Avoid reading a translation as often as possible. A translated work is easier because any features which can't be rendered in the target language must be left flattened and can't be replaced with a different figure of speech. That's why a lot of antique Latin and Greek authors originally in verse are returned in prose, the metrics aren't the same. The style of Franz Kafka precisely relies in this “weird syntax” upon which revolves each sentences' pace, they are built to carry the breath on the last word in a kind of crescendo. English lost it, having a different word order, a different structure and a conflictual relation to long propositions. If you indeed read Johann Wolfgang von Goethe—sorry, I hate splitting a name—you must feel his influence in Franz Kafka's prose. In German, you spot his taste for classical literature as well as French one—guess in what language he did go through it. In English you can't. The “reading translation meme” is, for once, quite fair and reasonable. I almost never read translated works and keep it for content-driven material, such as fantasy fiction or non-fiction. Doing otherwise makes hardly any sense.

Have you read the meme trilogy tho?

>>7536010
I think lots of good works of fiction can survive translation. I'm very happy that I read Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Calvino, Borges and so on, all in translation. I even looked into a Ulysses translation and I'd say that you still see Joyce's qualities, so that it still is a good read even if you don't understand English. Sure, it's worse than the original, but you can't simply learn 15+ languages just to read a few novels.

Imagine being born in, say, Korea. I'm sure there is some good Korean literature out there, but you'll have to read translations eventually, also because the Korean language is an isolated language so it's pretty hard to become fluent in another language to the extent that you get more from the original text than from the translation.

>>7536167
Each translated work is de facto a entirely different work where the translator is the author and the author a mere inspiration. Sure, you can't learn fifteen languages but we're all able to achieve three or four ones, especially nowadays where bilinguism is frequently met in the most desolated area. In a lifetime of seventy years, you couldn't learn, let's say, English, French and Spanish? I sometimes read Anton Chekhov or Kenji Miyazawa yet I do to enjoy the story and don't expect to get a fraction of what Anton Chekhov or Kenji Miyazawa are. Besides, I would never go through it, in the same way I never and probably will never read any Chinese classics, and there's nothing wrong with it, we simply can't read everything. Once again, “don't read a translation” is one of the few catchphrases which actually make sense or, to be more honest, “don't read a translation thinking you read the author”.

A Korean would be fucked as hell, by the way.

>>7536167

well other than Joyce, which you should've done in English, that's fine. Novels are easily translated. They're not poetry. Poetry can't be translated. Novels certainly can, no matter what anyone here says. Joyce is one of the few exceptions.

Hey guys i only ever read kafka in english could you give me an example of his "weird syntax" style in german?
Im swedish so while i could not understand a whole book in german i could easily understand one sentance.

>>7536252
Here is an example taken from “Die Verwandlung”.

“Gregor erschrak, als er seine antwortende Stimme hörte, die wohl unverkennbar seine frühere war, in die sich aber, wie von unten her, ein nicht zu unterdrückendes, schmerzliches Piepsen mischte, das die Worte förmlich nur im ersten Augenblick in ihrer Deutlichkeit beließ, um sie im Nachklang derart zu zerstören, daß man nicht wußte, ob man recht gehört hatte.”

Yes, this is one sentence. The msot obvious problem is the length; an English reader isn't used to go through such a long, dense sentence, and it simply doesn't render correctly anyway. But, if you cut each proposition—you can split it in up to ten elements—and draw a “tree” of dependence between them, it appears to look like a “staircase”, each being connected to the precedent in a very linear, gradual way. Besides this odd steadiness, on a more semantical point of view, the last word of each element carries the meaning of the proposition, in a progressive way till the very last word of the sentence—almost always a verb in German—which delivers the overall meaning, until then pure speculation. Applied on the whole novel, it give a very specific and cadenced pace to the reader, a feature noticeable with the stress mark if you subvocalize. I think there are better examples out there but this is all I can think of.

>>7536252

To add to >>7536321

1. German syntax is very flexible to the point that the author can choose the position of every part of the sentence, except for the verb.
2. In dependent clauses the verb is always the last part of the clause.

He uses this to consistently 'hide' information from the reader by putting the most important words for comprehension last. Because of the much more strict English syntax this effect cannot be repicated.

German is my native language but I still read Kafkas Trial in English since I like that language more. Don't think it matters too much anyways for books like this.

>>7535855
> German anon reading JR

Wouldn't surprise me if most all the popular /lit/core was pushed by non-anglos.

Anyway, you enjoying JR? Once you get into the right pace/rhythmn for reading JR its amazing.

>>7536460
What do you mean?

>>7536460
Yeah, it's amazing so far, also much easier than the recognitions for me. It really has a very unique flow to it.

I don't push anglo /lit/ at all though, I don't know enough of it. Pushing German /lit/ is very hard on here sadly.

>>7537028
Pushing anything remotely linked to literature is very hard on /lit/ since many—most?—users come here to pretend or/get their mediocre tastes validated by some virtual, community authority.

>>7537028
I still think Americans are writing the best novels. Specifically American and not British.