"What do I have in common with the Jews? I don't even have anything in
common with myself." Nothing could better express the essence of Franz
Kafka, a man described by his friends as living behind a "glass wall."
Kafka wrote in the tradition of the great Yiddish storytellers, whose
stock-in-trade was bizarre fantasy tainted with hilarity and
self-abasement. What he added to this tradition was an almost unbearably
expanded consciousness. Alienated from his roots, his family, his
surroundings, and primarily from his own body, Kafka created a unique
literary language in which to hide away, transforming himself into a
cockroach, an ape, a dog, a mole or a circus artiste who starves himself
to death in front of admiring crowds. David Zane Mairowitz's brilliant
text and the illustrations and comic panels of the world's greatest
cartoonist, Robert Crumb (himself no stranger to self-loathing and
alienation), help us to understand the essence of Kafka and provide
insight beyond the cliche "Kafkaesque," peering through Kafka's glass
wall like no other book before it. The book is a wonderful educational
tool for those unfamiliar with Kafka, including a brief but inclusive
biography as well as the plots of many of his works, all illustrated by
Crumb, making this newly designed edition a must-have for admirers of
both Kafka and Crumb.
