The Cryptkeeper

Franz Kafka's only attempt at drama, Der Gruftwachter (The Cryptkeeper), was left unfinished and unpublished at his death in 1924. Der Gruftwachter was first published by Kafka's executor Brod as part of the 1936 collection of stories and fragments, Beschreibung eines Kampfes. This volume was later translated into English by Tania and James Stern and published by Schocken Books in 1958 as Description of a Struggle. It has never been separately published in an English translation. This new, facing-page edition also includes translations of two related Kafka stories: Vor dem Gesetz (Before the Law) and Erzahlung des Grovaters (The Grandfather's Tale).