/lit/ - Literature

it's complicated

A mouse laments its fate, stating that the world, which was once so large and frightening, has grown smaller and forced it into a narrow chamber where he must run into a trap. A cat retorts that to change its fate the mouse need only turn around, and eats it up

great in what sense?

I've read the trial. I think it's loved cause people are sheep. They like it cause it's "intellectual," and "sophisticated" to like it.

>>1957773
This is what contrarian pricks actually believe.

Just going off the Trial here but it applies in general:
I think he caters a lot to the 4chan demographic, the things that he writes about, the crippling bureacracy for one example, caters to political (not just libertarian) anons. The futility of Josef K's efforts caters to pessimist c/lit/'s. There's also a bunch of shit about characters and atmosphere that I don't have the effort to type out right now.

Also
>sunhawk's opinions
lolololol

>>1957743
He was almost German. That's enough für mich.

Why people like him: There's over 9,000 ways to interpret his works in ways that strike the cores of our lives. Furthermore, his work requires rereading to understand. For people who like existentialist literature, rereading him constantly reveals new layers of meaning.

Why people don't like him: He isn't as emotional. He doesn't really humanize his characters the way other writers make us love the casts of their books. And struggling to search for the meaning of a work doesn't always fit people's fancy.

So, OP. If you want to give Kafka another shot, I suggest you get the Collected Stories of Kafka, find some shorts you like and read them over a few times, and see if you're mind changes. However, given that you've already read his four most famous works, it may very well be that you simply have no taste for him. Regardless, I hope it makes sense why many people view him as a very unique, brilliant, and interesting writer.

>>1957806

>sunhawk's opinions
>lolololol

I literally did lol at this. I think I'm shocked anew by just how bad his taste is every time I see the latest Sunhawk thread.

For someone who thinks reading makes him so much better than everyone else, he sure has an undiscerning palate.

>>1957773
This argument on its own makes no sense. It's just a cop-out unless you can explain why anyone began to believe Kafka's great in the first place. What caused the sheep to agree in the first place?

because he writes about isolation, unreasonable fear, conviction and martyrdom, inaccessibility and the bureaucratic nature of various forces governing our lives. and even the inability to always communicate these feelings. he does it with symbolism that's vague enough to be debatable, and explicit enough to be agreed upon by various groups of people.

i haven't read amerika but i've read the other three you mentioned and most of his short stories. you really need to read those. the castle is my favorite novel. i liked that i got sadder and sadder the more he writes of gregor's family's happiness in the metamorphosis. the trial was like the castle but more explicit in the inaccessibility to the law. give his short stories a chance or move on.

>>1957820
I feel kinda mean now. Sorry Sunhawk, just calm your tits with all these threads you make.

Sunhawk, why do you do this to yourself?

>>1957839
>feeling remorse for something you posted about an anonymous / pseudonymous person on 4chan

I seriously hope you guys don't do this.

>>1957844
what's wrong with that? Hemingway is terrible

>>1957768
Very interesting. I tried writing some parables a while ago. This is my favourite of them.

Two monks met on a bridge. The first said, "The cherry blossoms are falling all around us."
The other replied, "I'm very thirsty."
"Yes, but I am quite tall."

>>1957844

From the beginning of 2010 onwards, I read stuff I thought I'd like, not what I was 'supposed' to read, like in 2009. But sometimes I like to try the classic, NOT because it'll make me 'look good', but because I actually think they might be good. Some are, some aren't.