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Give It Up! And Other Short Stories by Franz Kafka
Nine paranoid tales by Franz Kafka are put to bold graphic comics.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
5 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
About the author
Peter Kuper
140 books136 followersAmerican alternative cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his autobiographical, political, and social observations.
Kuper's work in comics and illustration frequently combines techniques from both disciplines, and often takes the form of wordless comic strips. Kuper remarked on this, "I initially put comics on one side and my illustration in another compartment, but over the years I found that it was difficult to compartmentalize like that. The two have merged together so that they're really inseparable."
Kuper's work in comics and illustration frequently combines techniques from both disciplines, and often takes the form of wordless comic strips. Kuper remarked on this, "I initially put comics on one side and my illustration in another compartment, but over the years I found that it was difficult to compartmentalize like that. The two have merged together so that they're really inseparable."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
September 30, 2017
Nine short stories by Kafka put into graphic art.
The stories didn't appeal to me at all, nor did the art.
Dark and bizarre.
The stories didn't appeal to me at all, nor did the art.
Dark and bizarre.
October 12, 2013
Stuff I Read - Give it Up! and Other Short Stories by Peter Kuper and Franz Kafka
So this was a weird find at a library book sale, but as I am a fan of graphic novels and Kafka both, I couldn't resist picking it up and bringing it home. And I must say I'm not disappointed. It is a strange and probably none-too-cheery collection of Kafka's very short works rendered in comic form, which makes them further strange. Adding a bit to the spectacle was my wife reading the stories in the original German as I read the stories in English, and sort of comparing the two. The book does a good job of translating the work, and the effect is rather disquieting.
These are not particularly happy stories, after all, though perhaps that's obvious given Kafka's body of work. What we have here are a number of stories dealing with the plight of the oppressed, with the hungry, the hopeless, those who find the world a dark place in which they are largely powerless. It is a product in part of the time and place where Kafka was writing, but it also speaks across those lines to all people who find themselves at the mercy of something large and malevolent. There is that feeling that, like the mouse in the first story, we are all running a maze and that there is no escape from the trap, that even as we are told that we have power we are gobbled up by the cats of the world.
And the art renders the prose quite well, because it is disturbing and visceral. I did like that the policeman in Give it Up! had a gun barrel for a nose, and that when violence happens it doesn't seem romanticized or cool, but rather horrible, cold. It is effective work on the part of the artist and it further translates the work into a visual mode, giving a new sense of the words. The art and the prose work well together, and I think it was a great choice to use no color, to keep it black and white, because that starkness, that lack of vibrance, is something that accents the themes in Kafka's works.
As an adaptation, then, this book succeed, because it not only faithfully adapts the source material, but it adds to it as well, adds to it while not trying to lock everything into one vision. The art is still impressionistic enough that we are not really seeing one person's interpretation of the words, but rather an entirely new text for us to make up our own minds over. And while it's not really what I would call fun, it is a good read, and the same themes exist here as exist in the Metamorphosis, only in much shorter bites. it all works, and that's really what counts, and why I give this an 8.5/10.
So this was a weird find at a library book sale, but as I am a fan of graphic novels and Kafka both, I couldn't resist picking it up and bringing it home. And I must say I'm not disappointed. It is a strange and probably none-too-cheery collection of Kafka's very short works rendered in comic form, which makes them further strange. Adding a bit to the spectacle was my wife reading the stories in the original German as I read the stories in English, and sort of comparing the two. The book does a good job of translating the work, and the effect is rather disquieting.
These are not particularly happy stories, after all, though perhaps that's obvious given Kafka's body of work. What we have here are a number of stories dealing with the plight of the oppressed, with the hungry, the hopeless, those who find the world a dark place in which they are largely powerless. It is a product in part of the time and place where Kafka was writing, but it also speaks across those lines to all people who find themselves at the mercy of something large and malevolent. There is that feeling that, like the mouse in the first story, we are all running a maze and that there is no escape from the trap, that even as we are told that we have power we are gobbled up by the cats of the world.
And the art renders the prose quite well, because it is disturbing and visceral. I did like that the policeman in Give it Up! had a gun barrel for a nose, and that when violence happens it doesn't seem romanticized or cool, but rather horrible, cold. It is effective work on the part of the artist and it further translates the work into a visual mode, giving a new sense of the words. The art and the prose work well together, and I think it was a great choice to use no color, to keep it black and white, because that starkness, that lack of vibrance, is something that accents the themes in Kafka's works.
As an adaptation, then, this book succeed, because it not only faithfully adapts the source material, but it adds to it as well, adds to it while not trying to lock everything into one vision. The art is still impressionistic enough that we are not really seeing one person's interpretation of the words, but rather an entirely new text for us to make up our own minds over. And while it's not really what I would call fun, it is a good read, and the same themes exist here as exist in the Metamorphosis, only in much shorter bites. it all works, and that's really what counts, and why I give this an 8.5/10.
April 30, 2020
On dirait une compilation de cauchemars de Boubiche XD
April 20, 2022
Acho que não percebi muito bem estas histórias. Por isso, não é um livro que tenha vontade de reler no futuro... E não creio que o recordarei de todo...
July 16, 2018
Excellent collection of nine short stories of Kafka placed in graphic art. As the texts are already filled, adapting them in another form of artistic expression already becomes a challenge.
Some of the stories collected in this selection for me are of the best of this author: Little Fable, The Vulture and The Hunger Artist, for example.
It is difficult to graphically adapt texts with so many metaphors and not fall deeply into the caricature and the abyss of misunderstanding or lack of subliminal information of the originals.
In this selection there are histories that originally are fables, other proses that resemble poetry (because there are so many metaphors and figurations) and other very short ones - only a few pooled paragraphs.
Although I prefer only the texts, the final work of this book is very good.
_____
Excelente coleção de nove histórias curtas de Kafka colocadas em arte gráfica. Como os textos já se preenchem, adaptá-los em outra forma de expressão artística já se torna um desafio.
Algumas das histórias reunidas nessa seleção para mim são das melhores desse autor: Little Fable, The Vulture, A Hunger Artist, por exemplo.
É difícil adaptar graficamente textos com tantas metáforas e não cair profundamente na caricatura e no abismo da má incompreensão ou da falta de informação subliminar dos textos originais.
Nessa seleção há textos que são fábulas, outros prosas que assemelham-se à poesias (de tantas metáforas e figurações) e outras muito curtas - apenas alguns parágrafos reunidos.
Apesar de eu preferir apenas os textos, o trabalho final desse livro ficou muito bom.
Some of the stories collected in this selection for me are of the best of this author: Little Fable, The Vulture and The Hunger Artist, for example.
It is difficult to graphically adapt texts with so many metaphors and not fall deeply into the caricature and the abyss of misunderstanding or lack of subliminal information of the originals.
In this selection there are histories that originally are fables, other proses that resemble poetry (because there are so many metaphors and figurations) and other very short ones - only a few pooled paragraphs.
Although I prefer only the texts, the final work of this book is very good.
_____
Excelente coleção de nove histórias curtas de Kafka colocadas em arte gráfica. Como os textos já se preenchem, adaptá-los em outra forma de expressão artística já se torna um desafio.
Algumas das histórias reunidas nessa seleção para mim são das melhores desse autor: Little Fable, The Vulture, A Hunger Artist, por exemplo.
É difícil adaptar graficamente textos com tantas metáforas e não cair profundamente na caricatura e no abismo da má incompreensão ou da falta de informação subliminar dos textos originais.
Nessa seleção há textos que são fábulas, outros prosas que assemelham-se à poesias (de tantas metáforas e figurações) e outras muito curtas - apenas alguns parágrafos reunidos.
Apesar de eu preferir apenas os textos, o trabalho final desse livro ficou muito bom.
July 21, 2024
Schwer so ein Buch zu beurteilen. Comic-Künstler Peter Kuper "illustriert" kurze Erzählungen von Franz Kafka. Kupers expressionistischer Schwarz-Weiß Stil passt sehr gut zu den Texten. Die Zeit, in der Kafka schrieb, war auch die des Expressionismus.
Mich irritierte, dass die Texte von Kafka so kurz sind. "Ein Hungerkünstler" habe ich länger in Erinnerung. Manchmal habe ich den Eindruck, dass Kuper etwas weggelassen hat. Die Texte sind faszinierend vielfältig in die Bilder eingearbeitet. Illustriert kann man schon gar nicht mehr sangen. Es sind echte Comic-Geschichten geworden, zu denen Franz Kafka die Textbeiträge geleistet hat!
Kuper hat auch nicht den Tenor der Geschichten verändert, die Düsterkeit und Unausweichlichkeit des scheinbar vorgezeichneten Endes, die Machtlosigkeit des Ich-Erzählers, sondern seine Bilder verstärken die Grundstimmung noch.
"Die Bäume" wohl der rätselhafteste und kürzeste Text von Kafka in diesem Buch. Ich zitiere ihn mal: "Denn wir sind wie Baumstämme im Schnee. Scheibar liegen sie glatt auf, und mit kleinem Anstoß sollte man sie wegschieben können. Nein, das kann man nicht, denn sie sind fest mit dem Boden verbunden. Aber sieh, sogar das ist nur scheinbar." Kuper hat hier einen großen Spielraum und er nutzt ihn. Seine Bilder erzählen von Obdachlosen in einer winterlichen Großstadt. Die rühren sich nicht mehr von der Stelle, als Polizisten die am Boden liegenden anstoßen. Am Ende wird einer von ihnen im Rettungswagen davongefahren. Das ist einfach verblüffend und auch berührend.
Ich kann nicht sagen, dass mir dieses dünne Buch "gefallen" hat, aber es ist außergewöhnlich und wenn ich darüber schreibe, wird mir erst klar, wie großartig diese Kooperation über die Zeiten zwischen Kuper und Kafka ist.
Es hat mehrere Anläufe bedurft, alle Geschichten hintereinander kann man nicht lesen, auch wenn der Band so kurz ist. Man kann sich nicht immer darauf einlassen.
Mich irritierte, dass die Texte von Kafka so kurz sind. "Ein Hungerkünstler" habe ich länger in Erinnerung. Manchmal habe ich den Eindruck, dass Kuper etwas weggelassen hat. Die Texte sind faszinierend vielfältig in die Bilder eingearbeitet. Illustriert kann man schon gar nicht mehr sangen. Es sind echte Comic-Geschichten geworden, zu denen Franz Kafka die Textbeiträge geleistet hat!
Kuper hat auch nicht den Tenor der Geschichten verändert, die Düsterkeit und Unausweichlichkeit des scheinbar vorgezeichneten Endes, die Machtlosigkeit des Ich-Erzählers, sondern seine Bilder verstärken die Grundstimmung noch.
"Die Bäume" wohl der rätselhafteste und kürzeste Text von Kafka in diesem Buch. Ich zitiere ihn mal: "Denn wir sind wie Baumstämme im Schnee. Scheibar liegen sie glatt auf, und mit kleinem Anstoß sollte man sie wegschieben können. Nein, das kann man nicht, denn sie sind fest mit dem Boden verbunden. Aber sieh, sogar das ist nur scheinbar." Kuper hat hier einen großen Spielraum und er nutzt ihn. Seine Bilder erzählen von Obdachlosen in einer winterlichen Großstadt. Die rühren sich nicht mehr von der Stelle, als Polizisten die am Boden liegenden anstoßen. Am Ende wird einer von ihnen im Rettungswagen davongefahren. Das ist einfach verblüffend und auch berührend.
Ich kann nicht sagen, dass mir dieses dünne Buch "gefallen" hat, aber es ist außergewöhnlich und wenn ich darüber schreibe, wird mir erst klar, wie großartig diese Kooperation über die Zeiten zwischen Kuper und Kafka ist.
Es hat mehrere Anläufe bedurft, alle Geschichten hintereinander kann man nicht lesen, auch wenn der Band so kurz ist. Man kann sich nicht immer darauf einlassen.
August 31, 2017
This is a brilliant reimaging of nine Kafka short stories. In his introduction, Jules Feiffer compares them to jazz, "Like Bird doing 'Embraceable You,' it may not be Gershwin, but it's art." I could not say it better, which is why I quoted Feiffer. Just one example, the bridge in "The Bridge" is a human being stretched across the ravine. Not exactly what Kafka created, which was a somewhat anthropomorphic bridge that was nevertheless not actually human, so Kuper takes the story to a different level. The only reason I allot four stars instead of five is that each story is so short and simple that they lack the depth of a great novel or novella. That is not a fault. It is built in.
June 7, 2024
Dark and unsettling, both the stories and the artwork, enjoyed it immensely! Eight of the nine stories selected for this volume are very short: parable-like, less than a page of text, treated graphically over four or five pages each. Among the best are Give It Up! and A Fratricide, and maybe The Vulture (truly horrifying). The text of the one longer story, A Hunger Artist, is much shortened here, but still effective. I found myself wishing for more, and learned that Kuper treated five additional stories in his Kafkaesque, including In the Penal Colony.
August 3, 2024
As a fan of Kafka, particularly his surreal and oppressive work, when I stumbled on this illustrated accompaniment to some of Kafka’s short stories, I quickly purchased it and delved into it. The art style is a nice pairing with the selected stories, in a way that is perfectly notes in the introduction: “Americans expect to be winners even as we lose, so we scream. Central Europeans expect to lose, so they shrug. In these pages, Kuper gives us the screaming shrug.”
Recommendation:
For fans of Kafka, especially flavoured by German Expressionism.
Recommendation:
For fans of Kafka, especially flavoured by German Expressionism.
August 10, 2023
Not bad overall, but not quite as affecting as Kafka's work on its own. Peter Kuper adapts several shorter Kafka stories with his own simplistic but brooding cartooning style. The art does complement the overall melancholy and dread of the several stories well enough, but I do feel that Kafka is best experience when the reader can form images in their own mind by just the written word. Not all that memorable of a collection, but still pretty decent overall.
August 4, 2021
The introduction to this graphic novel adaptation to Kafka's works attempts to dispel the reader's biases to the format. As an educator I am always in search for adaptations which might spark student interest. This particular one by Peter Kuper did not disappoint. Kuper's illustrations heighten and enhance the creepy and insightful nature of each of Kafka's short stories. I highly recommend this collection if you're looking for something both accessible and thought provoking.
February 22, 2020
These stories were so wildly different from what I'm used to and I really liked it. I think Kuper did a fantastic job illustrating and I love his style so much. I would read a lot more classics if he could illustrate them all.
February 5, 2023
GIVE IT UP! & Other Short Stories of Kafka, Peter Kuper
An American alternative comic writer adapts Kafka’s work. Dark humour is infused into these terse micro-stories, stunning symmetrical panels and flowing illustrations, that add to the sense of delirious fever dreams. ***
An American alternative comic writer adapts Kafka’s work. Dark humour is infused into these terse micro-stories, stunning symmetrical panels and flowing illustrations, that add to the sense of delirious fever dreams. ***
August 21, 2018
I definitely didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either.
January 19, 2022
i read give it up & wanted to log it lmfao
February 8, 2019
So glad I found this little gem! It includes depictions of some of my favorite Kafka short stories- The Hunger Artist being chief among them- and some I'd never come across before. Kruper's illustrations are spot on- dark, nightmarish, and oppressively foreboding. Definitely a treasure for any Kafka fan and a super accessible introduction to Kafka if you're not familiar with his work.
April 24, 2019
4.5 Jag tror det var en bra bok för mig som inte alls läser grafiska romaner, snabb och enkel att ta sig genom. Jag älskar kafka också så det var bara grädde på moset.
April 26, 2010
This was my introduction to Kafka... I, too, can't believe it. For about a year now I have had a bit of a crush on graphic novel adaptations of classic lit. -- an odd little subgenre of the GN which aims, as Jules Feiffer writes in the introduction to this here book, "to upgrade the image of comic art by cross-dressing it with culturally significant heavyweights." Perhaps my clandestine literary pretensions are peaking through every time I pick up a GN "written by" Shakespeare, Kafka, or, uh, Richard Morrison -- or perhaps it is a mere matter of length: "Short and sweet," as Jesus once said. But either way... Shooot. Heck. Gosh.
Every time I have investigated the graphic novel section at my local library in the last few months I've seen Kuper's adaptation of The Metamorphosis sitting there, staring me down. But I have always resisted and continue to do so. However, upon attending a different library a few days ago, upon cracking Give It Up! to just one pair of pages, I was set.
The art, in my cute and cuddly little opinion, is fantastic: sharp, dark, and trippy -- but not overly so: all three adjectives stay within bounds. It has a way of wedding to the text, combining with the text, without smothering the text. If I could draw -- if my hands weren't mentally retarded -- I would imitate this book.
And as for the stories? I really ought to get back to ya on that. There are nine of them, all a mere handful of pages, each with its own shade of hopelessness and dark humor. I was inclined to the humor -- need I warn you? this is not "haha" funny. I am inclined to believe that Kafka was inclined to laugh at the world (bitterly, of course, but laugh just the same), rather than cry and moan. The writing, unlike the art, at times seemed garish and overdrawn. I am inclined (once again, in only the humblest of my opinions) to believe that many of the stories, had they not the "Kafka" stamp, would have been passed over by both publishers and readers.
Every time I have investigated the graphic novel section at my local library in the last few months I've seen Kuper's adaptation of The Metamorphosis sitting there, staring me down. But I have always resisted and continue to do so. However, upon attending a different library a few days ago, upon cracking Give It Up! to just one pair of pages, I was set.
The art, in my cute and cuddly little opinion, is fantastic: sharp, dark, and trippy -- but not overly so: all three adjectives stay within bounds. It has a way of wedding to the text, combining with the text, without smothering the text. If I could draw -- if my hands weren't mentally retarded -- I would imitate this book.
And as for the stories? I really ought to get back to ya on that. There are nine of them, all a mere handful of pages, each with its own shade of hopelessness and dark humor. I was inclined to the humor -- need I warn you? this is not "haha" funny. I am inclined to believe that Kafka was inclined to laugh at the world (bitterly, of course, but laugh just the same), rather than cry and moan. The writing, unlike the art, at times seemed garish and overdrawn. I am inclined (once again, in only the humblest of my opinions) to believe that many of the stories, had they not the "Kafka" stamp, would have been passed over by both publishers and readers.
December 16, 2011
Some of the adaptations here are brilliant, like The Bridge or The Trees. Most of the others are quite good, and some were just OK. All in all, the book is well made, which can't be said for many comic adaptations of literature.
I am somewhat biased because I immensely enjoyed Robert Crumb's Kafka biography, so I will probably measure anything in that vein against it.
This comic could serve as a short introduction to Kafka because it conveys his stories' weirdness, covers a wide range of relatively non-canonical stories, and the text excerpts are well-chosen for effect.
I am somewhat biased because I immensely enjoyed Robert Crumb's Kafka biography, so I will probably measure anything in that vein against it.
This comic could serve as a short introduction to Kafka because it conveys his stories' weirdness, covers a wide range of relatively non-canonical stories, and the text excerpts are well-chosen for effect.
December 31, 2016
I wish we could give half stars. 3 seems too low for anything related to Kafka but this isn't really on par with other '4s'. Eh.
I don't really do the graphic novel thing but this seemed cool. The artist is talented as shit but, at the same time, not many of the pictures grabbed me. Most of the stories were summed up in just a few images - sometimes even a single one. If you are going to attempt to sum up Kafka's writing in a single drawing you better really know what your doing.
Overall, I would rather read the original writing any day.
I don't really do the graphic novel thing but this seemed cool. The artist is talented as shit but, at the same time, not many of the pictures grabbed me. Most of the stories were summed up in just a few images - sometimes even a single one. If you are going to attempt to sum up Kafka's writing in a single drawing you better really know what your doing.
Overall, I would rather read the original writing any day.
December 2, 2014
Graphic novels have never been high in my reading priorities, but I decided this year I would try some different things. This little gem came up in my search.
I selected it because it is short stories, it is Kafka, it has an introduction by Jules Feiffer. I didn't know Kuper.
I had read all of these stories before (more than once) but Kuper's bold black and white illustrations add a whole now dimension. He nails it.
January 28, 2009
Really good interpretation of Kafka's style of storytelling. Peter Kuper illustrates a grim atmosphere, that is very fitting to Kafka's stories! I enjoyed this graphic novel, as I enjoy Kafka's work. My only complaint is that it is too short!!! The stories are very much abridged, but still gets the main point across.
August 23, 2011
What is better than depressing, deeply agonizing, and strikingly revealing than Kafka? it is Kafka in comics! This isn't your usual "novel-turned-into-graphic novel" affair, this is the artists interpretation of some of kafka's short stories. The result is shock and beauty. If you're into the kafkaesque, pick this up and enjoy it :)
June 6, 2011
one of my favourite graphic novelists and one of my favourite writers in one short book is amazing! Kuper's drawings are so fitting for the writings of Kafka. it was very enjoyable and dark at the same time.
August 4, 2015
Kafka's short stories or for the most part prose, picked by Kuper to illustrate in this collection. The test and illustration work well together but the stories themselves weren't as engaging as I thought though certainly thought-provoking.
October 13, 2007
Another great adaptation by Kuper! My only complaint would be its length. Some of the re-tellings are a little too short.
April 14, 2008
beautiful drawings, and so oddly thrilling to see kafka's stories alive in graphic form.
July 27, 2008
Tastefully done.
June 25, 2015
i liked the illustrations - the stories .... I just didnt get them I guess. oh well
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews