{"title":"Franz Kafka","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"the-metamorphosis","title":"The Metamorphosis","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst published in 1915, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Metamorphosis\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e opens with one of the most unsettling transformations in modern literature: Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman, awakens one morning to discover that he has become a monstrous insect. Confined to his bedroom and increasingly cut off from the human world, he watches as his family's initial concern gives way to fear, resentment and dependence. As Gregor's physical condition changes, the fragile arrangements of family life are exposed, revealing the loneliness and quiet desperation beneath ordinary domestic existence.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWritten with Kafka's characteristic precision and dark, understated humour, the novella explores alienation, guilt, identity and the cruelty of conditional affection. Its strange premise is rendered with an almost matter-of-fact realism, making the impossible feel disturbingly familiar. A defining work of twentieth-century literature, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Metamorphosis\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e remains one of Kafka's most influential writings and an extraordinary meditation on what it means to be human, and on how quickly society can withdraw its sympathy from those who no longer fulfil their expected roles.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Franz Kafka, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Metamorphosis\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Metamorphosis\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Arguably the most famous, also greatest, short story in the history of literary fiction.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Richard T Kelly, The Guardian (2015)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64183328080202,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"the-trial","title":"The Trial","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWritten between 1914 and 1915 and published posthumously in 1925, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Trial\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is one of Franz Kafka’s most haunting explorations of power, guilt and the absurdity of modern life. Its protagonist, Josef K., is a bank official who finds himself arrested one morning, though no one will tell him what crime he has committed. As he attempts to understand the proceedings against him, he is drawn into a bewildering world of courts, officials and obscure procedures, where authority is everywhere yet never fully visible.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLeft unfinished at Kafka’s death, the novel was assembled and published by his friend Max Brod. Its oppressive atmosphere and strange, dark humour give form to the anxieties of an individual confronted by an incomprehensible system, while its reflections on justice, guilt and power have made it one of the defining works of literary modernism. Both an unsettling psychological portrait and a profound parable of bureaucracy, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Trial\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e remains remarkably resonant in its vision of a world governed by rules no one can explain.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“It is not necessary to accept everything as true, one must only accept it as necessary.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Franz Kafka, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Trial\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Trial\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“No summary can convey the atmosphere which Kafka cunningly distills.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Louis Kronenberger, The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64183332831562,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"the-castle","title":"The Castle","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWritten in 1922 and published posthumously in 1926, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Castle\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e follows K., a land surveyor who arrives in a snowbound village claiming to have been summoned by the authorities of the castle above it. Yet his appointment cannot be confirmed, and every attempt to reach the officials draws him deeper into a labyrinth of messages, intermediaries and contradictory explanations. As K. struggles to establish his place in the village, even the simplest matters of work, lodging and belonging become subject to an elusive authority.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eKafka’s final, unfinished novel is at once an unsettling study of bureaucracy and a deeply human account of the desire for recognition. Its strange comedy, shifting perspectives and atmosphere of perpetual uncertainty leave open questions of guilt, faith, power and the possibility of ever finding one's place in the world. More oblique and expansive than \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Trial\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, it stands among the defining works of literary modernism, its unresolved journey as compelling as the destination K. can never quite reach.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The castle, whose contours were already beginning to dissolve, lay as still as ever.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Franz Kafka, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Castle\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Castle\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Kafka’s snow-bound castle is almost unbearably evocative.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWilliam \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBurrows, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGuardian \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64183352721738,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]}],"url":"https:\/\/thelamppostparis.com\/fr\/collections\/franz-kafka.oembed","provider":"The Lamp-Post Library \u0026 Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}