Franz Kafka's Short Stories

Franz Kafka, a German Jew living in the Czech capital of Prague, was one of the most ambitious and experimental short story writers of the modern era. Combining surreal, speculative philosophical dreaming and dark humor with a sharp awareness of the ravages of the totalitarian century, he continues to be at the core of innovative literary practice. Class will read "A Country Doctor," "A Hunger Artist," "The Hunter Gracchus," "In The Penal Colony," "Before the Law," "Josephine the Singer," and "The Metamorphosis." Please use the Schocken translation.