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Kafka Americana

1999 collection of short stories


Summary

1999 collection of short stories

FieldValue
nameKafka Americana
imageKafkaamericanacvr.jpg
captionFirst edition cover
authorJonathan Lethem
Carter Scholz
cover_artistJacket design by Zwetana Penova
Cover illustration by Perry Hoberman
countryUnited States
languageEnglish
genreShort stories, pastiche, parody
publisherSubterranean Press
release_dateNovember 1999
media_typePrint (hardback & paperback)
pages100 pp (first edition, hardcover)
isbn1-892284-43-X
isbn_note(first edition, hardcover)
oclc43333743
preceded_byMotherless Brooklyn
followed_byThe Fortress of Solitude (novel)

Carter Scholz Cover illustration by Perry Hoberman Kafka Americana is a 1999 collection of short stories by Jonathan Lethem and Carter Scholz based on the life (and alternate histories) and works of Franz Kafka. Originally published in a limited edition by Subterranean Press, it was released as a trade paperback by W. W. Norton & Company in 2001.

The stories

  • "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" (Scholz) :A re-imagining of Kafka's uncompleted short story. First published in Crank! 1.
  • "The Notebooks of Bob K." (Lethem) :Batman is presented as Kafka's creation, with parodies of some of Kafka's famous aphorisms and stories, including "The Burrow", "A Crossbreed (A Sport)", and "The Vulture". A significantly different version of the story appeared in Gas 6.
  • "Receding Horizon" (Lethem & Scholz) :Kafka comes to America, changes his name to Jack Dawson, and writes screenplays in Hollywood. First published in Crank! 5.
  • "The Amount to Carry" (Scholz) :Kafka meets fellow insurance executives Wallace Stevens and Charles Ives. First published in Starlight 2.
  • "K. is for Fake" (Lethem) :Parody of The Trial. First published in McSweeney's Quarterly 4.

References

References

  1. "Kafka Americana {{!}} ISBNdb".
Wikipedia Source

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