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Metamorphosis and Other Stories: Folio Society; 2010; xvi, 232pp; 8to (230x160x27mm); 0.7kg; bound with printed paper sides; in plain black slipcase; colour illustrations throughout. The Castle: Folio Society; 2011; xvi, 314pp; 8to (230x160x30mm); 0.8kg; bound with printed paper sides; in plain black slipcase; colour illustrations throughout.
Modernist-surrealist author Franz Kafka left behind a complicated body of work, often dealing with feelings of isolation and helplessness before stifling bureaucracy. I feel like we’re kindred spirits! Between 2010 and 2011, the Folio Society published four volumes of Kafka’s work: Metamorphosis and Other Stories, The Castle, Amerika, and The Trial. Here I’ll be taking a look at the first two of these books.
Exterior production details All four books in the series were illustrated by Bill Bragg and have matte paper sides with a wrap-around design by the artist. Metamorphosis and Other Stories features the gigantic shadow of a cockroach before a red wallpaper design. For The Castle, the cover features the looming silhouette of a hilltop stronghold in the midst of a blizzard, set against a grey-blue sky. The spines bear the title, author’s name, and a Folio logo, all in a typeface that has the look of carefully written block capitals—exactly the kind of hand the bureaucrats would insist on when completing one of their endless forms.
Overall, the bindings get top marks for style and work nicely together. My one note of caution is that the paper feels a little delicate and seems a little prone to rubbing. I have my copies wrapped in protective Mylar dust jackets. The bindings are sewn and the end papers coloured to match the boards (red for Metamorphosis, blue for The Castle). Both printing and binding took place in the UK.
Interior details Inside, the volumes are printed on off-white Abbey Wove acid free paper. The text is set in Elysium, with chapter headings set in the same face as the text on the spine.
The Castle is a novel about one man’s fight against bureaucracy as he seeks permission to enter the titular fortification. From this fairly coherent starting premise, the novel descends into the increasingly convoluted and absurd. The novel is incomplete and ends mid-sentence.
Metamorphosis and Other Stories collects Metamorphosis—the tale of a salesman who awakes to find he was transformed into a beetle—with several other short stories and writings. The longer (but not long) pieces in this volume are Kafka at his best, with sophisticated treatments of themes such as bureaucracy and brutality (In The Penal Colony), isolation and ostracisation (Metamorphosis), and a general feeling of bewildered disconnect with society (A Country Doctor). Other writings in the collection (such as the Contemplations) are more challenging: these are often very short indeed—sometimes just a few sentences—and don’t develop anything like a conventional narrative. Reading Kafka means accepting the weird with the sublime. Metamorphosis and Other Stories is introduced by Will Self. It’s an interesting and creative introduction, although almost as impenetrable as Kafka himself.
Bill Bragg’s illustrations are rendered in a simple three-tone palette of black, white, and the binding colour (red for Metamorphosis, blue for The Castle). Metamorphosis contains nine illustrations (including the frontispiece) while The Castle has seven. Illustrating The Castle seems to have been a slightly easier assignment. All of the pieces here are tied together by a similar atmosphere and successfully capture the bleak isolation of the protagonist. More generally, Bragg’s style seems like a really good fit for Kafka.
The market My copies of Metamorphosis and Other Stories and The Castle both came from UK eBay sellers, costing £12.10 and £18 respectively. Of the four Kafka volumes in this series, The Trial seems to be the least common. From consulting the Folio Society Devotees wiki, I believe this is because, unlike the other three books, it was released only as part of a three-volume set (along with The Castle and Amerika) of Kafka’s novels. ■
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