Introducing Kafka
 Book cover | |
| Author | David Zane Mairowitz |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Robert Crumb |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Biography |
Publication date | 1993 |
| Publication place | United States |
| ISBN | 1-84046-122-5 |
Introducing Kafka, also known as R. Crumb's Kafka, is an illustrated biography of Franz Kafka by David Zane Mairowitz and Robert Crumb. The book includes comic adaptations of some of Kafka's most famous works including The Metamorphosis, "A Hunger Artist", "In the Penal Colony", and "The Judgment", as well as brief sketches of his three novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika. The book also details Kafka's biography in a format that is part illustrated essay, part sequential comic panels. The book was released as part of the "Introducing..." series by Totem Books, which also features a volume each on Sigmund Freud and Wilhelm Reich. The popularity of Crumb's renditions of Kafka's works led to additional printings under the title R. Crumb's Kafka. Its most recent edition by Fantagraphics Books (2007) is simply titled Kafka.
Content
The book focuses mainly on the biographical details of Kafka's life, interspersed with short illustrated vignettes from his writing. The author relates Kafka's personality and various incidents in his life to the content of his stories. For example, the fact that he saw himself as a burden on his family is compared to stories in which the protagonist is an animal – most notably The Metamorphosis. The sad, alienated subject of that story, Gregor Samsa, awakens to find himself transformed into a giant bug, becoming a repulsive burden to his family because he is no longer able to support them.
Whether or not these parallels can be drawn so easily is a question regarding Psychoanalytic literary criticism and authorial intent.
Editions
- Mairowitz, David Zane (writer) and Robert Crumb (illustrator). Introducing Kafka. New York: Totem Books, 1993. ISBN 1-84046-122-5
- Mairowitz, David Zane (writer) and Robert Crumb (illustrator). R. Crumb's Kafka. ibooks graphic novels, 2005. ISBN 1-59687-812-6
References
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