Before the Lavv BOOK AUTHOR: Kafka EDITION: VOLUME: Book Publi S Hed by Pe PUBLISHER: YEAR: 2008 PAGES: 197- 198
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Odyssey Rapid #: -7516288 villanova.illiad.oclc.org/ILL CALL #: PT2621.A26 A2 2008 LOCATION: VVCM:: Main Library:: vvcrna TYPE: Book Chapter BOOK TITLE: Metamorphosis and other stories / Franz Kafka; translated vvlth an Introduction by M i chael Hof'rTlann. USER BOOK TITLE: Metamorphos is and Other Stories WCM CATALOG Vervvand l ung. Eng lish;Metarnorphosls and other stories / Franz Kafka trans l ated TITLE: vvlth an Introduction by Michael HofrTlann CHAPTER TITLE: Before the Lavv BOOK AUTHOR: Kafka EDITION: VOLUME: Book publi s hed by Pe PUBLISHER: YEAR: 2008 PAGES: 197- 198 ISBN: 9780143105244 LCCN: DeLe #: WCM DeLe #: 206805940 CROSS REFERENCE [TN: 305079] [ODYSSEY: villanova I lIlad.oclc.org/ILL] ID: VERIFIED: BORROVVER: PVU Falvey Memorial Library · ·· ::.:;~m FWA."'.E» This materia l may be protected by copyright l avv (Titl e 17 U.S. Code) .. ...... 2/3/20148:38:35 AM Borrower: RAPID:PVU Call #: PT2621.A26 A2 2008 Lending String: Location: SAWYER AVAILABLE Patron: Journal Title: Verwandlung. ODYSSEY ENABLED == English;Metamorphosis and other stories I Franz 8 == Kafka translated with an introduction by Michael Charge (!) Hofmann OIJ -== Maxcost: (!) Volume: Book pUblishe~ 0 Shipping Address: - == MonthlYear: 2008Pag ~ u NEW; Falvey Memorial Library "-' = !!!!!!!!!!== Fax: Article Author: Kafka .....~ == Ariel: 153.104.168.210 0 Email: - 0 Article Title: Before the Law - M ~ 0) In N Imprint: Z I- "C ILL Number: -7516288 IV :::i 111111 111111 1111111111 1111111111 11111111111111 1111 ::! PENGUIN BOOItS Contents lished by the Penguin Group 75 Hudson Street, New York, New York 100~4, U.S,A, I), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, 'Thronto, Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) I, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England Introduction vii reen, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Note on the Texts xvi tralia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, 'a division of Pearson Australia Group Pry Ltd) India Pvc Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Contemplation (1913) Park, New Delhi-110 027, India Children on the Road 3 ;7 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Unmasking a Confidence Trickster 7 lth Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, lohannesburg 2196, South Africa The Sudden Walk IO Resolutions 12 ~ooks Ltd, Registered Offices; Ulndon WC2R ORL, England The Excursion into the Mountains 13 : published in Penguin Books (UK) 2007 The Plight ofthe Bachelor 14 in Penguin Books (USA) 2008 The Businessman 15 >79108642 Looking out Distractedly 18 The Way Home 19 :tion copyright 10 Michael Hofinann, 2007 All rights reserved The Men Running Past 20 N 978-0-14-310524-4 The Passenger 21 :IP data available Dresses 23 b.e United States of America The Rejection 24 merica, this book is sold subject to the condition For the Consideration ofAmateur Jockeys 25 . otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise The Window on to the Street 27 ,rior consent in any form of binding or cover other led and without a similar condition including Desire to be a Red Indian 28 nposed on the subsequent purchaser. The Trees 29 n of this book via the Internet or via any other means Being Unhappy 30 . is illegal and Punishable by law. Please purchase only a no~ partidpate in or encourage electronic piracy support of the author's rights is appreciated. The Judgemrnt: A Story for F. (191]) 35 v __~ ___ J Contents The Stoker: A Fragment (191]) 51 Metamorphosis (1913) 85 In the Penal Colony (1919) 147 A Country Doctor: Short Prose for my Father (1920) 181 The New Advocate 183 A Country Doctor 185 I I In the Gallery 192 An Oldjournal 194 Before the Law 197 Unima. jackals and Arabs 199 on Kaf A Visit to the Mine 204 him, H The Neighbouring Village 208 of a co A Message from the Emperor 209 sands ( The Worries ofa Head ofHousehold 2rr that cal Eleven Sons 213 was th A Fratricide 9 21 them t ADream 222 partial A Report to an Academy 225 expone A Hunger-Artist: Four Stories (1924) 237 but no! First Sorrow 239 Comm A Little Woman 243 to valit A Hunger-Artist 252 the tw( of som josejine, the Singer, or The Mouse People 264 ahum< Appendix 285 inexhal Aeroplanes in Brescia (1909) 287 within Great Noise (1912) 296 In at The Coal-Scuttle Rider (1921) 297 notsOIJ he is n< trainin! Philip J itself: J vi my Father I go out; like drinkers around a ~ sprawled around the remains ad a glimpse of the Emperor at :e; he never usually sets foot in stay in one of the gardens at Iris time he was standing, or so Before the Law s, surveying with lowered head nee. Isk ourselves. <How long will Before the law stands a doorkeeper. A man from the country n and torment? The Imperial walks up to the doorkeeper, and asks to be admitted to the law. ) itself, but isn't able to drive But the doorkeeper says he can't admit him just now. The man rhe gate remains locked; the considers, and then asks whether that means he will be admitted rrch ceremonially in and out, at some future time. <That's possible: says the doorkeeper, <but The salvation of the fatherland not now.' As the gate to the law remains open as ever, and as nd business people like us; we the doorkeeper steps aside, the man stoops to get a view of the .ever claimed we were. It's a inside through the gate. When the doorkeeper realizes what the end of us.' the man is doing, he laughs and says: <If you're so tempted, why don't you try and get in, in spite of my refusal to admit you. But remember: I am mighty. And I am just the lowest doorkeeper. From room to room there are doorkeepers, each one mightier than the one before. Even the sight of the third is more than I can bear.' The man from the countty has not expected such trouble; the law is supposed to be open to anyone at any time, he thinks, but taking a closer look at the doorkeeper in his fur coat, his big pointed nose, and his long, thin, black Tartar beard, he decides he'd better wait for permission to step inside. The doorkeeper gives him a stool and allows him to sit down beside the door. And there he sits for days and years. He makes many attempts to gain admission, and tires the doorkeeper out with his pleas. The doorkeeper often conducts little interrogations, quizzing him about his home and much else, but they are neutral questions of the kind that great men 197 A Country Doctor: Short Prose for my Father ask, and, when they are finished, he always says he can't yet offer him admission. The man, who has kitted himself out with many things for his trip, uses everything, irrespective of its value, in an efforr to bribe the doorkeeper. He in rum accepts everything that's offered to him, while always saying: The only reason I'm accepting this is so that you don't think there's something you've omitted to do.' Over many years, the man observes the doorkeeper almost continuously. He forgets all about the existence of the other doorkeepers, this one now seems to him to be the only obstacle in his path to the law. He curses his ill luck, loudly and recklessly in his early years, then later, as he gets old, merely chuntering under his breath. He becomes a little childish, and since in the many years of his scrutiny of the doorkeeper he has also made out the fleas in his fur collar, he even asks the fleas to help him change the doorkeeper's mind. Finally, his eyesight begins to fail, and he is left unsure whether things around him are getting dark, or whether it is his eyes deceiving him. But in the dark he discerns a glory that burstsunquenchably from the gates to the law. He has not much longer to live. Before his death, he assembles all the experiences of many years into one question, which he has never yet put to the doorkeeper. He beckons him over, as he is unable to haul his creaking body upright. The doorkeeper has to bend way down, because the difference in their respective heights has shifted a lot to the man's disadvantage. 'What is it you want to know now?' asks the doorkeeper, 'You are insatiable.' 'Everyone wants to go to law: says the man, 'How is it then that over so many years no one but me has tried to gain admission?' The doorkeeper sees that the man is nearing the end of his life, and, to reach his failing ears, he bellows to him at the top of his voice: 'No one else could gain admission here, because this entrance was intended for you alone. Now I am going to shut it.' .