He

This edition also contains two rare short stories; The Neighbor and Poseidon, both published posthumously 1931 and written around 1912.

The narrative is written in a detached, almost observational tone, describing a central figure, "he," whose actions and existence seem constrained by vague, external forces. This has obvious references to Dostoevsky's faceless character in Notes from Underground, a narrative style he takes from Dostoevsky and uses across many works. The focus is on the character's lack of agency and the ambiguous relationships between "he" and the surrounding environment. The story's sparse details invite a wide range of interpretations, emphasizing themes of individuality, societal pressures, and existential uncertainty. The story shows Kafka’s ability to distill philosophical questions into minimalist prose. The absence of a clear plot or resolution adds to the piece's unsettling quality, leaving readers to grapple with its ambiguities. The unstructure, brief narrative functions as a meditation on the nature of selfhood and the often-inexplicable dynamics between individuals and the systems or expectations that shape their lives.

This modern translation from the original German is a fresh, accessible and beautifully rendered text that brings to life Kafka's great literary work. This edition contains extra amplifying material including an illuminating afterword, a timeline of Kafka's life and works alongside of the historical events which shaped his art, and a short biography, to place this work in its socio-historical context.