"A Little Woman" (German: "Eine kleine Frau") is a short story by

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

written between December 1923 and the end of January 1924. It was first published in the Easter supplement of ''

Prager Tagblatt The ''Prager Tagblatt'' was a German language newspaper published in Prague from 1876 to 1939. Considered to be the most influential Liberal democracy, liberal-democratic German newspaper in Bohemia, it stopped publication after the German occup ...

'' on 20 April 1924. During his final illness Kafka corrected the proofs of the story for the inclusion into collection ''

A Hunger Artist "A Hunger Artist" (German: "Ein Hungerkünstler") is a short story by Franz Kafka first published in ''Neue Rundschau, Die neue Rundschau'' in 1922. The story was also included in the collection ''A Hunger Artist (collection), A Hunger Artist'' ...

'' (''Ein Hungerkünstler'') published by Verlag Die Schmiede after his death.

Plot summary

The story begins with a detailed description of an anxious young woman. The woman is frustrated with the narrator for some reason which he cannot understand as they are strangers. The narrator contemplates the situation and wonders what will help the little woman with her obsessive frustration with him. He considers that even committing suicide would not affect her anger at him. The reliability of the narrator is not a given, and sometimes there seems the suggestion that he is not the actual source of the woman's irritation, but merely considers himself to be so.Kafka, Franz. ''The Complete Stories''.

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Schocken Books Schocken Books is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that specializes in Jewish literary works. Originally established in 1931 by Salman Schocken as Schocken Verlag in Berlin, the company later moved to Israel and then the Unit ...

, 1995. 317-324.

Process of writing

At the end of September 1923 Kafka moved to Berlin-Steglitz with Dora Dymant where he wrote "A Little Woman," based on their landlady.

Publication history (in English)

* 1943; translated by Francis C. Golffing, ''Accent'', Summer 1943, pp. 223-227. * 1948; translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, in '' The Penal Colony'', New York, Schocken Books, 320 p.

Notes

1924 short stories Short stories by Franz Kafka Short stories published posthumously {{1920s-story-stub