Amerika: The Missing Person: A New Translation, Based on the Restored Text (The Schocken Kafka Library)

There is one traditional interpretation of Kafka’s corpus which sees it a spiritual allegory. Thus, the Castle is a extended metaphor of the journey to heaven, the court officials of the Trial are divine beings, etc.I didn’t see this as the focus of his best-known works, but it’s hard to avoid such an interpretation of Amerika. The lower classes slave away in the city of Ramses, the protagonist is welcomed to a paradisal home by performers dressed as angels…it seems clear Kafka meant to say something about the spiritual life.But what he meant to say isn’t obvious. As I read him, it’s not so much an effort to provide a religious interpretation of early twentieth century American life as to comment on its spiritual poverty.If, as the novel suggests, heaven is nothing more than the ideal employer, if work is nothing more than a more technological version of the slavery in Egypt, what does it say about the humaneness of American life?In short, I see Kafka using religious metaphors to highlight the inhumanity of American culture similar to the critiques of European culture’s bureaucracy and statism in the Trial and The Castle.These later works may be more important, but those who only wish that Kafka had written more will surely enjoy Amerika. Not my favorite of Kafka’s but still recommended.

That Franz Kafka is one of the great modern writers is a general truth. He was a perfectionist and left instructions that all his works be destroyed after his death, but people who understood his talent couldn't let that happen. "Amerika" was a manuscript left unfinished, but in 1927 his friend Max Brod published what he thought was a representation. In the years after there were various attempts to rework the manuscript, and now we have a new translation.Kafka had not visited America, but there was so much information about America in Germany that he set out to compose his "American Novel." It is the story of a young man who is disowned by his family in Prague for an indescretion and forced to immigrate to America. Right away one knows that the novel is going to be unusual because the Statue of Liberty greets the young man with a sword rather than a torch.Without going into all the social and political background, the story itself is spellbinding. There are turns in the plot that couldn't be imagined, and the darkness that Kafka weaves is chilling. From the mind of a master, this is a journey that is hard to forget.

beautiful book design on this, great work by peter mendelsund for this re-issue. not quite as enamored of mark harman’s particular translation, here, and prefer the muirs’ translation overall, but your mileage may vary. what is ideal is to have both to compare; between the two sources and their slight differences, you arrive at a better concept of the original phrasing and feel.

I like Kafka. I think this novel would have been even better if revised and polished by the author, but that didn't happen. World War I and his early death happened instead. Alas.

Enjoyed the story but I am not into allegory, symbolism or other things like that and that's where this novel is discussed.

I am now convinced that Franz Kafka is one of the most overrated authors of the 20th century.The reader is dragged along tediously in this plotless theme of a young man struggling in a foreign place among strangers. It's Kafkaesque enough, but so so boringly and crudely so.This novel sounds absurd in various places, like with the names of the characters that seem so out of place. The whole story would have been much more adequately set in Vienna or Prague, not that that would have made much difference in the overall cohesion of the book.

Came back in great quality, and it's my second favorite tale by Kafka. I can't wait to travel back into this tale again

Not my favorite from Kafka, that would be "The Metamorphosis". Shame that, like The Castle, it just ends, it would have been interesting to see the conclusion Kafka had in store for our main character. In my opinion this is Kafka's darkest, most depressing work; I almost did not want to read anymore. However if you want your reading of Kafka's work to be complete you might as well soldier through it.

Terrible quality! The pages hadn’t been trimmed at all and the cover had sticky marks all over it. Had to send back

There are a lot of translations that are easy to afford, beg, borrow, or steal. I might have bought this book from a used store downtown, but the price is good enough, and because I am an academic, a recent translation works best for me. If you're just a casual reader, maybe buy it from a brick-and-mortar store, or find a cheaper edition used at the local used bookstore. But if are an academic, this is a great translation. And if you are buying it as a gift, the cover matches tasteful, uncluttered bookshelf décor and the mess in a spooky teenager's bedroom alike. No small feat for the patron saint of emo writers.

Very good copy.