You make some interesting points. I enjoyed your essay on Kafka. As you said, we all have different views of his work, and one thing I disagree with you on, is the longer works, the 'novels', which I think what you describe as 'narrative collapse' is the whole point of their absurd structure. They disintegrate into seemingly endless, and ridiculous frustration. I suppose different stories work differently for different people. Similar to how some need a resolution to a novel and some don't. Some love a plotless rambling stream of conscious, some hate it. For me, the point of narrative collapse is where they get interesting. A downward spiral into madness.
Thanks for this Rob. It's fascinating what you said, when things collapse it gets interesting for you. Can you think of other works that have that quality? Not by Kafka I mean
Some of Anna Kavan's work can be a bit like that at times. In a different way, of course. Ice, Sleep Has His House, The Parson. Perhaps Ann Quin's Tripticks n'all. And maybe The Room, by Hubert Selby Jr. Cities of the Red Night, by William S Burroughs. The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa. Also, The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat.
All of these are also some of my favourite books.
But I reckon they are what they are and intended so.
Interesting piece. I like how you’ve brought in many of the secondary writings, particularly the letter to his father, which is a truly unusual document. I can’t think of anything similar by another writer. It’s like a Freudian Pandora’s box.
Works that have been inspired by Kafka are also worth looking at, I think. Have you ever seen Soderbergh’s Kafka, with Jeremy Irons as Kafka? It’s kind of a biopic but includes elements of horror, with some of the incidents from Kafka’s fiction presented as things he actually saw.
Philip Roth’s novel, The Breast, is about a man who wakes up and finds himself transformed into a breast.
Finally, wouldn’t something like the brief story “Before the Law” be considered Jewish in theme? This was incorporated into the cathedral chapter of The Trial.
I've so much to say it's best to shut up, and limit myself to "thank you so very much for this post"
(I will add though I love longer works, and I kinda see in each different symbol..it's hard to finish them because whatever they are about-even if it's too reductive, to say "X is about Y", in literature, and especially here-well, it's hard to actually imagine the ending...it's akin to trying to imagine the universe...an eye looks for end but doesn't find it)
His tedious job in insurance adds one more invisible layer to his mythical spiral. When he finally decides to dedicate his time to writing, he gets sick and dies. The fellow could not be that fascinating, and yet you came up with 21 notions. I did not know about the 150 schools of thought. Another nightmare that requires so much deep diving after the dream has already passed, but that's Kapka for you.
You make some interesting points. I enjoyed your essay on Kafka. As you said, we all have different views of his work, and one thing I disagree with you on, is the longer works, the 'novels', which I think what you describe as 'narrative collapse' is the whole point of their absurd structure. They disintegrate into seemingly endless, and ridiculous frustration. I suppose different stories work differently for different people. Similar to how some need a resolution to a novel and some don't. Some love a plotless rambling stream of conscious, some hate it. For me, the point of narrative collapse is where they get interesting. A downward spiral into madness.
Thanks for this Rob. It's fascinating what you said, when things collapse it gets interesting for you. Can you think of other works that have that quality? Not by Kafka I mean
Some of Anna Kavan's work can be a bit like that at times. In a different way, of course. Ice, Sleep Has His House, The Parson. Perhaps Ann Quin's Tripticks n'all. And maybe The Room, by Hubert Selby Jr. Cities of the Red Night, by William S Burroughs. The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa. Also, The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat.
All of these are also some of my favourite books.
But I reckon they are what they are and intended so.
Thank you so much, you've just recommended lots of things for me to read. The only one I read so far was Pessoa's - which is just an amazing text
Cool. It's good to find new and interesting things to read.
Thanks Rob! that’s great to here
Interesting piece. I like how you’ve brought in many of the secondary writings, particularly the letter to his father, which is a truly unusual document. I can’t think of anything similar by another writer. It’s like a Freudian Pandora’s box.
Works that have been inspired by Kafka are also worth looking at, I think. Have you ever seen Soderbergh’s Kafka, with Jeremy Irons as Kafka? It’s kind of a biopic but includes elements of horror, with some of the incidents from Kafka’s fiction presented as things he actually saw.
Philip Roth’s novel, The Breast, is about a man who wakes up and finds himself transformed into a breast.
Finally, wouldn’t something like the brief story “Before the Law” be considered Jewish in theme? This was incorporated into the cathedral chapter of The Trial.
https://web.viu.ca/johnstoi/kafka/beforethelaw.htm
The modern is very old. We are in the Digitality have left the postmodern back in Iraq, Afghanistan, and mortgages. The young pay.
I've so much to say it's best to shut up, and limit myself to "thank you so very much for this post"
(I will add though I love longer works, and I kinda see in each different symbol..it's hard to finish them because whatever they are about-even if it's too reductive, to say "X is about Y", in literature, and especially here-well, it's hard to actually imagine the ending...it's akin to trying to imagine the universe...an eye looks for end but doesn't find it)
Thanks Chen. Would love to hear more of your thoughts
His tedious job in insurance adds one more invisible layer to his mythical spiral. When he finally decides to dedicate his time to writing, he gets sick and dies. The fellow could not be that fascinating, and yet you came up with 21 notions. I did not know about the 150 schools of thought. Another nightmare that requires so much deep diving after the dream has already passed, but that's Kapka for you.