Translating Franz Kafka

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In the final phase of the first Digital Translation Academy of South Asia the participants and their language mentors translated selected texts of Franz Kafka (1883-1924) in eight South Asian languages. Here you can read and listen to the texts and excerpts in the translated languages as well as in English.

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The Sudden Walk

From the collection Betrachtung (Contemplation), 1913

The text describes a person who has just settled in for the night in his family home, but is suddenly seized by restlessness and the desire to escape. He embarks on a nocturnal walk and on a mind-game that leads - actually or only supposedly - to self-liberation.

Absent-minded Window-gazing

From the collection Betrachtung (Contemplation), 1913

In this short piece, the narrator shares with the reader his observation – without attempting interpretation – of a scene outside his window.

The Way Home

From the collection Betrachtung (Contemplation), 1913

As the narrator walks home after a thunderstorm, he reflects calmly upon his inner interplay with everything that happens along the street, weighing his past against his future.

On the Tram (The Passenger)

From the collection Betrachtung (Contemplation), 1913

The protagonist shares his internal monologue while observing a woman getting off a tram. The details of her thoughts, purpose or destination are opaque to both the protagonist and the reader.

The Wish to be a Red Indian | The Trees

From the collection Betrachtung (Contenplation), 1913

These two miniature prose pieces are concise reflections on the human condition, on the nature and fate of humanity - and on the desire of the spirit to escape.

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Up in the Gallery

From the collection Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor), 1919

This short piece offers two versions of a scene in which a young man watches a circus ringmaster and a woman on horseback.

An Imperial Message

From the collection Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor), 1919

A dying Emperor sends a message to the humblest of his subjects. The narration follows the impossible journey of such a message that can never be delivered.

The Cares of a Family Man

From the collection Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor), 1919

The narrator leads the reader through his thoughts on “Odradek”, a creature that lives in his house, something that is never defined nor has any actual definition.

Great Noise

Autobiographical sketch, 1912

This piece represents a slice of Kafka's life in the middle of his parents' noisy household. He later wrote to his editor that he wanted to "publicly chastise his family.”

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The Judgement

Published in 1913

The story follows the protagonist Georg Bendemann, a young man who deals with a series of day-to-day concerns: his upcoming marriage, his family’s business affairs, his long-distance correspondence with an old friend, and, perhaps most importantly, his relationship with his aged father.

The Metamorphosis

Published in 1915

The salesman Gregor Samsa wakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect. The story follows his predicament, and how this transformation increasingly inhibits his social environment's interaction with him, until he is deemed unacceptable by his family and finally dies.

The Trial

Published in 1925

The protagonist Josef K. is accused of a crime, without being told the nature of the crime. He goes to court and tries to clear his name, but he finds the law is an absurd bureaucracy with no real solutions. In the end, he is executed for seemingly no reason at all.

The Castle

Published in 1926

The protagonist K. arrives in a village and struggles to gain access to the mysterious authorities who govern it from a castle supposedly owned by a count. It follows K.'s struggle against an all-powerful yet unreachable authority and the impenetrable, utterly illogical and convoluted bureaucracy of its workings.

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