ESSENTIAL KAFKA (Wordsworth Classics) by Franz Kafka

Essential Kafka by Franz Kafka brings together some of the author’s most defining works, immersing readers in the unsettling worlds that made his name synonymous with the word “Kafkaesque.” Like George Orwell, Kafka created a vision of reality so uniquely haunting that it continues to resonate today.

This collection includes The Trial, a darkly comic tale of hidden rules, faceless bureaucracy, and relentless disorientation. It also features The Castle, a story that has long puzzled readers—whether read as an allegory of crumbling social structures, a spiritual search for grace, or the eternal struggle between independence and authority. Alongside these major works, Kafka’s shorter fables confront the absurdity of life itself, offering sharp, unsettling glimpses into human anxieties and dilemmas.