The fifty most essential works of Jewish fiction

At Jewcy, Jason Diamond named "The 50 Most Essential Works Of Jewish Fiction Of The Last 100 Years."

The Franz Kafka stories to make the list:

1. The Metamorphosis (1915)

It’s really impossible to rate anything– especially the ultimate “Kafkaesque” work—any higher. The Prague-born writer’s ultimate work about poor Gregor Samsa is one of the most seminal works of Jewish fiction in the last century.

6. The Trial (1925)

We recognize that we should have just said “Everything Kafka did” at the #1 position, but that wouldn’t have been fair, now would it?

Read the entire list.

The Metamorphosis is one of Thomas Bloor's top ten tales of metamorphosis; Avi Steinberg says it is one of six books every prison should stock.

The Trial appears among Pascal Bruckner's five best books about guilt and Sam Taylor's top ten books about forgetting.

--Marshal Zeringue