He: Shorter Writings of Franz Kafka (riverrun editions)

Joshua Cohen's "He: Shorter Writings of Franz Kafka" is a collection of brief, minor works that are actually major. It includes popular favorites like "The Bucket Rider," "The Penal Colony," and "The Burrow," and emphasizes the stately structure of coherent logic within an incoherent illogical world. Cohen's selection shows how Kafka harnessed the humblest grammar to metamorphic power, showing the absence of the universe's only reliable narrator, God.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 03 September 2020
Publisher: Quercus Publishing

Franz Kafka's writing is like trying to describe the Great Wall of China to someone who's standing right next to it. The only honest thing to do is point.

Joshua Cohen, in his preface to "He: Shorter Writings of Franz Kafka," presents a collection of Kafka's brief and minor works, which he believes are actually major. Cohen challenges the boundaries between different forms of writing, such as stories, letters, workplace memos, and diary entries, and includes popular favorites like "The Bucket Rider," "The Penal Colony," and "The Burrow."

In this collection, we see Kafka's preoccupations with writing about animals, messiah variations, food and exercise, each in his signature style. Cohen's selection emphasizes the stately structure of utterly coherent logic within an utterly incoherent illogical world, showcasing how Kafka harnessed the humblest grammar to metamorphic power until the predominant effect ceases to be the presence of an unreliable narrator but rather the absence of the universe's only reliable narrator.

Who is God? These are the profound questions that Kafka's writing invites us to ponder. His unique and enigmatic style continues to captivate readers, leaving a lasting impact on literature and philosophy.

Weight: 224g
Dimension: 129 x 197 x 33 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781787478213