selected literary criticism and commentary
Franz Kafka a bibliography is a short selection of further reading related to Kafka, his major works, and some of the recent criticism.
Jeremy Adler, Franz Kafka (Overlook Illustrated Lives), Gerald Duckworth, 2004.
Mark Anderson. Kafka’s Clothes: Ornament and Aestheticism in the Habsburg Fin de Siecle, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992
Louis Begley, The Tremendous Words I have Inside my Head: Franz Kafka: A Biographical Essay, Atlas Illustrated editions, 2008.
Harold Bloom, Franz Kafka (Bloom’s Major Novelists), Chelsea House Publishers, 2003.
Elizabeth Boa, Kafka: Gender, Class, and Race in the Letters and Fictions, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.
Max Brod, Franz Kafka: A Biography, Da Capo Press, 1995.
Max Brod (ed), The Diaries of Franz Kafka, Schoken Books, 1988.
Elias Canetti, Kafka’s Other Trial: The Letters to Felice, Schocken Books, 1989.
Stanley Corngold, Lambent Traces: Franz Kafka, Princeton University Press, 2006.
W.J. Dodd (ed), Kafka: The Metamorphosis, The Trial, and The Castle, London: Longman, 1995.
Carolin Duttlinger, Kafka and Photography, Oxford: Oxford Universit Press, 2007.
Angel Flores (ed), The Kafka Debate, New York: Gordian Press, 1977.
Sander Gilman, Franz Kafka (Critical Lives), Reaktion Books, 2007.
Sander Gilman, Franz Kafka: The Jewish Patient, London: Routledge, 1995.
Richard T. Gray (ed), A Franz Kafka Encyclopedia, Greenwood Press, 2005.
Ronald Gray, Kafka: A Collection of Critical Essays, Prentice Hall, 1962.
James Hawes, Excavating Kafka, Quercus Publishing, 2010
Ronald Hayman, A Biography of Kafka, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001.
Franz Kafka, The Blue Octavo Notebooks, Exact Change, 1998.
Franz Kafka, The Trial (Complete Audiobooks), Naxos Audiobooks, 2007.
David Zane Mairowitz, Introducing Kafka, Icon Books, 2007.
Julian Preece (ed), The Cambridge Companion to Kafka, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Ronald Spiers, and Beatrice Sandberg, Franz Kafka, London: Macmillan, 1997.
Daryl Sharp, The Secret Raven: Conflict and Transformation in the Life of Franz Kafka, Inner City Books, 1982.
Walter H. Sokel, The Myth of Power and the Self: Essays on Franz Kafka, Wayne State University Press, 2001.
Ritchie Robertson, Kafka: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Ritchie Robertson, Kafka: Judaism, Politics, and Literature, Clarendon Press, 1987.
James Rolleston (ed), A Companion to the Works of Franz Kafka, Camden House, 2006.
Michael Wood, Franz Kafka (Writers and Their Work), Northcote House, 1998.
The Cambridge Companion to Kafka offers a comprehensive account of his life and work, providing a rounded contemporary appraisal of Central Europe’s most distinctive Modernist. Contributions cover all the key texts, and discuss Kafka’s writing in a variety of critical contexts such as feminism, deconstruction, psycho-analysis, Marxism, and Jewish studies. Other chapters discuss his impact on popular culture and film. The essays are well supported by supplementary material including a chronology of the period and detailed guides to further reading, and will be of interest to students of Comparative Literature.
Franz Kafka – web links
Franz Kafka at Mantex
Biographical notes, book reviews and study guides on the major works, video presentations and documentaries, adaptations for cinema and television, and links to Kafka archives.
Franz Kafka at Project Gutenberg
A major collection of free eTexts in a variety of formats – in both English and German.
Franz Kafka at Wikipedia
Biographical notes, social background, survey of the stories and novels, publishing history, translations, critical interpretation, and extensive bibliographies.
Franz Kafka at the Internet Movie Database
Adaptations for the cinema and television – in various languages. Full details of directors, actors, production features, box office, film reviews, and even quizzes.
Kafka in Love
Video photomontage featuring portraits of Kafka, his friends and family, and locations in Prague – with a rather schmaltzy soundtrack in Yiddish and English.
Kafka-Metamorphosis
A public Wiki dedicated to Kafka and his work, featuring the short stories, interpretations, and further web links.
Kafka Society of America
Academic group with annual meetings and publications. Also features links to other Kafka-related sites
Oxford Kafka Research Centre
Academic group based at Oxford University that tracks current research and meetings. [Doesn’t seem to have been updated since 2012.]
The Kafka Project
Critical editions and translations of Kafka’s work in several languages, plus articles, literary criticism, bibliographies.
Tribute to Franz Kafka
Individual fan site (created by ‘Herzogbr’) featuring a collection of texts, reviews, and enthusiast essays. Badly in need of updating, but contains some interesting gems.
Finding Kafka in Prague
Quirky compilation of photos locating Kafka in his home town – with surrealist additions and weird sound track.
Who Owns Kafka?
Essay by Judith Butler from the London Review of Books on the contentious issues of ownership of Kafka’s manuscripts where they are currently held in Israel – complete with podcast.
The Kafka Archive – latest news
Guardian newspaper report on the suitcase full of Kafka and Max Brod’s papers released by Israeli library.
Franz Kafka: an illustrated life
Book review of a charming short biography with some unusual period photos of Kafka and Prague.
© Roy Johnson 2010
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