The Castle

Franz Kafka's final novel tells the haunting tale of a man known only as K. and of his relentless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority in order to gain entrance to the Castle. Although Kafka seemed to consider "The Castle" a failure, critics, in wrestling with its enigmatic meaning, have recognized it as one of the great novels of our century. Unfinished at Kafka's death in 1924, the manuscript of "The Castle" was edited for publication by Kafka's friend and literary executor, Max Brod. Both Brod's edition and the English-language translation of it that was prepared by Willa and Edwin Muir in 1930 have long been considered flawed.This new edition of Kafka's terrifying and comic masterpiece is the product of an international team of experts who went back to Kafka's original manuscript and notes to create an edition that is as close as possible to the way the author left it. The "Times Literary Supplement" hailed their work, saying that it will "decisively alter our understanding of Kafka and render previous editions obsolete."Mark Harman's brilliant translation closely follows the fluidity and breathlessness of the sparsely punctuated original manuscript, revealing levels of comedy, energy, and visual power that have not been previously accessible to English-language readers.W. H. Auden likened Kafka to Dante, Shakespeare, and Goethe as the single most important writer of his age. Here, in this new edition, is a Kafka for the twenty-first century.

a New Edition—certain To Become The New Standard—of One Of The Great Novels Of The 20th Century.

the Unfinished Manuscript Of the Castle Was Discovered After Franz Kafka's Death In 1924, And Has Been Known Only In The Version That His Friend Max Brod Assembled For The First German Edition, Published Two Years Later. Scholars Have Long Lamented Brod's Editorial Improvements, And Have Criticized The Layers Of Interpretation Introduced By Willa And Edwin Muir In What Has Been The Standard English Translation, First Published In 1930.

this New Edition Of Kafka's Terrifying And Comic Masterpiece Is Based On The New German Critical Edition, Which Restored The Text By Using Kafka's Original Manuscript And Notes. Mark Harman's Brilliant Translation Closely Reproduces The Fluidity And Breathlessness Of The Sparsely Punctuated Original Manuscript, Revealing Levels Of Comedy, Energy, And Visual Power That Have Not Been Previously Accessible To English-language Readers.

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upon His Death In 1924, Kafka Instructed His Literary Executor, Max Brod, To Destroy All His Manuscripts. Wisely Refusing His Friend's Last Wishes, Brod Edited The Uncompleted Castle, Along With Other Unfinished Works, Ordering The Fragments Into A Coherent Whole, And Had Them Published. Brod's Interpretation Of The Work As A Novel Of Personal Salvation Was Accepted And Strengthened By Willa And Edward Muir, Who Translated It Into English In 1930. Recent Scholarship, Less Willing To Accept Brod's Version, Has Led To A New Critical Edition Of The Novel, Which Was Published In German In 1982 And Which Purports To Be Closer To Kafka's Intentions. Harman's Translation Represents This Edition's First Appearance In English. Harman's Stated Goal As Translator Is To Reproduce As Closely As Possible Kafka's Style, Which Results In An English That Is Stranger And Denser Than The Muirs' Elegant Work. -- Michael O'pecko, Towson State University, Maryland

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)Arriving in a village to take up the position of land surveyor for the mysterious lord of a castle, the character known as K. finds himself in a bitter and baffling struggle to contact his new employer and go about his duties. As the villagers and the Castle officials block his efforts at every turn, K.’s consuming quest–quite possibly a self-imposed one–to penetrate the inaccessible heart of the Castle and take its measure is repeatedly frustrated. Kafka once suggested that the would-be surveyor in The Castle is driven by a wish “to get clear about ultimate things,” an unrealizable desire that provided the driving force behind all of Kafka’s dazzlingly uncanny fictions. Translated by Willa and Edwin MuirFrom the Hardcover edition. The Castle (original title: "Das Schloß") is the story of K., the unwanted Land Surveyor who is never to be admitted to the Castle nor accepted in the village, and yet cannot go home. As he encounters dualities of certainty and doubt, hope and fear, and reason and nonsense, K.'s struggles in the absurd, labyrinthine world where he finds himself seem to reveal an inexplicable truth about the nature of existence. Kafka began The Castle in 1922 and it was never finished, yet this, the last of his three great novels, draws fascinating conclusions that make it feel strangely complete. The story of land-surveyor K's obsessive attempts to reach the castle, illustrating man's struggle against bureaucracy