Kafka wrote in the tradition of the great Yiddish storytellers, whose stock-in-trade was bizarre fantasy, tainted with hilarity and self-abasement. What he brought to this tradition was, however, an almost unbearably expanded consciousness. Alienated from his roots, his family, his surroundings, and primarily from his own body, Kafka created a unique literary language in which to hide away, transforming himself into a cockroach, an ape, a dog, a mole or a circus artiste who starves himself to death before admiring crowds. This book, illustrated by the creator of Fritz the Cat, should help the reader to see beyond the cliche Kafkaesque and to peer through the glass wall at the unique creature on display there.