The Castle.

KAFKA, Franz.

Item Number: 96542

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1930.

First edition in English of Kafka’s classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Translated by Edwin and Willa Muir. With an introduction by Edwin Muir. A superior example, scarce in this condition.

“The limits of Kafka’s messianic vision correspond to the great skepticism with which he regarded the possibility of transcending the human predicament . . . At precisely the point when K. draws closest to his own salvation and to the salvation that he could offer the rest of the world, he is also farthest away from it. At precisely the moment when his spirit is called, K. is asleep" (W. G. Sebald). It is the basis for the 1968 film directed by Rudolf Noelte and starring Maximilian Schell, Cordula Trantow, Trudik Daniel and Helmut Qualtinger and the 1997 film by Austrian director Michael Haneke.