What are your favorite Kafka stories?
What do you think about the ending of the Castle, or the proposed ending where the man slowly dies and on his deathbed gets a letter inviting him to the castle?
Has anyone read his Diaries, or his letters to his father?
Has anyone read Max Brod's work, or others that Kafka worked with?
My favorite Kafka story is the one where it's a different author because Kafka sucks
>>7566789
I'm sorry you feel that way. Mine is probably Amerika, I really enjoy it.
>>7566784
I haven't read all of his works, but The Castle may be my favorite. Also, his diaries were a good read too.
Metamorphosis makes my skin itch for some reason.
Anyone know what I mean?
>>7567339
It makes it uncomfortably taut?
>>7567348
Something like that yes.
>>7566789
You can't just say Kafka sucks. Give your opinion on why he sucks. Otherwise, your comment is discarded.
>>7567339
Got the exact reaction when reading Metamorphosis. “Blumfeld, an elderly Bachelor“ and parts of “The Trial“ (Der Prügler) did the same to me.
after reading his short-stories i am convinced that a part of his soul lives inside of me.
>>7568021
elaborate, please!
for some reason i actually teared up reading metamorphosis at the part where he's thinking about his sister near the end. Don't normally get that emotional from books, and it wasn't a particularly sad scene or anything.
>>7568093
That's really interesting considering the corcumstances in which Kafka wrote metamorphosis. His father had lent a large sum of money so the husband of one of Kafka's sister could start a factory for asbestos. The only condition was that Franz basically was in control of the finances so his family could see if it worked out. Being the lazy and selb-absorbed type he didn't give a shit. When the factory got in trouble Franz was on bad terms with his whole family, especially with his father and the sister in question. Could have played a part in why the bit appeared as it did.
Kafka is one of those authors where the >translations meme really applies. The reason Kafka is so good is because of the way he used and influenced the German language. Reading him in English is a waste of time.
>>7568154
I wouldn't go that far. He did a great deal to make surrealist literature a thing. The Traumlogik is not limited to the language he wrote in.
His language is actually pretty bland and easily translated.
>tfw you are josef k.
Goes without saying Der Bau and the great wall of china are his best works. Anxiety and he just lays philosophy the fuck out.
Metamorphosis is more i think proof of concept. hes fantastic at taking simple ideas such as what would happen if you (he) woke up one day and found himself to have been transformed into a giant instect? the problem is, as ive already alluded to, his writing is egocentric. the ideas contained in his writings, or at least my interpretations of them, have far reaching implications on the state of man.
The Castle I loved, and The Trial gave me this strange persistant anxiety towards authority throughout my day that i really didnt like. which was only when i was say driving id find myself with an abnormal amount of anxiety involving police, contrast with in the penal colony where it was only harrowing whilst reading it and i was fine once i finished. he conveys anxiety to the reader like no other writer ive encountered. and he does it without the feeling of anxiety being the point of the reading.
my problem with him is hes clearly more of a short story writer than a novelist, and his characters are almost identical, as in theyre all himself. he cant write women for example, and clearly doesnt understand women. but i can look far past that for hes doing a phenomenal job of representing the human psyche.
I found the endings to the castle something of letdowns, but it would be extremely difficult i think to give the castle a worthy ending. i preferred the second where K meets a secretary, and found the whole scene properly kafkaesque (hilarious mostly). more importantly do you think freida was a manipulative bitch? also some of my favorite bits of philosophy are contained in the 2nd ending. for the gentleman it is always noon, Klamm training freida, how freida conducts herself (which i think is a moment of clarity on his writing of women), etc.
most of all, my love for him involves analysis. when you take even something so insignificant as why K. finds himself somewhere and not elsewhere, you find that every aspect of the story led to K being where he was. all the little details, everything is connected, and thats why you can get so fucking deep with kafka analysis. its doesnt border infinite like say music, but i can see why so many lit majors use him for their theses.
>>7568232
Thanks for typing that up. Have you read Amerika?
Fun fact: The Kafka museum in Prague features information in English and Czech, but not in German.
I think Kafka's writing represents me perfectly: intelligent, nihilistic and with a wicked sense of humor
