![Kafka's most autobiographical work of fiction is the haunting, ironic tale of a traveler known only as K. and his endless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority to gain admittance to “the Castle.” Hailed by some critics as the great religious allegory of the twentieth century—“This [is the] story of an incorrigible believer”—(Thomas Mann)—and by others as its most emphatically antireligious work —“The search for ultimate meanings…soon attains a sad absurdity” (Irving Howe)—K.’s entrapment in his quixotic quest remains a multilayered enigma for generations to come.
This definitive edition of Kafka’s final great work contains fragments deleted by Kafka and restored by his biographer Max Brod as appendices that “allow the reader to catch a glimpse of Kafka’s creative imagination at work” (Times Literary Supplement)](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-ezptpblrxu/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/1506/2582/TheCastle1__91737.1699995115.jpg?c=2 "Kafka's most autobiographical work of fiction is the haunting, ironic tale of a traveler known only as K. and his endless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority to gain admittance to “the Castle.” Hailed by some critics as the great religious allegory of the twentieth century—“This [is the] story of an incorrigible believer”—(Thomas Mann)—and by others as its most emphatically antireligious work —“The search for ultimate meanings…soon attains a sad absurdity” (Irving Howe)—K.’s entrapment in his quixotic quest remains a multilayered enigma for generations to come.
This definitive edition of Kafka’s final great work contains fragments deleted by Kafka and restored by his biographer Max Brod as appendices that “allow the reader to catch a glimpse of Kafka’s creative imagination at work” (Times Literary Supplement)")
Kafka's most autobiographical work of fiction is the haunting, ironic tale of a traveler known only as K. and his endless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority to gain admittance to “the Castle.” Hailed by some critics as the great religious allegory of the twentieth century—“This [is the] story of an incorrigible believer”—(Thomas Mann)—and by others as its most emphatically antireligious work —“The search for ultimate meanings…soon attains a sad absurdity” (Irving Howe)—K.’s entrapment in his quixotic quest remains a multilayered enigma for generations to come.
This definitive edition of Kafka’s final great work contains fragments deleted by Kafka and restored by his biographer Max Brod as appendices that “allow the reader to catch a glimpse of Kafka’s creative imagination at work” (Times Literary Supplement)
Editorial Review(s)
The light seems to shine behind and through Kafka’s words as it does when a parchment is held to a lamp.” —George Steiner, The New Yorker
“Kafka’s fiction is rich in comedy, often in a biting, desperate farce….[Yet] no other writer of our century has so strongly evoked the claustral sensations of modern experience, sensations of bewilderment, loss, guilt, [and] dispossession.” —From the Introduction by Irving Howe
About the Author
Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was one of the most important writers of the twentieth century. His major novels include The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika.
