Product Description

Part illustrated biography, part comics adaptation, R. Crumb's Kafka is a vibrant biography that examines this Czech writer and his works in a way that a bland textbook never could! R. Crumb's Kafka goes far beyond being explication or popularization or survey—it is a work of art in its own right, a very rare example of what happens when one very idiosyncratic artist absorbs another into his world view without obliterating the individuality of the absorbed one. Crumb's art is filled with Kafka's insurmountable neuroses. They are all there: Gregor Samsa's sister, the luscious Milena Jesenska, the Advocate's 'nurse' Leni, Olda and Frieda, and the ravishing Dora Diamant—drawn in that mixture of self-command, tantalizing knowingness and sly sexuality—that Amazonian randiness and thick-limbed physicality that is Crumb.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #927469 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-25
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Customer Reviews

A Crumb by Any Other Title . . .
Crumb's work here is copious and fine, but the serious Crumb collector should know that "R. Crumb's Kafka" is identical in every way (except for title and cover art) to "Introducing Kafka" (US, 1993), as is clearly stated on the new version's copyright page. The book was first published in the UK, in 1993, under the title "Kafka for Beginners."

Delightful introduction to Kafka and his writings
This is a great literary biography of Franz Kafka, written by David Zane Mairowitz, that is fantastically illustrated by Robert Crumb. It is an outstanding collaboration between a writer and artist, where each person's work enhances the finished product far more than just the sum of the parts. Mairowitz is a Kafka scholar whose words come to life with the brilliant illustrations of R. Crumb. Together they trace Kafka's life, his family and social influences, his relationships with women, and their effects on his various works. Truly a delightful introduction to Kafka and his writings that will serve as a model for future literary introductions.

Not quite successful, but Crumb keeps it interesting
R. CRUMB'S KAFKA is an odd mixture of biography and analysis illustrated in a variety of ways by the artist Robert Crumb. Not quite a satisfying read, with a few too many psychological evaluations by the author; the book does shine when Crumb illustrates his abridged versions of Kafka's work. The emotional detail of the drawings, where Crumb can focus on anger, lust, or terror, are excellent and are a fitting compliment to Kafka's tales of alienation. The text often just gets in the way becoming a distraction; Crumb's work is often fettered by trying to serve the text. A better book would have been a full blown adaptation of Kafka by Crumb without the forced psychological insights that would be a better fit for some master's thesis.