The Complete Stories, 1995     There are other translations of some of the short stories, especially "The Metamorphosis," but for now this is the only place to find all of them in one place.
 

     Amerika (Der Verschollene), 1912-1914, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, 1938  pbk. ed. 1996  This novel, about 16-year-old Karl Rossmann being shipped off to America, isn't quite as well known as The Castle or The Trial, which I think is a shame.   "Franz Kafka's first and funniest novel."  Who are they trying to kid?everyone knows The Trial is much funnier!  Kafka used to laugh hysterically when reading it to his friends.  But seriously, this novel is a treat?especially the proto-Disneyland Theater of Oklahoma.
 
    The Trial, translated by Breon Mitchell, 1998     Here's the brand-new translation of The Trial.   I just got this but it's quite intriguing.  It should be-this set me back $24!  ;-)  The story of Joseph K., arrested for a crime he knows nothing about and forced to deal with the shadowy Court investigating him, this has been seen as everything from a presentiment of totalitarianism to a psychological study.

      The Trial, translated by Edwin and Willa Muir, 1937  pbk. ed. 1995  The older version of The Trial.  The differences, besides the translation itself, is that this has the excised passages not in the other one.  All right, so you probably don't see the point, but still of interest. There's nothing really wrong with the Muir translations, it's just that they frequently read more like British novels of the early-to-mid 20th century than what Kafka originally wrote.
 

     The Castle, translated by Mark Harmon, 1998   Kafka's third and last novel is the story of a land surveyor named K. attempting to gain admittance to the mysterious Castle and his adventures in the village there.  The new translation of The Castle does a much better job of conveying the sense of what Kafka actually wrote, as opposed to loading it down with the translator's notions of what they think it should be about.  Now when are they going to put out the new translation of Amerika?

      The Castle, 1922, translated by Edwin and Willa Muir, 1930 pbk. ed. 1995   This is not to say that the old Muir translation is worthless.  For one thing, it's cheaper :o).  More importantly, though, you can get a rather different take on the story, owing to the Muirs' own interpretation of it as well as the literary and intellectual trends prevailing at the time (1930s).  You know what they say?"The translator is a traitor," which could go for almost anything on this page, really.

    Diaries, 1910 - 1923, pbk ed. 1988 Although Kafka himself would doubtless be really upset if he caught you paging through his diaries, they are extremely revealing and let you see into the man.

      The Blue Octavo Notebooks, pbk. ed. 1993    Not quite a diary or a journal, this contains miscellaneous thoughts and little snatches of stories.

    Letters to Friends, Family and Editors,  Letters to Felice,  Letters to Milena    Finding the Letters is a tough job, since they haven't been reprinted for ages.  Rather fascinating, though.

     The Basic Kafka edited by Erich Heller, 1984  Cheap and portable, this contains stuff like "The Metamorphosis", "The Judgment," and the Letter to His Father.

     Franz Kafka: A Biography  by Max Brod  pbk ed. 1995   Kafka's best friend Max Brod's flawed but seminal biography.

   A Hesitation Before Birth  by Peter Mailloux, 1988 A 622-page, exhaustively researched biography.  And I do mean exhaustive.  Some deficiencies but worth the long haul—and I do mean long.

    The Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka by Ernst Pawel, 1984 One of the best biographies, even though it comes in at a "mere" 466 pages. Not quite as detailed or extensive as A Hesitation Before Birth, but it is easier to read and to get into, which is a big plus.

   Conversations with Kafka by Gustav Janouch, expanded edition, 1971    This purpots to be the transcripts of conversations Janouch had with Franz Kafka. At the time (1920) Janouch was 17 and his father worked in the same Workers' Accident Insurance Institute as Kafka, and after Kafka saw some of Janouch's poems they began talking together in Kafka's office and while taking walks around Prague. The veracity of these conversations has been debated (How could he remember 200 pages of material so exactly?), although it must be noted that both Max Brod and Dora Diamant felt they were exactly like the Kafka they knew. No matter what the truth is, though, they are very interesting in themselves.

    Kafka and Kabbalah by Karl Erich Grözinger, 1994    This book argues that the Jewish element in Kafka, especially the mystical, Kabbalistic side, has been largely overlooked, and provides a lengthy comparison of Kafka's works with Kabbalistic texts and stories. Highly interesting to read, even if somewhat overly speculative about the influences on Kafka and how much he knew about the Kabbalah.

    Milena: The Tragic Story of Kafka's Great Love by Margarete Buber-Neumann, pbk ed. 1997    Bring out your hankies for this one.  This isn't about Kafka per se but about one of his girlfriends, Milena Jesenská, who was a very strong, intelligent, corageous woman.  Buber-Neumann met her in the concentration camp at Ravensbrück and was so struck by her she wrote this book.

    Kafka, Love and Courage: The Life of Milena Jesenská by Mary Hockaday, 1997 A considerably more detailed life of Milena, and very well-researched, even if not quite as personal as the previous book.

    Kafka's Prague: A Travel Reader by Klaus Wagenbach, 1996 Even if you aren't going to Prague anytime soon, this book really takes you into Kafka's world and shows you what it was like for him there.

    Give it Up!  and Other Short Stories by Franz Kafka  Illustrated by Peter Kuper, 1995   Illustrated versions of some of Kafka's shorter stories.  Strangely disturbing, but in a good way, like much of Kafka's work.

    Le Siècle de Kafka (The Century of Kafka), 1984     To mark the 100th anniversary of Kafka's birth in 1983, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris had an extensive exhibit about him.  This book is kind of the official record.  Although it's in French, there's a lot of stuff in here: pictures, essays, and intriguingly, two different versions of the first couple of pages of  Le Château in French.   Kind of arcane, but still interesting.

         Kafka's Dick  by Alan Bennett, 1986      Where the hell do they get these names?!?  This play is a riot.  It focuses on the ridiculousness of much literary criticism (I think), taking as a starting point some Freudians' theory that the way he wrote had something to do with his alleged, er, lack of physical endowment.  Click here to read a couple of brief excerpts.
 
 

Philip Roth,  "The Professor in Prague" and "I Always Wanted You to Admire My Fasting; or Looking at Kafka"     A couple of short stories in A Philip Roth Reader about Kafka, the first about an American professor traveling to Prague and ending up dreaming about visiting a prostitute Kafka went to, and the other about Kafka living to become a Hebrew teacher in New Jersey, of all places.  Pleasantly obscene, shall we say.  But what were you expecting from the author of Portnoy's Complaint? Click here to visit the Philip Roth homepage.
 

     Lectures on Literature by Vladimir Nabokov, 1980   This contains seven lectures on masterpieces of European fiction, including The Metamorphosis.  Really makes you think.  Click here for the text of the lecture on Metamorphosis.  Click here to go to Waxwing.

     The Annotated Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov    While we're at it, I might as well recommend Lolita, a great novel, but definitely not for the squeamish.  I recommend the annotated edition, especially if you can't read French or if you don't "get" the somewhat obscure literary references.  Click here to go to Zembla, the Nabokov Butterfly Net.

     Cliff's Notes    And, of course, we have the (in)famous Cliff's Notes.  I had a teacher once who threatened to flunk anyone using such a blatant cheating device, although you have to wonder just how they'd find this out.  My own feeling is that anything at all that helps you follow and/or understand the story can't be all bad, especially with someone as (occasionally) obscure and confusing as Kafka (sorry).  That is, as long as you read the actual story! Click here to visit the official Cliff's Notes website.