The book was released as part of the "Introducing..." series by Totem Books; the popularity of Crumb's renditions of Kafka's works led to additional printings under the titles R. Crumb's Kafka and Kafka for Beginners, and its most recent edition by Fantagraphics Books (2007) is titled simply Kafka.
Content
The book focuses on the biographical details of Kafka's life, interspersed with illustrated vignettes from his writing. The author relates Kafka's personality and various incidents in his life to the composition of his stories. For example, Kafka's complicated relationship with his family is linked to stories where the main character is an animal – notably The Metamorphosis, whose protagonist, Gregor Samsa, awakens to find himself transformed into a giant bug, and becomes a burden on his family.
Editions
Cover of R.Crumb's Kafka
Mairowitz, David Zane (writer) and Robert Crumb (illustrator). Introducing Kafka. New York: Totem Books, 1993. ISBN1-84046-122-5
Mairowitz, David Zane (writer) and Robert Crumb (illustrator). Kafka for Beginners. Cheltenham, England: Icon Publishing Ltd, 1993.
Mairowitz, David Zane (writer) and Robert Crumb (illustrator). R. Crumb's Kafka. iBooks Graphic Novels, 2005. ISBN1-59687-812-6
Mairowitz, David Zane (writer) and Robert Crumb (illustrator). Kafka. Fantagraphics Books, 2007. ISBN978-1-56097-806-0
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