Being a book lover means it’s not always easy to stick to only your reading list. It’s fun to see what stories other readers are burying their noses in and browse the books they have collected. This is why we want to share the book-loving part of us that started Beyond the Shelf and start a tour of our bookshelf.
If you follow us on Instagram you will have seen our post earlier this week onour Franz Kafka print. The book featuring in that post is our own copy of Amerika, a novel that is off-centre from the Kafka brand of being dark and sinister and instead tells a more colourful story.
Amerika is our first spotlight book of the Beyond the Shelf bookshelf tour.
What’s the book about?
This book follows the journey of Karl Roßmann, a sixteen-year-old boy who finds himself packed off to New York City to avoid the scandal of his seduction by a serving girl. Karl is expected to redeem and remake himself – and where better to do so than the land of opportunity?
Karl is soon swept up in various unexpected adventures, some of which are, in true Kafka style, quite bizarre.
What did we think?
Much like Kafka’s other works, you don’t necessarily read this book for the plot but instead to enjoy Kafka’s feverish creativity and disjointed confusion. That being said, the story itself was a much sunnier and more comical read than Kafka’s other novels.
What’s the story behind our book?
This was a gift from one Beyond the Shelf owner to the other, knowing that the recipient had a penchant for old library books.
After searching through a few different copies online, I found a collector based in New Jersey, USA who had picked up this copy and were willing to part with it.
It is a first edition of the English edition translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, published in 1946 by Schocken Books in New York, USA.
It was originally kept safe in the Tompkins County Public Library, Ithaca, New York and still has its original library card which was a sentimental extra I knew I wouldn't get elsewhere.
As you flick through, you will also see it holds a total of 15 illustrations, done by Emlen Etting. Below is the frontispiece illustration of the book's leading character, Karl Roßmann.
It was a gift well-received and now has pride of place as an outward-facing book on our shelf.
If you're also a fan of Franz Kafka's works, don't forget to check out our Franz Kafka print available HERE.
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We look forward to hearing from you!
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