Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
Audiobook9 hours
Amerika: The Missing Person: A New Translation by Mark Harman Based on the Restored Text
Written by Franz Kafka
Narrated by George Guidall
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
A Brilliant new translation of the great writer's least Kafkaesque novel, based on a German-language text that was produced by a team of international scholars and that is more faithful to Kafka's original manuscript than anything we have had before.
With the same expert balance of precision and nuance that marked his translation of Kafka's The Castle, the award-winning translator Mark Harman now restores the humor and particularity of language to Amerika. Here is the story of seventeen-year-old Karl Rossman, who, following a scandal involving a housemaid, is banished by his parents to America. With unquenchable optimism and in the company of two comic-sinister companions, he throws himself into misadventure after misadventure, eventually landing in Oklahoma, where a career in the theater beckons.
Like much of Kafka's work, Amerika remained unfinished at the time of his death. Though we can never know how Kafka planned to end the novel, Mark Harman's superb translation allows us to appreciate as closely as possible, what Kafka did commit to the page.
With the same expert balance of precision and nuance that marked his translation of Kafka's The Castle, the award-winning translator Mark Harman now restores the humor and particularity of language to Amerika. Here is the story of seventeen-year-old Karl Rossman, who, following a scandal involving a housemaid, is banished by his parents to America. With unquenchable optimism and in the company of two comic-sinister companions, he throws himself into misadventure after misadventure, eventually landing in Oklahoma, where a career in the theater beckons.
Like much of Kafka's work, Amerika remained unfinished at the time of his death. Though we can never know how Kafka planned to end the novel, Mark Harman's superb translation allows us to appreciate as closely as possible, what Kafka did commit to the page.
Author
Franz Kafka
Born in Prague in 1883, the son of a self-made Jewish merchant, Franz Kafka trained as a lawyer and worked in insurance. He published little during his lifetime and lived his life in relative obscurity. He was forced to retire from work in 1917 after being diagnosed with tuberculosis, a debilitating illness which dogged his final years. When he died in 1924 he bequeathed the – mainly unfinished – manuscripts of his novels, stories, letters and diaries to his friend the writer Max Brod with the strict instruction that they should be destroyed. Brod ignored Kafka’s wishes and organised the publication of his work, including The Trial, which appeared in 1925. It is through Brod’s efforts that Kafka is now regarded as one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century.
More audiobooks from Franz Kafka
The Trial A Hunger Artist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Classic Short Story Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Penal Colony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Collected Works Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Top 10 Short Stories, The - European: The top ten short stories of all time written by European authors. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Short Stories of Franz Kafka: Jewish master of the bizarre and creator of Kafkaesque Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Report to an Academy, A (Unabridged) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Metamorphosis, The (version 3) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Hunger Artist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Top 10 Short Stories, The - 1920s: The top ten short stories of the 1920's. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Metamorphosis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Amerika
Related audiobooks
Despair Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5B. J. Harrison Reads The Metamorphosis Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5King, Queen, Knave Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Metamorphosis and Other Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Diary of a Madman and Other Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Possessed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dead Souls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Short Stories of Franz Kafka: Jewish master of the bizarre and creator of Kafkaesque Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Metamorphosis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of the Dead Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Report to an Academy, A (Unabridged) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Notes from Underground and The Gambler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Idiot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hunger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Notes from the Underground Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gift Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Molloy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notes from Underground Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Dog's Heart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Nights Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fathers and Sons Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Malone Dies Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Dream of a Ridiculous Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Hero of Our Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Real Life of Sebastian Knight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gambler Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Classics For You
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Plague Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gone With the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perks of Being a Wallflower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Stranger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: A New Translation by Caroline Alexander Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Crucible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Atlas Shrugged Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5