Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Four "lost" texts by Franz Kafka

The June 29 "New Yorker" features "The Rescue Will Begin in Its Own Time", Michael Hofmann's translation of four texts by Franz Kafka that will be published by New Directions in September in "The Lost Writings". I recognized the first as "Prometheus", but I assumed I just knew it in German and that it had never been translated before. Online, however, there is an interview with Hofmann and Barbara Epter of New Directions with an addendum at the end: all four of the stories have actually been translated before, and the Muir translation of "Prometheus" is even in "The Complete Stories". "First translation"; "lost writings" – all that is nothing but marketing. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 21 July)

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