"Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book? It took me
years to write, will you take a look?" -- The Beatles
Summaries
Keep in mind that even a straight condensation of a book is greatly influenced
by the author's biases! (In other words, these are mine and reflect my ideas.) And
if you have problems, please read the book before crying to me, or your
teacher/professor. Feel free to ask me any intelligent questions, but be sure to
get your facts straight! I don't want to hear stuff
like "What's going on with Pepsi the barmaid in The Castle?" It's Pepi,
dear; if you aren't going to read the novels at least try to get your facts straight!
These novels are dense, so reading them two or even three times to get the
meaning isn't unusual. Hence, these summaries. Also,
they were all left unfinished, which can be problematic. I hope these prove helpful. I also have
a list of the characters at the end of each summary.
New! The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) 1912
Somewhat brief summary of Kafka's most famous story.
The Castle (Das Schloss) 1922
Since the new 1998 edition has very different chapter divisions and many of the names are
different, the summary for it is on a separate page. Click
here to go to it.
The Trial (Der Prozess)
1914-1916
Amerika (or Der Verschollene, The Man [or Boy]
Who Disappeared) 1912-1914
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