Franz Kafka: The Office Writings

428 Pages·2009·37.713 MB·English

by  Stanley Corngold, Jack Greenberg, Benno Wagner, Eric Patton, Ruth Hein [Translators]

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka
THE OFFICE WRITINGS
(cid:2)
Edited by
Stanley Corngold,
Jack Greenberg,
and Benno Wagner
Translations by
Eric Patton with
Ruth Hein
princeton university press
princeton and oxford
Copyright © 2009 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire
OX20 1TW
All Rights Reserved
Cloth ISBN: 978-0-691-12680-7
Paper ISBN: 978-0-691-16799-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kafka, Franz, 1883–1924.
[Selections. English. 2009]
Franz Kafka : the office writings / edited by Stanley Corngold, Jack Greenberg, and
Benno Wagner ; translations by Eric Patton with Ruth Hein.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 691- 12680- 7 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Kafka, Franz,1883–1924—Translations into English. 2. Kafka, Franz,
1883–1924—Career in insurance. 3. Kafka, Franz, 1883–1924—Knowledge—Law.
I. Corngold, Stanley. II. Greenberg, Jack. III. Wagner, Benno, 1958– IV. Title.
PT2621.A26A2 2009
838'.91208—dc22 2008025192
British Library C ata loging- in- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Sabon
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
press.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
(cid:2)
Preface ix
Abbreviations for Kafka Citations xix
Kafka and the Ministry of Writing 1
—Stanley Corngold
Kafka’s Offi ce Writings:
Historical Background and Institutional Setting 19
—Benno Wagner
DOCUMENTS
1
Speech on the Occasion of the
Inauguration of the Institute’s New Director (1909) 51
Commentary
2
The Scope of Compulsory Insurance
for the Building Trades (1908) 54
Commentary
3
Fixed- Rate Insurance Premiums for Small Farms
Using Machinery (1909) 74
Commentary
4
Inclusion of Private Automobile “Firms” in the
Compulsory Insurance Program (1909) 80
Commentary
vi CONTENTS
5
Appeal against Risk Classifi cation of Christian Geipel & Sohn,
Mechanical Weaving Mill in Asch (1910) 90
Commentary
6
Meas ures for Preventing Accidents
from Wood- Planing Machines (1910) 109
Commentary
7
On the Examination of Firms by Trade Inspectors (1911) 120
Commentary
8
Workmen’s Insurance and Employers:
Two Articles in the Tetschen-B odenbacher Zeitung (1911) 145
Commentary
9
Petition of the Toy Producers’ Association
in Katharinaberg, Erzgebirge (1912) 170
Commentary
10
Risk Classifi cation Appeal by Norbert Hochsieder,
Boarding H ouse Own er in Marienbad (1912) 194
Commentary
11
Letters to the Workmen’s Accident Insurance Institute
in Prague (1912–15) 213
Commentary
12
Criminal Charge against Josef Renelt
for the Illegal Withholding of Insurance Fees (1913) 225
Commentary
13
Second International Congress on Accident Prevention
and First Aid in Vienna (1913) 249
Commentary
CONTENTS vii
14
Accident Prevention in Quarries (1914) 273
Commentary
15
Jubilee Report: T wenty- Five Years
of the Workmen’s Accident Insurance Institute (1914) 301
Commentary
16
Risk Classifi cation and Accident Prevention
in War time (1915) 322
Commentary
17
A Public Psychiatric Hospital for G erman- Bohemia (1916) 336
Commentary
18
“Help Disabled Veterans! An Urgent Appeal
to the Public” (1916/1917) 346
Commentary
Wraparound:
From Kafka to Kafkaesque 355
—Jack Greenberg
Chronology 373
Notes 379
About the Editors 393
Index 395