Franz Kafka: Literature of Absurd and Hope. A Guide to His Works

Franz Kafka – one of the main writers of the 20th century, who was able to express the essence of phenomena that became defining in this tragic century. His books talk about absurdity, alienation, totalitarianism, about the wandering of the human soul among the ruins of a universe that has suddenly become alien and hostile. But how can one navigate the endless labyrinths of the Kafkaesque world without losing one's mind?

This book will be your guide to the works of a writer whose books remain contemporary and relevant even in the first half of the 21st century. In simple and accessible language, philologist Maxim Zhuk introduces the reader to the historical and cultural context that shaped Franz Kafka's worldview, explains what modernism is, deciphers the meanings of Kafkaesque novellas 'The Metamorphosis', 'In the Penal Colony', and the novels 'America', 'The Trial', and 'The Castle'. A separate chapter is dedicated to the perception of the writer's legacy in Russian culture and the fate of the publication of his works in the USSR. Also, for the first time in Russian, the book publishes 'The Reverse Metamorphosis of Gregor Samsa' by Karl Brand – a continuation of Franz Kafka's novella 'The Metamorphosis'.