Josephine the Singer or The Nation of the Mice

Josephine the Singer or The Nation of the Mice

By Vanessa Bonneau

A review of Josephine The Singer Or The Nation Of The Mice by Franz Kafka

Published on April 15, 2010

Josephine The Singer Or The Nation Of The Mice
Franz Kafka

The Concordia Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies
$12.95
paper
9780889474710

The Concordia Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies recently published the fourth title in its Chapbook Series: Franz Kafka’s Josephine the Singer or The Nation of the Mice, translated by Karin Doerr, Barbara Galli, and Gary Evans. Printed by Gaspereau Press, this slim, beautifully made book contains a new translation of Kafka’s last short story as well as an essay by Doerr. Doerr’s thoughtful, precise, and accessible essay places Kafka’s story in the context of German anti-Semitism of the early 1920s and analyzes Kafka’s Jewish identity within that context. Kafka’s story is rich but dense, and Doerr’s essay provides readers with some guidelines with which they can navigate the work, whether they are already familiar with Kafka’s writing or not. The Chapbook Series, published by Hungry I Books, the publishing arm of the Institute, has four other publications and is dedicated to publishing translations, documents, and scholarly essays on Canadian Jewish history. mRb

Vanessa Bonneau lives in Montreal, where it took super-ish hero efforts to make it to spring. But now, tulips!

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