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[ excerpt ]
German writing
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contemplation
by Franz Kafka
translated from the German by Kevin Blahut
illustrated by Fedele Spadafora
Kafka's first published book (1913), Contemplation is composed of eighteen "prose poems,"
displaying the full range of Kafka's compact metaphorical style. In this new translation, Blahut has
been faithful to the original German while rendering it in a fresh, contemporary English. This edition is complemented
by 18 pen-and-ink drawings.
Dear Mr. Rowohlt: I am enclosing the little prose pieces you wanted to see; they will probably be enough to make up a small book. While I was putting it together toward this end, I sometimes had to choose between satisfying my sense of responsibility and an eagerness to have a book among your beautiful books. Certainly I did not in each instance make an entirely clear-cut decision. But now I should naturally be happy if the things pleased you sufficiently to print them. |
— Franz Kafka
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I can well imagine this book finding its way into the hands of someone whose life is
instantly changed by it. |
— Max Brod, März
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This volume seems to have paved the way to Parnassus. It is profound,
having been created by the most delicate of fingers. |
— Kurt Tucholsky, Prager Tagblatt
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Rhythmic like the lament of a forlorn maiden, this exceptionally mature
work exhibits the light touch of the French prose masters. |
— Otto Pick, Bohemia
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ISBN 978 80 902171 5 7
72 pp.
13 x 18 cm
18 b/w illustrations
hardcover
short fiction
Price of €11.50 includes airmail worldwide
or order from:
The Book Depository
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Indiebound
Powells
SPD
Central Books
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[ excerpt ]
German writing
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a country doctor
by Franz Kafka
translated from the German by Kevin Blahut
illustrated by Zoulfiia Gazaeva
First published in 1919, among the 14 stories contained in this volume are some of Kafka's most renowned shorter
works: "Before the Law," "Jackals and Arabs," "A Report for an Academy." As with the other volumes
published by Twisted Spoon Press, Kevin Blahut has produced a translation that is contemporary and fresh, capturing perfectly the ironic
humor found in these stories.
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ISBN 978 80 902171 4 0
96 pp.
13 x 18 cm
8 b/w illustrations
hardcover
short fiction
reprint in spring 2012
order from:
The Book Depository
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Indiebound
Powells
SPD
Central Books
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[ excerpt ]
German writing
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a hunger artist
by Franz Kafka
translated from the German by Kevin Blahut
illustrated by Helena Vlcnovska
The last book published during Kafka's lifetime, A Hunger Artist (1924) explores many of the themes
that were close to him: spiritual poverty, asceticism, futility, and the alienation of the modern artist. He
edited the manuscript just before his death, and these four stories are some of his best known and most powerful work, marking
his maturity as a writer. In addition to "First Sorrow," "A Little Woman," and "Josephine, the Singer," is
the title story, "A Hunger Artist," which has been called by the critic Heinz Politzer "a perfection, a fatal fulfillment
that expresses Kafka's desire for permanence."
Kafka's sirens are silent. Perhaps for Kafka music and singing are an expression or at
least a token of escape, a token of hope which comes to us from that intermediate world — at once unfinished
and commonplace, comforting and silly — in which the assistants are at home. Kafka is like the lad who set out
to learn what fear was. He has got into Potemkin's palace and finally, in the depths of its cellar, has encountered
Josephine, the singing mouse ... |
— Walter Benjamin
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ISBN 978 80 902171 1 9
88 pp.
13 x 18 cm
4 pen and ink drawings
hardcover
short stories
Price of €11.50 includes airmail worldwide
or order from:
The Book Depository
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Indiebound
Powells
SPD
Central Books
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