The Great Wall of China (short story)

"The Great Wall of China"
Author	Franz Kafka
Original title	"Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer"
Country	Austria-Hungary
Language	German
Genre(s)	Short story
Publication date	1931

The Great Wall of China (Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer) is a short story written by Franz Kafka in 1917. It was not published until 1931, seven years after his death. Contained within the story is a paragraph that was separately published as A Message from the Emperor (Eine kaiserliche Botschaft). Some sub-themes of the story include why the wall was built piecemeal; in small sections in many different places, and the relationship of the Chinese with the past and the present.

External links

The full text of "The Great Wall of China"

Works by Franz Kafka

Novels

Short stories

1902–12	"Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart" "Description of a Struggle" Wedding Preparations in the Country The Judgment Contemplation The Stoker The Metamorphosis

1914–17	"In the Penal Colony" "The Village Schoolmaster" ("The Giant Mole") "Before the Law" "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" "The Warden of the Tomb" "A Country Doctor" "The Hunter Gracchus" "The Great Wall of China" "A Message from the Emperor" "A Report to an Academy" "A Dream" "Up in the Gallery" "A Fratricide" "The Next Village" "A Visit to a Mine" "Jackals and Arabs" "The Bridge" "The Bucket Rider" "The New Advocate" "An Old Manuscript" "The Knock at the Manor Gate" "Eleven Sons" "My Neighbor" "A Crossbreed" "The Cares of a Family Man"

1917–23	"The Refusal" "A Hunger Artist" "Investigations of a Dog" "A Little Woman" "The Burrow" "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" "A Common Confusion" "The Truth about Sancho Panza" "The Silence of the Sirens" "Prometheus" "The City Coat of Arms" "Poseidon" "Fellowship" "At Night" "The Problem of Our Laws" "The Conscription of Troops" "The Test" "The Vulture" "The Helmsman" "The Top" "A Little Fable" "Home-Coming" "First Sorrow" "The Departure" "Advocates" "The Married Couple" "Give It Up!" "On Parables"

Short story
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Diaries and
notebooks

Letters

Professional
writings

The Office Writings

Bibliography