-
In the Penal Colony
- Narrated by: Peter Yearsley
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $6.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Trial
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If Max Brod had obeyed Franz Kafka's dying request, Kafka's unpublished manuscripts would have been burned, unread. Fortunately, Brod ignored his friend's wishes and published The Trial, which became the author's most famous work. Now Kafka's enigmatic novel regains its humor and stylistic elegance in a new translation based on the restored original manuscript.
-
-
Excellent New Translation of a Classic Novel
- By Michael on 08-12-12
By: Franz Kafka
-
Metamorphosis
- A BBC Radio 4 Reading
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
- Length: 1 hr and 38 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Benedict Cumberbatch reads the enduring classic of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. Gregor Samsa wakes to discover that he has turned into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. He attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repelled by the horrible creature he has become. First published in 1915, Kafka's darkly comic novella explores concepts such as the absurdity of life, alienation and the disconnect between mind and body.
-
-
Very Sad
- By ilene on 02-05-18
By: Franz Kafka
-
A Report for an Academy
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Martin Reyto
- Length: 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"A Report to an Academy" (German: "Ein Bericht für eine Akademie") is a short story by Franz Kafka, written and published in 1917. In the story, an ape named Red Peter, who has learned to behave like a human, presents to an academy the story of how he effected his transformation. The story was first published by Martin Buber in the German monthly Der Jude, along with another of Kafka's stories, "Jackals and Arabs" ("Schakale und Araber").
By: Franz Kafka
-
The Metamorphosis (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One morning, traveling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes from an anxious dream to discover that he has inexplicably changed into a monstrous insect. Nonetheless, life goes on, and poor Gregor is left to deal not only with the existential questions of who or what he now is but also with more mundane concerns: his job (which he fears he’ll lose), his loved ones (whom he fears he disgusts), and the daily indignities of everyday life (which continue apace). Soon, even those who sympathize with his bizarre predicament begin to lose their patience....
-
-
Disgustingly Disturbing
- By Layth Salah on 01-30-21
By: Franz Kafka
-
The Country Doctor
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Glenn Hascall
- Length: 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An odd but well-loved short story following steps into madness. A country doctor has had more work than he can handle, and the stress seems to have taken him to a place that seems as at home in nightmares as in the madness of an overworked mind. Kafka's work often lends itself to the turmoil of the human mind. In this respect the story does not fail to impress.
By: Franz Kafka
-
The Castle
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On his deathbed, Franz Kafka asked that all his unpublished manuscripts be burned. Fortunately, his request was ignored, allowing such works as The Trial to earn recognition among the literary masterpieces of the 20th century. This brilliant new translation of The Castle captures comedic elements and visual imagery that earlier interpretations missed.
-
-
Obscure, enigmatic, and not for everyone
- By John on 02-08-06
By: Franz Kafka
-
The Trial
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If Max Brod had obeyed Franz Kafka's dying request, Kafka's unpublished manuscripts would have been burned, unread. Fortunately, Brod ignored his friend's wishes and published The Trial, which became the author's most famous work. Now Kafka's enigmatic novel regains its humor and stylistic elegance in a new translation based on the restored original manuscript.
-
-
Excellent New Translation of a Classic Novel
- By Michael on 08-12-12
By: Franz Kafka
-
Metamorphosis
- A BBC Radio 4 Reading
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
- Length: 1 hr and 38 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Benedict Cumberbatch reads the enduring classic of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. Gregor Samsa wakes to discover that he has turned into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. He attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repelled by the horrible creature he has become. First published in 1915, Kafka's darkly comic novella explores concepts such as the absurdity of life, alienation and the disconnect between mind and body.
-
-
Very Sad
- By ilene on 02-05-18
By: Franz Kafka
-
A Report for an Academy
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Martin Reyto
- Length: 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"A Report to an Academy" (German: "Ein Bericht für eine Akademie") is a short story by Franz Kafka, written and published in 1917. In the story, an ape named Red Peter, who has learned to behave like a human, presents to an academy the story of how he effected his transformation. The story was first published by Martin Buber in the German monthly Der Jude, along with another of Kafka's stories, "Jackals and Arabs" ("Schakale und Araber").
By: Franz Kafka
-
The Metamorphosis (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One morning, traveling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes from an anxious dream to discover that he has inexplicably changed into a monstrous insect. Nonetheless, life goes on, and poor Gregor is left to deal not only with the existential questions of who or what he now is but also with more mundane concerns: his job (which he fears he’ll lose), his loved ones (whom he fears he disgusts), and the daily indignities of everyday life (which continue apace). Soon, even those who sympathize with his bizarre predicament begin to lose their patience....
-
-
Disgustingly Disturbing
- By Layth Salah on 01-30-21
By: Franz Kafka
-
The Country Doctor
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Glenn Hascall
- Length: 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An odd but well-loved short story following steps into madness. A country doctor has had more work than he can handle, and the stress seems to have taken him to a place that seems as at home in nightmares as in the madness of an overworked mind. Kafka's work often lends itself to the turmoil of the human mind. In this respect the story does not fail to impress.
By: Franz Kafka
-
The Castle
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On his deathbed, Franz Kafka asked that all his unpublished manuscripts be burned. Fortunately, his request was ignored, allowing such works as The Trial to earn recognition among the literary masterpieces of the 20th century. This brilliant new translation of The Castle captures comedic elements and visual imagery that earlier interpretations missed.
-
-
Obscure, enigmatic, and not for everyone
- By John on 02-08-06
By: Franz Kafka
-
Amerika
- The Missing Person: A New Translation by Mark Harman Based on the Restored Text
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Brilliant new translation of the great writer's least Kafkaesque novel, based on a German-language text that was produced by a team of international scholars and that is more faithful to Kafka's original manuscript than anything we have had before. With the same expert balance of precision and nuance that marked his translation of Kafka's The Castle, the award-winning translator Mark Harman now restores the humor and particularity of language to Amerika.
-
-
ha ha ha this is terrific
- By tom on 01-29-14
By: Franz Kafka
-
Before the Law
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Mike Vendetti
- Length: 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A man approaches a great door seeking the law, and there he finds a gatekeeper. The gatekeeper tells him he can't be allowed to enter at the moment, so the man waits. Narrated by award winning narrator Mike Vendetti, this Franz Kafka short story will leave you thinking and analyzing.
-
-
A tale that is true today in America as it was then...
- By Lee Homesley on 12-14-16
By: Franz Kafka
-
A Hunger Artist
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Cori Samuel
- Length: 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Hunger Artist. the last book Kafka prepared for publication, was printed after Kafka's death. The protagonist, a hunger artist who experiences the decline in appreciation of his craft, is an archetypical creation of Kafka: an individual marginalized and victimized by society at large.
By: Franz Kafka
-
The Metamorphosis
- A New Translation by Susan Bernofsky
- By: Franz Kafka, Susan Bernofsky - translator
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Victor Bevine, Christa Lewis
- Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Franz Kafka's 1915 novella of unexplained horror and nightmarish transformation became a worldwide classic and remains a century later one of the most widely read works of fiction in the world. It is the story of traveling salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himself transformed into a monstrous insect. This hugely influential work inspired George Orwell, Albert Camus, Jorge Louis Borges, and Ray Bradbury, while continuing to unsettle millions of readers.
-
-
Sympathy for Insects
- By David S. Mathew on 10-17-17
By: Franz Kafka, and others
-
The Metamorphosis
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug.” With this startlingly bizarre sentence, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young traveling salesman who, transformed overnight into a giant, beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. Rather than being surprised at the transformation, the members of his family despise it as an impending burden upon themselves.
-
-
Kafka-esque terrific
- By Norman Kent on 03-19-12
By: Franz Kafka
-
The Trial [Alpha DVD]
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Josef K. is an ordinary man who is arrested on his 30th birthday. He is prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, yet the nature of his crime is never revealed to him. One year after his arrest he is executed. His last words describe his own death: "Like a dog!"
-
-
Dick Hill's narration makes it special!
- By Wayne on 05-29-20
By: Franz Kafka
-
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the bizarre world of Franz Kafka, salesmen turn into giant bugs, apes give lectures at college academies, and nightmares probe the mysteries of modern humanity’s unhappiness. More than any other modern writer in world literature, Kafka captures the loneliness and misery that fill the lives of 20th-century humanity.
-
-
Great assortment of stories
- By Himanshu Modi on 08-20-18
By: Franz Kafka
-
Kafka on the Shore
- By: Haruki Murakami
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett, Oliver Le Sueur
- Length: 19 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami gives us a novel every bit as ambitious and expansive as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which has been acclaimed both here and around the world for its uncommon ambition and achievement, and whose still-growing popularity suggests that it will be read and admired for decades to come.
-
-
A seemingly schizophrenic odyssey
- By Ben Drexl on 04-22-20
By: Haruki Murakami
-
One Hundred Years of Solitude
- By: Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa - translator
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize-winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.
-
-
Outstanding Audiobook!
- By Greg on 02-26-14
By: Gabriel García Márquez, and others
-
Notes from the Underground
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A predecessor to such monumental works such as Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, Notes From Underground represents a turning point in Dostoyevsky's writing towards the more political side.
In this work, we follow the unnamed narrator of the story, who, disillusioned by the oppression and corruption of the society in which he lives, withdraws from that society into the underground.
-
-
great book, great narration
- By Oleg on 06-15-16
-
The Fall
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elegantly styled, Camus' profoundly disturbing novel of a Parisian lawyer's confessions is a searing study of modern amorality.
-
-
Wow Wow Wow
- By Lauren C on 07-14-21
By: Albert Camus
-
The Stranger
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Albert Camus' The Stranger is one of the most widely read novels in the world, with millions of copies sold. It stands as perhaps the greatest existentialist tale ever conceived, and is certainly one of the most important and influential books ever produced. Now, for the first time, this revered masterpiece is available as an unabridged audio production.
-
-
Top notch translation
- By Maggie on 06-26-11
By: Albert Camus
Publisher's Summary
"In the Penal Colony" ("In der Strafkolonie") (also translated as "In the Penal Settlement") is a short story by Franz Kafka written in German in October 1914, revised in November 1918, and first published in October 1919. The story is set in an unnamed penal colony. Internal clues and the setting on an island suggest Octave Mirbeau's "The Torture Garden" as an influence. As in some of Kafka's other writings, the narrator in this story seems detached from, or perhaps numbed by, events that one would normally expect to be registered with horror. "In the Penal Colony" describes the last use of an elaborate torture and execution device that carves the sentence of the condemned prisoner on his skin before letting him die, all in the course of 12 hours. As the plot unfolds, the listener learns more and more about the machine, including its origin and original justification.
More from the same
What listeners say about In the Penal Colony
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- joseph Gonzalez
- 08-06-18
a bit confusing, but not for Kafka fans
in the penal colony, is a must for any Kafka fan, his views on judgement and punishment, all dark btw, are worthy of our contemplation
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall

- Kindle Customer
- 12-31-21
Mental health
The narrator mentions that the execution machine was also used in mental health goals at that time. Action in our day must be taken against mental health worker's who abuse wrongly diagnose and wrongly medicate vulnerable adults and children.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Parker
- 08-24-19
A Kafka masterpiece read out competently and with good diction
This is one of kafka’s most celebrated stories which is told in an unpretentious way giving correct emphasis without too much theatricality. To understand K you have to situate him in the folk take tradition.