Franz Kafka's short stories-shocking, complex, intriguing, and unsettling-show him at the height of his writing prowess. Kafka takes on universal themes such as guilt, isolation, alienation, self-expression, cruelty, judgment, shame, sin, and redemption in them. Hovering between dream and reality, his dark and brilliantly crafted stories are populated by both humans and animals. They are intense, enigmatic, filled with generous doses of irony and horror that inspire the reader to search for meaning in the world's maze. This collection features an impressive clutch of his short stories including In The Penal Colony', The Hunger Artist', The Metamorphosis', The Burrow', The Judgment', Before the Law', A Country Doctor', and The Great Wall of China'. The Penal Colony' is seeped in the dehumanizing horror of WWI and it mixes the dazzle of modern technological advances with the barbarism of archaic, absolute law. The Metamorphosis' in which the alienated hero turns into an insect is an exquisite study of the human condition. The characters in Kafka's stories are hunted and haunted, wandering in a world governed by forces beyond their control.