Short Story Club: Kafka

Before The Law by Franz Kafka (1915)

Life is too short to read all the great works, but not too short to try. 

Though many unread classics may loom large on our bookshelves, intimidating in their vast size, others are surprisingly slim. Indeed, masters of the short story, like Kafka, Borges, or Calvino, can contain more of life’s complexity in a few pages than some novels do in thousands.

So, let’s spare a few moments of our day to read some great literature. After all, our time on earth is finite. Let us not squander it; let us read instead.

Before The Law by Franz Kafka (1915)

I was in Prague earlier this year and so made sure to visit the Kafka Museum. Near the end of the exhibition was printed this short story — which is undoubtedly one of his greatest — upon the wall in full. I was reminded again of its density — surely there is no other story that contains so much in so few lines.

Interestingly, the fable was published twice as a standalone short story (1915 and 1919), before being inserted into Kafka’s posthumously published novel The Trial (1925). In the book, a priest tells protagonist Josef K. the fable, and the two discuss its meaning. In a way, “Before the Law” is essentially the entire 200-page novel in microcosm, ambiguous and unresolved.

Kafka himself was very pleased with it, writing in his diary, a “feeling of satisfaction and happiness,” after its completion. In another entry a year later, he wrote that the meaning of it had finally become clear to him, though obliquely he never says what it is. I’d be very interested to hear your interpretations.

Here is a link to the story. Alternatively, here’s an animated video of a reading by the great Orson Welles.

Please have a read when you have time today, and come back to this post for our discussion group in the comments. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.