# Kafka



## Short Tooth (May 2, 2007)

What are your opinions on the man, the artist, and his art? I'm only just reading my first Kafka piece now but would be interested to see what the masses think of him.


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## velo (May 2, 2007)

I get into his writing.  I know nothing of the man except that he must have been whacked to write the way he did.  I've read a couple pieces and none of the characters ever seem to be people I could possibly understand.  In the Metamorphosis I was ok with Gregor Samsa waking up as a big bug one day, but the family's blase and unsurprised reaction(s) were what made the story a bore to read.  

It just didn't scan and I could never achieve suspension of disbelief.  

But, as always, YMMV


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## Short Tooth (May 2, 2007)

hmmm.. sounds intriguing. I'm on the Castle at the moment. Quite surreal but the protagonist reacts as we would in such a situation.


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## Dawnstorm (May 2, 2007)

Kafka was a lawyer in training and had to go through Austrian beurocracy in Prague. That pretty much explains his writing. ;-)

I love Kafka, especially his short stories.


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## Short Tooth (May 2, 2007)

Interesting trivia there. Explains The Castle. Cheers for that


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## MMack (May 2, 2007)

Began reading The Castle and put it down quite a few times. I dont know where i should begin with him, i've read the metamorphosis and feel as though i'm waiting for something less grievous. Will i find that in Amerika?


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## Short Tooth (May 3, 2007)

Coudn't tell ya as I'm only halfway thru castle myself. But I certainly recommend Castle.


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## strangedaze (May 3, 2007)

ull find something less grievous in Amerika, since its light and comedic, but its by far his worst piece of work. BY FAR. 

if u want to attack his novels, i would suggest The Trial, since its the most complete of the three.


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## Dimitris (May 11, 2007)

The Trial is very good. I think it's a very accurate allegory on the existential problems of man.


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## Short Tooth (May 11, 2007)

The Castle gets more and more bizarre, and while I am enjoying it I keep thinking... where is this going?


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## AppleofEris (May 11, 2007)

velo said:
			
		

> In the Metamorphosis I was ok with Gregor Samsa waking up as a big bug one day, but the family's blase and unsurprised reaction(s) were what made the story a bore to read.


 
There's really a point to why the family reacted this way to Gregor Samsa becoming a bug. Some believe Kafka used this as an examination of what happens to families when a member of the family dies - or thusly cannot work anymore. That, and other critics believe "Metamorphosis" deals with the importance people place on work and money, seeing as the fact that Gregor Samsa wasn't even surprised he himself woke up as a bug - his only concern was he had to get up to go to work.

Anyway, I love Kafka. I highly suggest everyone read, "The Starving Artist." The piece is not only a great examination of what it is to be an artist, but also, at a very base level, questions whether artists are made by nurture or nature. Are the best artists born with their gifts, or are they the ones that must work hard to hone it? It's all played out in such a strange double-meaning,  being that the starving artist isn't what we view today as a starving artist - but a man who performs the art of starving, or fasting for nearly a month for crowds.

The only thing about Kafka is the translation to English makes it a little rough. I'm sure I would have found the writing more aesthetically pleasing if I understood the non-translated versions. Translations always butcher the beauty of linguistics.

~AoE


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## Luzici (Sep 13, 2007)

I adore Kafka's works. They are, although really contrary to the concept of beauty, of immense forcefulness and effect and I'm unable to put his books down whenever I start to read them. It's difficult to say which work I like the most; the short stories leave a strong impression on me, but his novels with their compact atmosphere win me over as well. I love his dry, succinct language.


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## The Pilgrim (Sep 13, 2007)

AppleofEris said:


> There's really a point to why the family reacted this way to Gregor Samsa becoming a bug. Some believe Kafka used this as an examination of what happens to families when a member of the family dies - or thusly cannot work anymore. That, and other critics believe "Metamorphosis" deals with the importance people place on work and money, seeing as the fact that Gregor Samsa wasn't even surprised he himself woke up as a bug - his only concern was he had to get up to go to work.
> 
> ~AoE


 
I have a somewhat different take on it. As an existentialist, Kafka had a different view on the human experience; one of unabashed negativism. Plainly, he didn't view humans as good and noble creatures, but more akin to insects. In our modern society, there seems to be a growing number of people who view _others_ in this contemptous manner, but there aren't many who, like Kafka, view _themselves _in this way. It's the end of the story that gives it away, when Gregor's sister exclaims "But how can it be Gregor? If this were Gregor, he'd have realized long ago that human beings can't live with such a creature, and he'd have gone away of his own accord." Clearly, Kafka _is_ Gregor, and he feels great guilt at the way in which he views the human condition and how that in turn makes others feel, yet he can't help but be who he is--he changed from a human being to an insect, and he has no idea how this happened or how to reverse it, he just stubbornly wants to continue being human, 'getting up and going to work' as it were; and his family in turn try their best out of love to believe that he's still human, even though he clearly isn't.


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## Ross Brodie (Sep 16, 2007)

IO think Gregor’s family’s blasé attitude is a fantastic paradox which reveals that all stories of animals are really stories of humans…and Kafka is a master at revealing the absurdity of any fictions machinations and how plot, character and narrative are constantly odds with each other.


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## Ross Brodie (Sep 16, 2007)

Also, i don't think Kafka saw people as insects. He used insects to discover new ways of human existence. Kafka never made commentary on societal conditions (as many people think in his books the Trial and the Castle), but with the possibilities of human existence.


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## traveller (Jan 15, 2008)

I read Metamorphosis and was absolutely blown away.  Kafka had such a unique approach to writing.  I like what ThePilgrim has said about the book, very similar to my understanding of the content whilst reading it.


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## Dr. Malone (Jan 15, 2008)

I read the Metamorphisis, and in the forty something pages, it pretty much completely changed my ideas about what writing could be...what literature could be.  The Stranger is one of the only other books I've read that compares on such a deep level.  His balance of simplicity and philosophy explored through surrealism is everything I strive toward.
I hold Kafka as the most impressive writer of the impressive times he lived in.  The writers around when he was alive were amazing, yet he blew them all away.
And he never even got anything published, did he?  Never even tried.  I think he never wanted his stuff published, then his family did it after he died.  My kind of guy.
I'm working on The Trial right now.  I have in as an eBook if anyone is interested in checking it out.


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## strangedaze (Jan 16, 2008)

He did publish, mostly short stories in slim volumes. But your sentiment is bang on - he was reticent to publish and had to be prodded big time.


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## Truth-Teller (Jan 16, 2008)

Kafka is one overrated hack, seriously.

He should've stayed unpublished.


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## Dr. Malone (Jan 16, 2008)

Yeah truth teller, he's no Stephen King...so obviously you wouldn't like him.


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## Truth-Teller (Jan 16, 2008)

No. 

Compared to Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, Edgar Allen Poe, and even W. W. Jacobs--he suck.

Those four are the forefathers of horror, while Kafka is nothing more than a scion.


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## Dr. Malone (Jan 16, 2008)

I never really thought of him as a horror writer.  Hmm.  That's an interesting way to view it.


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## Soccah (Jan 17, 2008)

Kafka is the steam rising out of a bureaucratic pressure cooker.  The Blue Octavo Notebook is, in my mind, his greatest  (and most reluctant) achievement--from what I understand, he wanted to burn all his work before he died.


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## sic_vita_esta (Mar 20, 2008)

hm, sorry if I butcher this but I think it's via litotis, not negativism. It's not depressing, its enlightening because you have survived the text.  The Metamorphosis has a lot to do with the misplacing of values, only when Gregor is able to step out of life can he objectively look at it and devalue it. The bourgeois society has everyone caught up in a cycle where money is of prime importance. Gregor's crime is not that he breaks down but that he is passively living life. just think of the "negativism" as the vehicle in which the message is conveyed.


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## Dr. Malone (Mar 20, 2008)

Well said, sic.


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## seigfried007 (Mar 24, 2008)

I'll ditto Malone--Well said, sic.

I haven't read much Kafka, but from everything I've heard, that sounded bang on. Haven't been able to get ahold of much of him--not sure where to look.

I think the problem with literature is that you need Socratic seminars and the presence of lots of other bright minds to fully get it. Otherwise, much of literature is 'boring' or in the case of Kafka, a solid WTF? moment. 

Funny enough, I brought up wanting to read Kafka in high school English once and the teacher cringed. Another student read him for a book report (I believe it was Metamorphosis) and completely failed to get the point despite googling it and reading cliff notes. I remember thinking as I was listening to her report, "Gosh, I wish I'd read that one instead."


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## nacreous (Apr 23, 2008)

fascinating thread.  some truly marvelous comments on a wonderful author. one cannot read The Metamorphosis without devolping great respect for this man.  He works reality, beautifully changing it so that it seems quite real, and yet it is not real at all.  The cockroach is a symbol.  Samsa is certainly Kafka.  But Samsa is also everyman, everyone in this modern capitalist society of ours.  We are reduced to the status of roaches, to scuttling about the floor, by the lives we choose to lead here.  Samsa had chosen his money-grubbing life all on his own, and reduced himself to being a mere bug.  Its not a symbol for death, dying has nothing to do with it in my opinion.  Its that we choose to be insignificant, we choose petty little lives through our fear of living life fully.  Few of us do what we really and truly want to do.  Most of us are forced into stupid and meaningless jobs, fueling the burning, stimulating cravings and appetites for new things.  Kafka saw that meaninglessness, that drift, and like the genius he was, transformed that human deformation into an utterly simple yet elegant 'metamorphosis.'  You folks must read this book.  If nothing else, you will see the power of suggestive description.  Also pay close attention to his control of the narrator - at times, he is all-knowing, and at others, when he wanted to build suspense, the narrator is as unaware as you are about the tragic hero.

Thanks to the others on this thread.  I shall soon look for "The Castle" because you folks told me to.  I am sure I'll like it.  Also, it was nothing at all like "The Stranger" by Camus.  Yes, they were both existentialist, and yet their writings are as different and glare and darkness.


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## HarmsGirl (May 15, 2008)

So far I have only read The Judgement and Metamorphosis but enjoyed them both. Very well written and I loved how he explored society


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## Ceresz (Jun 2, 2008)

When I first read The Metamorphosis I thought his writing was very, very weird. Then I changed my mind. Not until we discussed the book with our teacher in class did we all grasp how good the book actually was.

For me, Kafka has to be discussed to be enjoyed, you really have to dig deep with  his writing, explore all the possible references. But then again I have only read The Metamorphosis.


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## Cipher2 (Jun 2, 2008)

I have never really _enjoyed_ Kafka.  I read many of his novellas including Metamorphosis but have to date not finished reading the Trial or the Castle.  I found the latter very abstract and lacking anything concrete I could grasp.  The Complete Works and a commentary on Kafka are gathering dust on my bookself as a reminder of my once held enthusiasm.  His novellas are a good place to start.  I read them in preparation of trying to write a short story which with hindsight was not the easiest way to go about it.


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## bryndavis (Jun 2, 2008)

I agree with the sentiment that it must be talked about to be really enjoyed.  When reading Metamorphosis I knew that it was acclaimed on some level and so I was actively looking for the message behind the words, because my first instinct was - "Funny, cool, but wtfh?!"

If I hadn't been actively searching I doubt I would have taken much from it, but that and discussing it on another forum and in a class really opened my eyes to its possibilities as a story.

I love it when you can talk about a piece of literature and make it so much more, and not talk about it and end up tearing it to shreds.


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## Cipher2 (Jun 3, 2008)

There is always the assumption when I read Kafka that it must be deciphered.  While that is enjoyable for discussion it can make the reading difficult.  I can't enjoy it at face value.  In a way the deciphering is literally true because I don't read the German and plays on words and further cultural influences that I am not aware of are difficult to grasp.  Still, that is what keeps me coming back to it.


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