This Norton Critical Edition is based on new translations by leading Kafka scholar and translator Stanley Corngold. Thirty stories are included, accompanied by detailed annotations. "Backgrounds and Contexts" offers a glimpse of Kafka's creative process through extracts from his letters, diaries, and conversations. "Criticism" collects ten essays on the major stories by Stanley Corngold, Danielle Allen, Walter Hinderer, Walter Sokel, Nicola Gess, Vivian Liska, Benno Wagner, John A. Hargraves, and Gerhard Kurz. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included. Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was one of the most important writers of the twentieth century. His major novels include The Trial , The Castle , and Amerika . Stanley Corngold is a professor emeritus of German and comparative literature at Princeton University and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His highly acclaimed translations include Kafka's Selected Stories . He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.