The Great Wall of China (short story)

For other uses, see Great Wall (disambiguation).

Short story by Franz Kafka

"The Great Wall of China"

Short story by Franz Kafka

Kafka Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer

Original title| Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer
Language| German
Genre(s)| Short story
Publication
Published in| Der Morgen
Media type| literary journal
Publication date| 1930
Published in English|

* 1933 (1933) London, Martin Secker
* 1946 (1946) New York, Schocken Books

"The Great Wall of China" (original title "Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer", literally At the Construction of the Great Wall of China) is a short story by Franz Kafka. While written in 1917, it was not published until 1930, seven years after his death. Its first publication occurred in Der Morgen, a German literary magazine. A year later, Max Brod included it in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer, the first posthumous collection of short stories by Franz Kafka.

Contained within the story is a parable that was separately published as "A Message from the Emperor" ("Eine kaiserliche Botschaft") in 1919 in the collection Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor). Some sub-themes of the story include why the wall was built piecemeal (in small sections in many different places), the relationship of the Chinese with the past and the present and the emperor's imperceptible presence. The story is told in the first person by an older man from a southern province.

The first English translation, by Willa and Edwin Muir, was published by Martin Secker in London in 1933. It appeared in The Great Wall of China. Stories and Reflections (New York City: Schocken Books, 1946).[1]

## References

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1. ^ The Great Wall of China: Stories and Reflections. Franz Kafka - 1946 - Schocken Books

## External links

[edit]

German Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Beim Bau der chinesischen Mauer

* The full text of "The Great Wall of China"

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Franz Kafka (works)

Novels|

* The Trial
* The Castle
* Amerika

Short stories|

| 1902–1912|

* "Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart"
* "Description of a Struggle"
* "Wedding Preparations in the Country"
* "The Judgment"
* "The Stoker"
* The Metamorphosis
* "The Aeroplanes at Brescia"

|

1914–1917|

* "In the Penal Colony"
* "The Village Schoolmaster"
* "Before the Law"
* "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor"
* "A Country Doctor"
* "The Hunter Gracchus"
* "The Great Wall of China"
* "A Message from the Emperor"
* "A Report to an Academy"
* "A Dream"
* "Up in the Gallery"
* "A Fratricide"
* "The Next Village"
* "A Visit to a Mine"
* "Jackals and Arabs"
* "The Bridge"
* "The Bucket Rider"
* "The New Advocate"
* "An Old Manuscript"
* "The Knock at the Manor Gate"
* "Eleven Sons"
* "My Neighbor"
* "A Crossbreed"
* "The Cares of a Family Man"

1917–1923|

* "The Refusal"
* "A Hunger Artist"
* "Investigations of a Dog"
* "A Little Woman"
* "The Burrow"
* "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk"
* "A Common Confusion"
* "The Truth about Sancho Panza"
* "The Silence of the Sirens"
* "Prometheus"
* "The City Coat of Arms"
* "Poseidon"
* "Fellowship"
* "At Night"
* "The Problem of Our Laws"
* "The Conscription of Troops"
* "The Test"
* "The Vulture"
* "The Helmsman"
* "The Top"
* "A Little Fable"
* "Homecoming"
* "First Sorrow"
* "The Departure"
* "Advocates"
* "The Married Couple"
* "Give It Up!"
* "On Parables"

Short story
collections|

* Contemplation
* A Country Doctor
* A Hunger Artist
* The Great Wall of China
* The Complete Stories
* The Sons
* The Penal Colony
* Parables and Paradoxes
* Dearest Father
* Description of a Struggle

Diaries and
notebooks|

* The Diaries 1910–1923
* The Blue Octavo Notebooks
* The Zürau Aphorisms

Letters
and essays|

* Letter to His Father
* Letters to Felice
* Letters to Ottla
* Letters to Milena
* Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors
* The Office Writings

Plays|

* The Warden of the Tomb

Related|

* Ottla Kafka (sister)
* Franz Kafka and Judaism
* Richard and Samuel
* Franz Kafka Museum
* Franz Kafka Society
* Franz Kafka Prize
* Kafka Project
* Head of Franz Kafka statue
* Statue of Franz Kafka
* Kafka's Dick (1986 play)
* The Loves of Kafka (1988 film)
* Kafka (1991 film)
* Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (1993 film)

* Category

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany

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