"The Classic Collection of Franz Kafka. Novellas and Stories" brings together a selection of extraordinary works by Franz Kafka, one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. This collection showcases Kafka's unique literary style and his exploration of existential themes, alienation, and the human condition. "The Metamorphosis" is a haunting novella that follows the bizarre transformation of Gregor Samsa into a giant insect, exploring themes of identity, isolation, and the absurdity of human existence.

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.

K. is a land surveyor who arrives in a remote village with the hope of securing a position working for the mysterious Castle that looms over the settlement. But his attempts to gain access to the Castle are thwarted at every turn by confusing rules, indifferent officials, and an opaque system that seems designed to keep him out.

Ready with his black bag, Dr Finlay sets out to remedy all manner of ailments suffered by his patients in the Scottish Highland town of Levenford. In this complete BBC Radio collection, we meet the surprising Dr Finlay as he is welcomed to the practise with a black eye. Over the course of these series the early years of Dr Finlay are explored, as he gets to grips with the locals in the Scottish Highland town of Levenford.

"In the beginning, there was nothing but endless flatness. Then came the Carpet." That’s the old story that every tiny citizen of the empire found in the Carpet knows. But now a new story is in the making. The story of Fray, sweeping a trail of destruction across the Carpet, of power-hungry villains wreaking havoc, and of two brothers on an adventure to end all adventures.

Lotte Lenya reads "Up In The Gallery", "The Cares of a Family Man", "The Bucket Rider", "A Hunger Artist", and "A Fratricide."

A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit, a crime whose nature is never revealed to him. Once arrested, he is released, but must report to court on a regular basis - an event that proves maddening, as nothing is ever resolved. As he grows more uncertain of his fate, his personal life - including work at a bank and his relations with his landlady and a young woman who lives next door - becomes increasingly unpredictable.

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. He is best known for Moby-Dick, the opening line of which - ‘Call me Ishmael’ - is one of the most famous opening lines in literature. This BBC collection features lively full-cast dramatisations of three of Melville’s best-known works.

One of the great works of the 20th century, Kafka's The Trial has been read as a study of political power, a pessimistic religious parable, or a crime novel where the accused man is himself the problem. In it, a man wakes up one morning to find himself under arrest for an offence which is never explained. Faced with this ambiguous but threatening situation, Josef K. gradually succumbs to its psychological pressure.

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....