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/lit/ - Literature


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1061918 No.1061918 [Reply] [Original]

Are there any translations of "The Trial" that actually follow any sensible standards of style? The gigantic walls of text in this edition are completely unreadable. I'm not exaggerating when I say that if one of my freshmen submitted something to me with this level of organization and lack of proper style, I'd fail them for the semester. And I teach mathematics, so I already don't expect much out of the little idiots.

Pic related, it's the version I bought.

>> No.1061922

I was planning to buy this edition, so I'll bump to see if there are better accessible translations.

>> No.1061932
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1061932

>> professor
>> thinks kafka is hard to read
>> my face

>> No.1061933

>>1061932
OP didn't say Kafka is hard to read. OP said the translation doesn't seem well-done.

It's not that OP can't read Kafka. It's that you can't read posts on 4chan. Idiot.

>> No.1061942

>>1061932
For one, I'm a grad student. Two, I expect a certain level of ability out of an author/translator and it's not being met here. I don't know, maybe I'm not avant-garde enough for you faggots, but is the book just daring me to read it? Was the translator simply not aware of the existence of a carriage return and indentation? Please enlighten me, worthless green text shitposter.

>> No.1061944

>>1061942
>I'm a grad student.

I'm an ACTUAL teacher with a BEd. I've also read every word of the Old Testament.

Harden the fuck up.

>> No.1061948

If I'm not mistaken the original is written with "walls of text" too (as is some other great twentieth century writing; Samuel Beckett, Thomas Bernhard, etc). Michael Hoffman is supposedly the best translator of Kafka. Unfortunately he's only done Amerika and Metamorphosis and other stories. Try the Breon Mitchell translation though. Willa and Edwin Muir are meh.

>> No.1061949
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1061949

>>1061933
>>1061942
>> illiterate faggot thinks he can blame the translator for his poor reading skills
>> my face

>> No.1061954

>>1061944
Enjoy the worthless existence of academia. I'm getting the fuck out like any reasonable person would.

Also, I don't normally read fiction and picked this up at the recommendation of this board, so if you're admitting that there are no good, readable editions of this then I'll just go back to reading useful things.

>> No.1061956

>>1061948
Holy shit, a useful post. Not the answer I wanted, but thanks all the same.

>> No.1061957

God I loved the Trial.

Kafka is just plain amazing.

Oh and sorry I can't help you OP. I read them in spanish.

>> No.1061959
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1061959

>>1061954
>> I read The Trial in two days when I was in grade 10.
>> Deal with it.

>> No.1061961

i have the penguin version it's not walls of text, pretty readable actually

>> No.1061963

>>1061959
OP again: I was reading technical manuals and advanced math books in 10th grade. Neither of our "accomplishments" should be bragged about.

>> No.1061967

the little idiots! bwahaha

>> No.1061970

What are you complaining about exactly, OP? Not enough paragraphs, spaces?

And Kafka is an easy read, if you can get past the fact that nothing good ever happens.

>> No.1061972

You want a piece of work by Kafka that isn't made up of walls of text? Surely you must be joking.

>> No.1061973

>>1061963
If you're a woman, I love you.
If you're a bro, platonic love.

>> No.1061978

>>1061970
Everything you have posted has been addressed, re-read the thread. You will find it has better style than the edition of "The Trial" that I got.

>>1061972
I'm not that well read with fiction. I was lurking a thread that made this book seem really interesting, and maybe it is. But the style is what I would expect out of a gradeschooler.

>>1061973
brofist

>> No.1061996

Germanfag here, I just looked into my complete edition of Kafka's works and "Der Proceß" also seems to be wall-of-text-mode in its original language, there is no indentation over several pages.
If i recall correctly, Max Brod once complained about how Kafka didn't give a shit about stuff like that, also about correct interpunctuation etc.

>> No.1062010

lol op looks like the troll was right! do u feel dum nao?

>> No.1062034
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1062034

u mad op? y not sayin anything? busy reading wall o text?

>> No.1062037

I think wall of text is part of the Kafka experience man.

You're not only feeling opressed by that feeling he gives on the books, but also by that unwavering wall of text that grinds on you, disturbs you.

>> No.1062093
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1062093

>> No.1062129

OP back again
>>1061996
This is really interesting. Thanks.

>>1062037
I still don't care for it, and I doubt I'm going to sit through this crap. I'll probably just go back to Lem or math books or something.

>>1062010
>>1062034
somebody mad and it's not me (hint: its u, ur mad)

>> No.1062135

>>1061996
>>1062037

I remember hearing somewhere (wikipedia?) that a common trait of Kafka's style was using the rules of German grammar to create really, really long sentences. I don't know how true this is, though, as my German isn't good enough to read Kafka. Some of the translations seem like this, though (The Sudden Walk is two sentences, f.ex.).

>> No.1062165
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1062165

>>1062129
>> Can't read a 250 page book
>> Too many "walls of texts"
>> Doesn't realize that there's words on every single page of a book, that's how they work
>> my face

>> No.1062167

>>1062165
Ok, you finally made me laugh. Well done.

>> No.1062170

As others have said, I'm pretty sure it's not just your translation. I can't say for sure because you have the same version I have, but it is the same in The Castle as well. This may be because Kafka never actually finished any of his novels. I don't know. But I do agree with you that it is annoying.

>> No.1062176

I'm still kind of annoyed with you, /lit/ (and not just because of this bush league trolling). This book was really highly recommended here, and it's remarkably amateurish. I've read better video game fanfiction. Honestly, it's not that far from a squirrelking story:

AND THEN JOSEPH WENT DOWNSTAIRS AND SAW MRS. BUERSTNER. HE SAID "HELLO MRS. BUERSTNER." THEN SHE SAID "HELLO JOESPH." AND THEN THE COURT OF INQUIRY A BLOOP BLOOP BLOOP THE END.

>> No.1062177

WHY DOESNT THIS BOOK HAVE ANY PICTURES IN IT.

>> No.1062178
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1062178

>>1062167
Go read Kafka, you faggot, and stop complaining. Come back in a week when your mind's been blown by The Trial and thank us for not accepting your idiocy.

Your welcome.

>> No.1062180

>>1062176

You admit you're not well read, yet you're criticizing one of the best authors of the twentieth century. You's trollin'.

>> No.1062185
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1062185

hey look every body, i found a picture of op

>> No.1062189

>>1062185

OP is too busy trying to figure out how magnets work to read a book.

>> No.1062192

PAGES AND PAGES OF TEXT WTF CAN A NIGGA JUST GET A COUPLE BLANK PAGES HERE AND THERE CUT US SOME SLACK KAFKA

>> No.1062190

>>1062178
Quiet, child. Adults are talking.

>>1062180
I'm not well read with fiction, because it's usually boring as shit and I almost always have some non-fiction I'd rather be reading. I have developed certain standards of style from modern academic journals that make it pretty unbearable to read a great deal, but this is about the worst shit I've ever seen actually published.

If he's one of the best authors of the 20th century, it's not because of his writing style; I'd wager it's because of his ideas and stories. But I'm superficial enough to let bad style keep me from reading what might be an otherwise clever story.

Not even trolling.

>> No.1062196

Some of you guys come off as remarkably insecure, but some of you are pretty funny. Like

>>1062192

This is an example of a good post.

>> No.1062197

>>1062190
It's precisely because of his style. Idiot.

>> No.1062198

>>1062196
Implying you haven't been trolled by the samefag, over and over.

I realize you're getting more and more butthurt, so please, do us all a favour and delete this thread.

>> No.1062199

>>1062190

Actually the stories and ideas aren't that clever either. Nothing happens in Kafka's books. Nothing. The main character is presented with a situation, then wanders around and talks about it with people for a couple hundred pages before the book just abruptly ends. And I mean abruptly. The Castle ended mid god damn sentence.

>> No.1062202

>>1062192

lol'd hard

>> No.1062203

>>1062190

yeah it's LITERALLY mostly because of his innovations in prose style.

and why exactly are you getting so bitched up over some slack paragraphing? do you really need a new paragraph every few sentences just to follow writing?

>> No.1062204
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1062204

>>1062192

>> No.1062205

>>1062198
Not even butthurt, but I am starting to get bored. I'll probably head out again so you guys can resume calling me a fag for having actual standards with what I read.

>>1062197
Well, I can't speak for the original German, but this translation I have really does come off as remarkably amateurish in style. If this is the best 20th century literature has to offer, then 20th century literature is pretty terrible.

>> No.1062206

>>1062203

Yes. Paragraphs were invented for a reason. It makes things easier to read.

>> No.1062207

>>1062190
All style. Want to write a Kafka plot? Here:

X wakes up one morning, everything is fucked. Shit gets progressively worse. Right when you thi-

The End.

>> No.1062208

OP, if you really want to appreciate Kafka, I'd suggest reading The Metamorphosis. It's only around forty pages or so and it is broken up into paragraphs. It's what got me into Kafka in the first place.

>> No.1062210
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1062210

>> this thread
>> my face

>> No.1062212

>>1062207
Tuberculosis can have that effect on stories.

>> No.1062214

>>1062212

So can being a Jew.

>> No.1062218
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1062218

>>1062214

>> No.1062220

>>1062218

What? That Kafka was a god damn dirty diseased Jew? Good thing he croaked before Hitler threw the rest of his family into concentration camps LOL!

>> No.1062223

>>1062214
He's right. Plus, Book of Job in this motha!

>> No.1062224
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1062224

>>1062220

>> No.1062226

>>1062224

Yep, that's what would have happened to him, more or less.

>> No.1062231

That's one faggot less that we have to worry about. Our work is done here, /lit/.

>> No.1062235

>>1062226
oh shit youre hardcore

>> No.1062238
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1062238

Hey, guys, I was reading Ulysses in the womb. You're shit compared to me.

>> No.1062261

>>1062238
/lit/ summed up.

>> No.1062265

>>1062238
In all fairness, Ulysses has a lot of paragraph spacing, not just amateurish walls of text.

>> No.1062274

>>1061918

You're failing to appreciate literary modernism is all, shitpeg. It's meant to be hard. It's not as hard as life in a concentration-camp, so man the fuck up and read you some high moral seriousness.

>> No.1062298

10/10

>> No.1062355 [DELETED] 

>>1062190
this is about the worst shit I've ever seen actually published.

Wow you really ought to read more if Kafka is the worst published work you've read.

>> No.1062363

funny thing is, op wasn't even trolling

>> No.1062367

>>1062190
>this is about the worst shit I've ever seen actually published.

You really need to read more if Kafka is the worst you've seen published.

>>1062220
But... his family WAS thrown in concentration camps.

>> No.1062406

>>1062298
Agreed.
Flawless delivery.