El Castillo / The Castle - Franz Kafka

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Résumé :
Publicada p?stumamente en 1926, El castillo es la m?s tard?a de las tres novelas que escribi? Franz Kafka (1883-1924) y, pese a haber quedado inconclusa, pasa a ser una de las cumbres de la novela del siglo XX.

> Habla un disc?pulo de Kafka, un tard?o disc?pulo de Kafka, pero que sigue sinti?ndolo y agradeciendo lo mucho que ?l le ha dado y lo poco que ?l ha podido hacer con ese espl?ndido regalo de su obra. -Jos? Luis Borges.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

From the author of The Metamorphosis and The Trial--one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century--the haunting tale of K.'s relentless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority to gain access to the Castle.

Arriving in a village to take up the position of land surveyor for the mysterious lord of a castle, the character known as K. finds himself in a bitter and baffling struggle to contact his new employer and go about his duties. Dark and at times surreal, The Castle is often understood to be about alienation, unresponsive bureaucracy, the frustration of trying to conduct business with non-transparent, seemingly arbitrary controlling systems, and the futile pursuit of an unobtainable goal.

The Castle's original manuscript was left unfinished by Kafka in 1922 and not published until 1926, two years after his death. It suggested it would end with K. dying in the village, the castle notifying him on his death bed that his legal claim to live in the village was not valid, yet, taking certain auxiliary circumstances into account, he was permitted to live and work there....

Biographie:
Franz Kafka naci? en 1883 en Praga, en el seno de una familia jud?a de habla alemana. En 1903 se licenci? en Derecho, y a partir de 1908 trabaj? en el Instituto de Seguros para Accidentes de Trabajo, un empleo que lo obligar?a a realizar numerosos viajes a trav?s del viejo imperio austroh?ngaro, por entonces en pleno proceso de desmoronamiento. Form? parte de los c?rculos literarios e intelectuales de su ciudad, pero en vida apenas lleg? a publicar algunos de sus escritos, la mayor parte en revistas. En 1922 obtuvo la jubilaci?n anticipada por causa de la tuberculosis, enfermedad que empez? a padecer en 1917 y que le ocasionar?a la muerte, ocurrida en 1924 en el sanatorio de Kierling, en las cercan?as de Viena.

El grueso de la obra de Kafka, entre la que se cuentan tres novelas, varias decenas de narraciones, un extenso diario, numerosos borradores y aforismos y una copiosa correspondencia, se public? p?stumamente por iniciativa de su amigo y albacea Max Brod, quien desobedeci? el deseo expresado por Kafka de que se destruyeran todos sus textos. Desde entonces, la importancia de Kafka y su condici?n de cl?sico indiscutible no han hecho m?s que incrementarse, hasta el extremo de ser un?nimemente considerado -por decirlo con palabras de Elias Canetti- como el escritor que m?s puramente ha expresado el siglo XX, y al que hay que considerar por lo tanto como «...

Sommaire:
Publicada p?stumamente en 1926, El castillo es la m?s tard?a de las tres novelas que escribi? Franz Kafka (1883-1924) y, pese a haber quedado inconclusa, pasa a ser una de las cumbres de la novela del siglo XX.

> Habla un disc?pulo de Kafka, un tard?o disc?pulo de Kafka, pero que sigue sinti?ndolo y agradeciendo lo mucho que ?l le ha dado y lo poco que ?l ha podido hacer con ese espl?ndido regalo de su obra. -Jos? Luis Borges.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

From the author of The Metamorphosis and The Trial--one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century--the haunting tale of K.'s relentless, unavailing struggle with an inscrutable authority to gain access to the Castle.

Arriving in a village to take up the position of land surveyor for the mysterious lord of a castle, the character known as K. finds himself in a bitter and baffling struggle to contact his new employer and go about his duties. Dark and at times surreal, The Castle is often understood to be about alienation, unresponsive bureaucracy, the frustration of trying to conduct business with non-transparent, seemingly arbitrary controlling systems, and the futile pursuit of an unobtainable goal.

The Castle's original manuscript was left unfinished by Kafka in 1922 and not published until 1926, two years after his death. It suggested it would end with K. dying in the village, the castle notifying him on his death bed that his legal claim to live in the village was not valid, yet, taking certain auxiliary circumstances into account, he was permitted to live and work there....