Kafka Americana | |
Author: | Jonathan Lethem Carter Scholz |
Cover Artist: | Jacket design by Zwetana Penova Cover illustration by Perry Hoberman |
Country: | United States |
Language: | English |
Genre: | Short stories, pastiche, parody |
Publisher: | Subterranean Press |
Release Date: | November 1999 |
Media Type: | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages: | 100 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
Isbn: | 1-892284-43-X |
Isbn Note: | (first edition, hardcover) |
Oclc: | 43333743 |
Preceded By: | Motherless Brooklyn |
Followed By: | The Fortress of Solitude (novel) |
Kafka Americana is a 1999 collection of short stories by Jonathan Lethem and Carter Scholz based on the life (and alternate histories) and works of Franz Kafka. Originally published in a limited edition by Subterranean Press, it was released as a trade paperback by W. W. Norton & Company in 2001.
A re-imagining of Kafka's uncompleted short story. First published in Crank! 1.
Batman is presented as Kafka's creation, with parodies of some of Kafka's famous aphorisms and stories, including "The Burrow", "A Crossbreed (A Sport)", and "The Vulture". A significantly different version of the story appeared in Gas 6.
Kafka comes to America, changes his name to Jack Dawson, and writes screenplays in Hollywood. First published in Crank! 5.
Kafka meets fellow insurance executives Wallace Stevens and Charles Ives. First published in Starlight 2.
Parody of The Trial. First published in McSweeney's Quarterly 4.