The Investigations of a Dog

Written in 1922, the text belongs to Kafka's late period and is structured as a quasi-scientific investigation. The dog-researcher attempts to uncover the origins of food, the nature of the «dog people», and the sources of mysterious music — an art that disrupts the usual order. The researcher strives to create a holistic picture of the world, but these investigations do not reward him with knowledge; instead, they lead only to extreme exhaustion. However, this moment becomes pivotal for the story's hero. He abandons scientific inquiries and turns to the mystery of music.

The edition is accompanied by photographs of the artist Kirill Saveliev. They depict the mundane, transcending the rational and relocating it to the otherworldly realm of the random and sometimes absurd. The heroes of many of his shots — stray dogs, who, like the animals in Kafka's story, exist in a world without humans, are driven to attempt to become its main interpreters, to grasp that existential uncertainty which secretly unites dogs and humans.