Kafka Americana

Infobox Book |
name = Kafka Americana
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Jonathan Lethem
Carter Scholz
illustrator =
cover_artist = Jacket design by Zwetana Penova
Cover illustration by Perry Hoberman
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Short stories, pastiche, parody
publisher = Subterranean Press
release_date = November 1999
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
pages = 100 pp (first edition, hardcover)
isbn = ISBN 1-892284-43-X (first edition, hardcover)
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Kafka Americana" is a 1999 collection of short stories by Jonathan Lethem and Carter Scholz based on the life (and alternate histories) and works of Franz Kafka. Originally published in a limited edition by Subterranean Press, it was released as a trade paperback by W. W. Norton & Company in 2001.

The stories

* "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" (Scholz):A re-imagining of Kafka's uncompleted short story. First published in "Crank!" 1.
* "The Notebooks of Bob K." (Lethem):Batman is presented as Kafka's creation, with parodies of some of Kafka's famous aphorisms and stories, including "The Burrow", "A Crossbreed (A Sport)", and "The Vulture". A significantly different version of the story appeared in "Gas" 6.
* "Receding Horizon" (Lethem & Scholz):Kafka comes to America, changes his name to Jack Dawson, and writes screenplays in Hollywood. First published in "Crank!" 5.
* "The Amount to Carry" (Scholz):Kafka meets fellow insurance executives Wallace Stevens and Charles Ives. First published in "Starlight" 2.
* "K. for Fake" (Lethem):Parody of "The Trial". First published in "McSweeney's Quarterly" 4.

References

Lethem, Jonathan and Carter Scholz. "Kafka Americana". W. W. Norton & Company, 2001. ISBN 0-393-32253-X