Kafka

This brief but comprehensive biography of Franz Kafka and summary of many of his works, all illustrated by R. Crumb, helps us understand the essence of Kafka and provide insight beyond the cliche "Kafkaesque." Kafka wrote in the tradition of the great Yiddish storytellers, whose stock-in-trade was bizarre fantasy tainted with hilarity and self-abasement. What he added to this tradition was an almost unbearably expanded consciousness. Alienated from his roots, his family, his surroundings, and primarily from his own body, Kafka created a unique literary language in which to hide away, transforming himself into a cockroach, an ape, a dog, a mole or a circus artiste who starves himself to death in front of admiring crowds. An illuminating introduction to Kafka's oeuvre and Crumb's art. Short Discount)