Introducing Kafka

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Introducing Kafka

Book cover
Author David Zane Mairowitz
Illustrator Robert Crumb
Country United States
Language English
Genre Biography
Publication date
 1993
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, in which the protagonist Gregor Samsa awakes to find himself transformed into a giant bug, becoming a burden to his family and becoming 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

Cover of R.Crumb's Kafka
  • 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

    Adaptations of works by Franz Kafka
    Feature films
    Short films
    • Metamorphosis (Germany 1975)
    • Metamorphosis (Sweden 1976)
    • The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (Canada 1977)
    • Metamorphosis (UK 1987)
    • Franz Kafka (Poland 1992)
    • Description of a Struggle (USA 1993)
    • Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (UK 1993)
    • Zoetrope (from "In the Penal Colony"; USA 2000)
    • The Hunger Artist (USA 2002)
    • Metamorphosis (Russia 2002)
    • Human Body (from "A Country Doctor"; Germany 2004)
    • Kafka goes to the Forest (Brazil 2009)
    • Eleven sons (Spain 2010)
    Literature
    Comics
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