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.