The Hunter Gracchus
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The Hunter Gracchus (Der Jäger Gracchus) is a short story written by Franz Kafka. The story presents a death boat carrying the long dead Hunter Gracchus as it arrives at a port. The Burgomaster of Riva enters the boat and inside he meets Gracchus who gives him an account of his death while hunting and how he is destined to wander aimlessly and eternally over the seas. An additional fragment presents an extended dialogue between Gracchus and an unnamed interviewer, supposedly the same Burgomaster.
Written in the first half of 1917, the story was published posthumously in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer (Berlin, 1931). The first English translation appears in The Great Wall of China. Stories and Reflections (New York: Schocken Books, 1946. Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir). The story and fragment both appear in The Complete Stories.[1]
In a diary entry from 6 April, 1917 Kafka describes a strange boat standing at port which he is told belongs to the Hunter Gracchus. [2]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Kafka, Franz. The Complete Stories. New York: Schocken Books, 1995. p. 226-234.
- ^ Kafka, Franz. Diaries 1910-1923. New York: Schocken Books, 1988. p. 373
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