Franz Kafka bibliography
, a German-language writer of novels and short stories, regarded by critics as one of the most influential authors of the 20th century, was trained as a lawyer and was employed by an insurance company, writing only in his spare time.
Fiction
Novels
| English title | Original German title | Translations available | Notes | Cover first edition |
| The Trial | Der Prozess | Willa and Edwin Muir ; Idris Parry ; Breon Mitchell ; David Wyllie ; Richard Stokes ; John Williams; Mike Mitchell | Includes the parable "Before the Law" | |
| The Castle | Das Schloss | Willa and Edwin Muir ; Mark Harman ; J. A. Underwood ; Anthea Bell | published in two versions – Max Brod's 1926 edition and a "definitive edition" in 1951 | |
| Amerika or The Man Who Disappeared; Amerika: The Missing Person | Amerika or Der Verschollene | Willa and Edwin Muir ; Michael Hofmann ; Mark Harman | Includes the short story "The Stoker" as first chapter |
Short stories
| English title | German title |
| "Children on a Country Road" | "Kinder auf der Landstraße" |
| "The Trees" | "Die Bäume" |
| "Clothes" | "Kleider" |
| "Excursion into the Mountains" | "Der Ausflug ins Gebirge" |
| "Rejection" | "Die Abweisung" |
| "The Street Window" | "Das Gassenfenster" |
| "The Tradesman" | "Der Kaufmann" |
| "Absent-minded Window-gazing" | "Zerstreutes Hinausschaun" |
| "The Way Home" | "Der Nachhauseweg" |
| "Passers-by" | "Die Vorüberlaufenden" |
| "On the Tram" | "Der Fahrgast" |
| "Reflections for Gentlemen-Jockeys" | "Zum Nachdenken für Herrenreiter" |
| "The Wish to be a Red Indian" | "Wunsch, Indianer zu werden" |
| "Unhappiness" | "Unglücklichsein" |
| "Bachelor's Ill Luck" | "Das Unglück des Junggesellen" |
| "Unmasking a Confidence Trickster" | "Entlarvung eines Bauernfängers" |
| "The Sudden Walk" | "Der plötzliche Spaziergang" |
| "Resolutions" | "Entschlüsse" |
| English title | Original German title | Collected in: | - |
| "Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart" | "Der Unredliche in seinem Herzen" | Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors | - |
| "Description of a Struggle" includes two dialogues originally published separately: "Conversation with the Supplicant" "Conversation with the Drunk" | "Beschreibung eines Kampfes" "Gespräch mit dem Beter" "Gespräch mit dem Betrunkenen" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories; Both dialogues originally published in Hyperion ; a different version of "Conversation with the Supplicant" appears in | - |
| "Wedding Preparations in the Country" | "Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande" | The Complete Stories, Dearest Father. Stories and Other Writings | - |
| "The Judgment" | "Das Urteil" | The Complete Stories, The Sons, The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces | - |
| The Metamorphosis | Die Verwandlung | The Complete Stories, The Sons, The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces | - |
| "The Stoker" | "Der Heizer" | The Sons; first chapter of Amerika | - |
| "In the Penal Colony" | "In der Strafkolonie" | The Complete Stories, The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces | - |
| "The Village Schoolmaster " | "Der Dorfschullehrer" or Der Riesenmaulwurf | The Complete Stories, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" | "Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories | - |
| The Warden of the Tomb | Der Gruftwächter | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories | - |
| "The Hunter Gracchus" | "Der Jäger Gracchus" | The Complete Stories, Parables and Paradoxes, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "The Great Wall of China" | "Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer" | The Complete Stories, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "The Refusal" | "Die Abweisung" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories, Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "A Hunger Artist" | "Ein Hungerkünstler" | The Complete Stories, The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces | |
| "Investigations of a Dog" | "Forschungen eines Hundes" | The Complete Stories, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "A Little Woman" | "Eine kleine Frau" | The Complete Stories, The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces | - |
| "The Burrow" | "Der Bau" | The Complete Stories, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "Josephine the Singer, or The Mouse Folk" | "Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse" | The Complete Stories, The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces | - |
| "The Bridge" | "Die Brücke" | The Complete Stories, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "The Bucket Rider" | "Der Kübelreiter" | The Complete Stories, The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "The Knock at the Manor Gate" | "Der Schlag ans Hoftor" | The Complete Stories, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "My Neighbor" | "Der Nachbar" | The Complete Stories, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "A Crossbreed" | "Eine Kreuzung" | The Complete Stories, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "A Common Confusion" | "Eine alltägliche Verwirrung" | The Complete Stories, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "The Truth about Sancho Panza" | "Die Wahrheit über Sancho Pansa" | The Complete Stories, Parables and Paradoxes, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "The Silence of the Sirens" | "Das Schweigen der Sirenen" | The Complete Stories, Parables and Paradoxes, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "Prometheus" | "Prometheus" | The Complete Stories, Parables and Paradoxes, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "The City Coat of Arms" | "Das Stadtwappen" | The Complete Stories, Parables and Paradoxes, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "Poseidon" | "Poseidon" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories, Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "Fellowship" | "Gemeinschaft" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories | - |
| "At Night" | "Nachts" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories | - |
| "The Problem of Our Laws" | "Zur Frage der Gesetze" | The Complete Stories, Parables and Paradoxes, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "The Conscription of Troops" | "Die Truppenaushebung" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories | - |
| "The Test" | "Die Prüfung" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories, Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Vulture" | "Der Geier" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories, Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Helmsman" | "Der Steuermann" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories | - |
| "The Top" | "Der Kreisel" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories | - |
| A Little Fable | "Kleine Fabel" | The Complete Stories, The Great Wall of China | - |
| Home-Coming | "Heimkehr" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories | - |
| First Sorrow | "Erstes Leid" | The Complete Stories, The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces | - |
| "The Departure" | "Der Aufbruch" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories | - |
| "Advocates" | "Fürsprecher" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories | - |
| "The Married Couple" | "Das Ehepaar" | The Complete Stories, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "Give It Up!" | "Gibs auf!" | Description of a Struggle, The Complete Stories | - |
| "On Parables" | "Von den Gleichnissen" | The Complete Stories, Parables and Paradoxes, The Great Wall of China | - |
| "Peking and the Emperor" | "Der Kaiser von Peking" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Great Wall and the Tower of Babel" | "Die Chinesische Mauer und der Turmbau von Babel" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "Paradise" | "Das Paradies" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Tower of Babel" | "Der Turm zu Babel" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Pit of Babel" | "Der Schacht von Babel" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "Abraham" | "Abraham" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "Mount Sinai" | "Der Berg Sinai" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Building of the Temple" | "Der Tempelbau" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Animal in the Synagogue" | "Das Tier in der Synagoge" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Watchman" | "Der Wächter" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Coming of the Messiah" | "Das Kommen des Messias" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Sirens" | "Die Sirenen" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "Leopards in the Temple" | "Leoparden in Tempel" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "Alexander the Great" | "Alexander der Grosse" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "Diogenes" | "Diogenes" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Building of a City" | "Der Bau einer Stadt" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Imperial Colonel" | "Der Kaiserliche Oberst" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Emperor" | "Der Kaiser" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "In the Caravansary" | "In der Karawanserei" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Cell" | "Die Zelle" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Invention of the Devil" | "Die Erfindung des Teufels" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Savages" | "Die Wilden" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Green Dragon" | "Der Grüne Drache" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Tiger" | "Der Tiger" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "Couriers" | "Kuriere" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "A Chinese Puzzle" | "Ein Geduldspiel" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "Robinson Crusoe" | "Robinson Crusoe" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Spring" | "Die Quelle" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "The Hunger Strike" | "Die Unersättlichsten" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
| "My Destination" | "Das Ziel" | Parables and Paradoxes | - |
Non-fiction
Diaries and notebooks
Letters
Kafka wrote hundreds of letters to family and close female friends, including his father, his fiancée Felice Bauer, and his youngest sister Ottla.| Title | Original German title | Translators | Notes |
| Letter to His Father | Brief an den Vater | Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins | Included in The Sons and Dearest Father. Stories and Other Writings |
| Letters to Felice | Briefe an Felice und andere Korrespondenz aus der Verlobungszeit | James Stern and Elisabeth Duckworth | Includes Kafka's letters to Grete Bloch |
| Letters to Milena | Briefe an Milena | Philip Boehm | Includes Milena's letters to Max Brod, four essays by her and an obituary for Kafka |
| Letters to Ottla | Briefe an Ottla und die Familie | Richard and Clara Winston | Includes letters to Kafka's parents, sister Ottla, postcards, and drawings |
| Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors | Briefe 1902–1924 | Richard and Clara Winston | Includes a selection from the slips of paper Kafka used to communicate in the last few weeks of his life when he was advised not to speak |
Essays
Work-related writings
Editions and collections
Works and first publications in German
Only a few of Kafka's works were published during his lifetime: the story collections Contemplation and A Country Doctor , and individual stories in literary magazines. He prepared the story collection A Hunger Artist for print, but it was not published until after his death. Kafka's unfinished works, including his novels Der Process, Das Schloss and Amerika , were published posthumously, mostly by his friend Max Brod, who ignored Kafka's wish to have the manuscripts destroyed. Brod also published letters, diaries and aphorisms.Many of Kafka's works have uncertain dates of writing and/or were written over long periods of time. In such cases the year the writing of the work began is used. Year and place of the first publication is shown. For many works the German text is available, for several works also an English translation. It is linked in columns "de" and "en".
| Standard English title | German title | Literal English title | de | en | Genre | Date of writing | Date of first publication | Place of publication | Cover | Remarks |
| Amerika or | Amerika or | America | novel | 1912 | 1927 | Leipzig | title Amerika by Brod, contains "Der Heizer" | |||
| novel | 1914 | 1925 | Berlin | also spelled in German as Der Prozess and Der Prozeß | ||||||
| The Castle | novel | 1922 | 1926 | Leipzig | also spelled in German as Das Schloß | |||||
| Contemplation also known as Meditation | Betrachtung | story collection | 1904–1912 | 1912 | Leipzig | some stories from 1908 in Hyperion | ||||
| story collection | 1919 | 1919 | Leipzig | |||||||
| story collection | 1922 | 1924 | Prague | |||||||
| story collection | 1918 | 1931 | Berlin | |||||||
| play | 1916–1917 | 1958 | New York | in Description of a Struggle | ||||||
| "" including "Conversation with the Supplicant", "Conversation with the Drunk" | "" including "Gespräch mit dem Beter", "Gespräch mit dem Betrunkenen" | ,, | story | 1904 | 1909 | Munich | dialogues first in Hyperion | |||
| "Wedding Preparations in the Country" | "Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande" | story | 1907–1908 | 1954 | London | an incomplete work intended to be a novel | ||||
| story | 1909 | 1909 September | Prague | first in Bohemia | ||||||
| The First Long Journey by Rail | story | 1912 | 1912 May | in Herderblätter | Richard und Samuel: Eine kleine Reise durch mitteleuropäische Gegenden | |||||
| The Verdict | story | 1912 22–23 September | 1913 | Leipzig | in the literary yearbook Arkadia | |||||
| The Transformation | story | 1912 | 1915 | Leipzig | in Die Weißen Blätter | |||||
| story | 1913 | 1927 | Leipzig | in Amerika | ||||||
| "Before the Law" | "Vor dem Gesetz" | story | 1914 | 1915 | Prague | in the independent Jewish weekly Selbstwehr, in Ein Landarzt, in Der Process | ||||
| "In the Penal Colony" | story | 1914 | 1919 | Leipzig | ||||||
| story | 1914–1915 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| story | 1915 | 1958 | New York | in Description of a Struggle | ||||||
| story | 1917 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| story | 1917 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| story | 1917 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| story | 1917 | 1917 | Prague | in Der Jude | ||||||
| story | 1917 | 1917 | Prague | in Der Jude | ||||||
| story | 1917 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| story | 1917 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| story | 1917 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| story | 1917 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| At the building of the Chinese Wall | story | 1918 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | |||||
| story | 1918 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| story | 1919 | 1919 | Leipzig | in Ein Landarzt | ||||||
| "An old page" or "An old leaf" | story | 1919 | 1920 | Leipzig | in Ein Landarzt | |||||
| story | 1920 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| story | 1920 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| story | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | |||||||
| story | 1920 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| story | 1920 | 1936 | in collection Beschreibung eines Kampfes | |||||||
| The Rejection | story | 1920 | 1970 | Frankfurt | title by Brod, same as a different earlier story by Kafka | |||||
| , | story | 1921 | 1921 | Prag | in Prager Presse | |||||
| story | 1922 | 1922 | Prague | in Die neue Rundschau, then in Ein Hungerkünstler | ||||||
| story | 1921–1922 | 1922 | Leipzig | in periodical Genius | ||||||
| story | 1923 | 1931 | Berlin | in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer | ||||||
| story | 1923–1924 | 1924 | Prague | in Prager Tagblatt, then in Ein Hungerkünstler | ||||||
| story | 1923–1924 | 1924 | in Ein Hungerkünstler | |||||||
| story | 1923 | 1924 | Prague | in Prager Presse, then in Ein Hungerkünstler | ||||||
| Franz Kafka's Diaries | Tagebücher | diary | 1910–1923 | 1948 | New York | |||||
| Oxford Octavo Notebooks | notebook | 1917–1919 | 1954 | New York | also known as The Eight Octavo Notebooks | |||||
| Letter to His Father | Brief an den Vater | letter | 1919 November | 1966 | New York | |||||
| Letters to Felice | Briefe an Felice | letter collection | 1912–1917 | 1967 | Frankfurt am Main | - | ||||
| Letters to Ottla | Briefe an Ottla und die Familie | Letters to Ottla and to the family | letter collection | 1909–1924 | 1974 | Frankfurt am Main | includes some letters to his parents and other family members | |||
| Letters to Milena | Briefe an Milena | letter collection | 1920–23 | 1952 | Frankfurt am Main | |||||
| Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors | Briefe 1902–1924 | letter collection | 1900–24 | 1959 | New York | most of the letters are to Brod | ||||
| Zürau Aphorisms, The | Die Zürauer Aphorismen or Betrachtungen über Sünde, Hoffnung, Leid und den wahren Weg | Reflections on Sin, Hope, Suffering, and the True Way | aphorisms | 1917–18 | 1931 | Cologne | Title by Brod |
English translations
Kafka often made extensive use of a characteristic particular to the German language allowing for long sentences that sometimes can span an entire page. Kafka's sentences then deliver an unexpected impact just before the full stop—that being the finalizing meaning and focus. This is achieved due to the construction of certain sentences in German which require that the verb be positioned at the end of the sentence. Such constructions are difficult to duplicate in other languages, so it is up to the resourceful translator to provide the reader with the same effect found in the original text. German's more flexible word order is not the only problem translating German into other languages. German also lacks an informal language register, uses modal connectives, and syntactic structures which can be translated in more than one way. Kafka did not write in standard High German, but rather in a Praguean German heavily influenced by the Yiddish and Czech languages. This has led philosophers Deleuze and Guattari to describe Kafka's linguistic style as "deterritorialized", characterized by a "withered vocabulary" and an "incorrect syntax".German sentences also have a different syntactic structure. Unlike English, German is a verb-final language, which places the main verb of a verb string at the end of a phrase. The difference can be seen in the contrast between the original German version of the first sentence in Kafka's "The Metamorphosis":
Another virtually insurmountable problem facing translators is how to deal with the author's intentional use of ambiguous idioms and words that have several meanings which result in writings difficult to precisely translate. One such instance is found in the first sentence of "The Metamorphosis". English translators have often sought to render the word Ungeziefer as "insect"; in today's German it means vermin. It is sometimes used colloquially to mean "bug" – a very general term, unlike the scientific sounding "insect". Kafka had no intention of labeling Gregor, the protagonist of the story, as any specific thing, but instead wanted to convey Gregor's disgust at his transformation.
Translators have chosen numerous inexact and unsatisfactory ways to represent " ungeheuren Ungeziefer", unable to convey the repetition of the first two syllables and the equal four syllables of the two words in German:
- "gigantic insect"
- "monstrous vermin"
- "giant bug"
- "monstrous insect"
- "enormous bug"
- "monstrous cockroach"
Selected publications in English
| Title | Genre | Translator | Publisher | Date of publication | Place of publication | Remarks |
| The Castle | novel | Willa and Edwin Muir | 1930 | London | ||
| The Great Wall of China | Martin Secker | 1933 | London | |||
| The Trial | novel | Willa and Edwin Muir | Victor Gollancz | 1937 | London | |
| America | novel | Willa and Edwin Muir | 1938 | United States | ||
| The Diaries Of Franz Kafka | diaries | Joseph Kresh, Martin Greenberg and Hannah Arendt | 1963 | |||
| Amerika | novel | Mark Harman | 2008 | United States | ||
| ' | story collection | Willa and Edwin Muir | Schocken Books | 1948 | United States | |
| Dearest Father. Stories and Other Writings | letters | Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins | 1954 | United States | ||
| Description of a Struggle | story collection | Tania and James Stern | Schocken Books | 1958 | United States | |
| ' | story collection | Clement Greenberg, Ernst Kaiser & Eithne Wilkins, Willa & Edwin Muir, Tania & James Stern | Schocken Books | 1961 | United States | |
| The Complete Stories | story collection | Willa & Edwin Muir, Tania & James Stern | Schocken Books | 1971 | United States | |
| Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors | letters | Richard and Clara Winston | Schocken Books | 1977 | United States | |
| The Sons | story collection | Schocken Books | 1989 | United States | ||
| The Zürau Aphorisms | aphorisms | Michael Hofmann | Schocken Books | 2006 | United States | |
| Lost in America | novel | Anthony Northey | Vitalis Verlag | 2010 | Prague | |
| The Trial | novel | Susanne Lück, Maureen Fitzgibbons | Vitalis Verlag | 2012 | Prague | |
| The Castle | novel | Jon Calame, Seth Rogoff, Anthony Northey | Vitalis Verlag | 2014 | Prague | |
| Letter to Father | letters | Karen Reppin | Vitalis Verlag | 2016 | Prague | |
| The Metamorphosis | short story | Karen Reppin | Vitalis Verlag | 2016 | Prague | |
| A Country Doctor | story collection | Siegfried Mortkowitz | Vitalis Verlag | 2017 | Prague | |
| Meditation | story collection | Siegfried Mortkowitz | Vitalis Verlag | 2017 | Prague |