if a class is in session. Of course a class is going to be in session and heaven forbid K. is left alone with the cat! So many absurdities that I'm back to the analogy of Pooh and Piglet.
As an aside, listen to a song by Josh Ritter called "The Torch Committee". In the lyrics, Josh lists rules and regulations that are reminiscent of the hoops K. must go through in order to gain entry to the castle. If K. is not dealing with the Control Official or Department A, he is negotiating with Town Council or the Superintendent or the Mayor. ( )
1 vote SeriousGrace | Oct 3, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 70 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (82 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Kafka, Franzprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Böhmer, GunterIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bell, AntheaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bragg, BillIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Brod, MaxEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Fabian, ErwinCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Harman, MarkTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Howe, IrvingIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kaiser, ErnstTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Muir, EdwinTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Muir, WillaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pasley, MalcolmEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rho, AnitaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sötemann, GuusTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wilkins, EithneTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Information from the German Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
It was in the evening when K. arrived.
It was late evening when K. arrived. (tr. Mark Harman)
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

Classic Literature. Fiction. Literature. HTML:

Translated and with a preface by Mark Harman

Left unfinished by Kafka in 1922 and not published until 1926, two years after his death, The Castle is the haunting tale of K.â??s relentless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority in order to gain access to the Castle. Scrupulously following the fluidity and breathlessness of the sparsely punctuated original manuscript, Mark Harmanâ??s new translation reveals levels of comedy, energy, and visual power previously unknown to English language readers

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Legacy Library: Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the Legacy Libraries group.

See Franz Kafka's legacy profile.

See Franz Kafka's author page.

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.94)
0.5 5
1 27
1.5 11
2 65
2.5 25
3 245
3.5 66
4 488
4.5 71
5 453

Penguin Australia

An edition of this book was published by Penguin Australia.

» Publisher information page

Recorded Books

An edition of this book was published by Recorded Books.

» Publisher information page

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 197,486,169 books! | Top bar: Always visible