In the Penal Colony

E97616

"In the Penal Colony" is a dark, allegorical short story by Franz Kafka that explores themes of justice, bureaucracy, and cruelty through the depiction of a gruesome execution machine in a remote penal settlement.

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Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf allegorical fiction
literary work
short story
author Franz Kafka NERFINISHED
centralObject execution machine
torture apparatus
countryOfOrigin Austria-Hungary NERFINISHED
firstPublicationYear 1919
firstPublishedIn Leipzig NERFINISHED
genre absurdist fiction
modernist literature
philosophical fiction
hasAdaptation opera adaptations
radio adaptations
stage adaptations
hasTranslation Czech
English
French
Italian
Spanish
many other languages
includedIn collection "In der Strafkolonie" NERFINISHED
influenced interpretations of Kafkaesque justice
literaryMovement modernism
mainCharacter the Condemned Man NERFINISHED
the Explorer NERFINISHED
the Officer NERFINISHED
the Soldier NERFINISHED
narrativePerspective third-person narration
notableFeature detailed description of execution machine
open-ended conclusion
originalLanguage German
originalTitle In der Strafkolonie NERFINISHED
partOf Franz Kafka short fiction corpus NERFINISHED
publisherOfFirstBookEdition Kurt Wolff Verlag NERFINISHED
setting island-like penal settlement
remote penal colony
theme authority
bureaucracy
capital punishment
cruelty
dehumanization
guilt and punishment
justice
legalism
obedience
violence
writtenYear 1914

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Franz Kafka notableWork In the Penal Colony