Kafka thread

[Anonymous No.10817816]

Discuss this genius.

He is criminally underrated on here. There is depth in every sentence of The Metamorphosis, almost much as Ulysses.

[Anonymous No.10817824]

>>10817816

No OP, this is just your sorrowful soul resonating with Kafka's tremendous parental issues and his undying melancholy towards love of self and of others. If you find any depth to be had there it's because you're looking at an abyss.

[Anonymous No.10817829]

>>10817816

>mfw finally realizing his shorter stories and aphorisms are superior to his novels and longer short stories

[Anonymous No.10817841]

>>10817824
OP here. Could you elaborate? Admittedly I don't think you're wrong

[Anonymous No.10817850]

>>10817824
>your sorrowful soul resonating with Kafka's tremendous parental issues
This.
I'm a german national socialist and this little Praguer Jew is my favourite writer because his suffering of alienation resonates with me.
Kafka didn't only have parental issues, his biggest weakness was his sensitivity to noise, which resonates with me, too.
In his diary he wrote "Ohne Ohropax ginge es gar nicht." ('Without Ohropax/earplugs it would be impossible (to take)').

Btw: Process is overrated, his best book by far is The Castle, his final novel.

[Anonymous No.10817852]

>>10817850
Process = Trial

[Anonymous No.10817856]

>>10817824
Nabokov called it one of the best pieces of prose ever written, rivaled only by Ulysses and In Search of Lost Time

[Anonymous No.10817889]

His writing is a consolation to me.

[Anonymous No.10817903]

I'm slowly learning German just to read his original words.

[Anonymous No.10817930]

>>10817903
Good decision.
Literature should always be consumed in the original language. The language is part of the artwork. That's why I only read latin, english and german literature.
I will never read the french classics because I would rather make an account on reddit than learning this frog language.

[Anonymous No.10817932]

>>10817850
The Castle would probably be my favorite Kafka book if it wasn't for that 50-page long Olga's monologue

[Anonymous No.10817940]

Reading Deleuze's "Kafka: towards minor literature" is essential, as well as his diaries and letters to Milena.

[Anonymous No.10817941]

>>10817816
I tried reading the metamorphosis, it only convinced me that I hate germans

[Anonymous No.10817945]

>>10817816
It was fucked up how Tony killed him.

[Anonymous No.10817954]

>>10817932
Olga's monologue is amazing and it oworks

[Anonymous No.10818035]

>>10817940
>Reading Deleuze [...] is essential
kek, no!

[Anonymous No.10818070]

>>10817941
Germans? Kafka was an Austro-Hungarian Jew.

[Anonymous No.10819709]

>>10817941
>hate germans
you don't like literature I guess

[Anonymous No.10819717]

>>10817856
>ever written
of the 20th century. Still high praise, though.

[Anonymous No.10819749]

>>10817945
The baby seat was completely destroyed

[Anonymous No.10819761]

Amerika is his best work. The Trial is good, but overrated by scholars. His diaries are amazing and pure literature. One of the greatest, least easily categorizable writers of all time. Also had a job and never attempted to publish much.
our guy

[Anonymous No.10819811]

>>10817856
Did Nabokov even into German? How could he know otherwise?

[Anonymous No.10819873]

>>10817816
>He is criminally underrated on here.
What? He really isn't. Just read Description of a Struggle and Wedding Preparations in the Country. Both were underwhelming, but they're early stories and most people think they're kinda shit.

[Anonymous No.10819913]

>>10817850
peculiar
>>10817824
shallow
>>10818035
thank you

[Anonymous No.10819975]

he had the best titles for sure

example: die verwandlung

gets the reader thinking: who's this guy verwandlung? and why on earth does somebody want him DEAD?

[Anonymous No.10820033]

>>10819975
He predicted the pesticide business lobby.

[Anonymous No.10820283]

>>10817816
terminally boring

[Anonymous No.10820307]

>>10819975
good post

[Anonymous No.10820349]

He's actually been consistently and roundly confirmed to not be "that" good

[Anonymous No.10820355]

>>10820349
Good thing you were here to fill us in

[Anonymous No.10820357]

>>10817829
This. A Hunger Artist is his best.

[Anonymous No.10820501]

I really liked parts of the Trial, but parts of it were so mundane that I found it difficult to keep reading. By the end of it, I had absolutely no interest in reading the unincluded extra chapters.

Should I bother reading The Castle? I Just read The End of the World by Murakami and apparently they are similar.

[Anonymous No.10820505]

>>10819975
lel

[Anonymous No.10820513]

>>10819975
so many layers

[Anonymous No.10820517]

Meh. Boring as fuck.

[Anonymous No.10820518]

I find it ridiculous
I only read the metamorphosis and the trial but from what I can tell its almost dream like. The situation they are in are either entirely stressful or completely superficial. They trial was one of the weirdest cases because he could have simply ignored them or left if he was really scared, then they stabbed him and it when from comically ridiculous to convoluted as it turned out to actually be serious

[Anonymous No.10820542]

>>10820518
I don't think you understood The Trial at all anon

[Anonymous No.10820571]

>read the metamorphosis
>go on the Internet to see what others say about it
>dude it's about capitalism lmao (fuck Marxists)
>dude he's not really a bug it's all in his head

[Anonymous No.10820588]

>>10820518
How did he even prefigure the whole gangstalking phenomena back then?

[Anonymous No.10820643]

did kafka liked yoign boys..

[Anonymous No.10820720]

>>10819975
Excellent post desu

[Anonymous No.10820734]

>>10820571
Those things aren't a huge stretch

[Anonymous No.10821400]

>>10819975

[Anonymous No.10821412]

Comparing him to Joyce is a bit much.

But yes, he is criminally underrated. I think that, in a sense, he was ahead of his time. Had Kafka lived in the age of 4Chan and Reddit he probably would have had a much more immediate audience in self-loathing beta males who secretly just want to be loved.

I don't say that in a sardonic or mean way; I'm serious. I relate to Kafka a lot.

[Anonymous No.10821962]

>>10817850
this, i loved The Castle

[Anonymous No.10821981]

>>10817941
I listened to it on librivox, it was noice.

[Anonymous No.10821993]

>>10821412
That's awfully simplistic. Kafka did experience love, it wasn't what he wanted. He caught himself in a narcissistic struggle that was ultimately about morality and religion. He wanted to be good and strong and wise (which he ultimately achieved towards the last 3-4 years of his life). At the same time, he recognized his own genius, but also recognized that it was dependent on him not disconnecting himself from his parental problems, on him deepening his emotional conflicts, on him developing an extreme split between what was his regular life and his writing life.

He knew this dynamic very well (he outlines it in great detail in his diary and the letter to his father) but he nontheless chose to engage in it. He barely slept, he suffered (he was much tougher than people give him credit for). There wasn't a way for him to be a writer that also meant being good and strong and leading a fulfilled life. This is at the core of his work, the incompatibility of these two wishes.

[Oy No.10822000]

>>10821993
>>10821993
You sound like you know the ins and outs about kafka. Can i ask what you do? Sorry if it’s too personal, just wondering.

[Anonymous No.10822011]

>>10822000
Student of literature and history, that's about it. I'm not qualified in any particular way to talk about Kafka, just have a personal fascination with him (born from a sense of identification probably, or him serving as a sort of spiritual father figure for me. (I even went to Prague and visited his grave)). I've read 90% of what he wrote barring some of the letters and I think Kafka is generally not understood very well. That being said, I don't have a neat all-encompassing explanation on hand either, what I wrote there comes close though.

If you want to get deeper into Kafka I'd recommend Max Brod's biography and the diaries as well as his short fiction. Also Amerika, I believe that's Kafka in his most innocent, most distilled form. It's full of autistic humor, weakness, imagination and wonderful tiny bits of melancholy.

[Oy vey No.10822023]

>>10822011
Oh. Are you a girl by any chance? I think i have a boner.

[Anonymous No.10822033]

>>10822023
i'm a man, amigo

[Anonymous No.10822038]

>>10822023
>>10822000
were you baiting or genuinely asking btw?

[Oy vey No.10822040]

>>10822038
Depends.

[Anonymous No.10822042]

>>10817850
the castle was my favourite book when i was 17

[Anonymous No.10822234]

>KAAfka

[Anonymous No.10822427]

[Anonymous No.10822448]

>>10819717
Get over yourself

[Anonymous No.10822468]

>>10819811
he lived in Germany from 1922 to 1937

[Anonymous No.10822479]

>>10820501
read The Castle, damn you

[Anonymous No.10822495]

Anyone else confused with In the Penal Colony? I understand the plot and events but I ended it confused what Kafka meant by it.

[Anonymous No.10822549]

He's the best. One of two good German prose writers.

[Anonymous No.10822880]

>>10817850
>The Castle

Can someone please explain what Bürgel was trying to say in chapter 23? I didn't really understand that part.

[Anonymous No.10822911]

>>10822495
can't really say what "the" meaning is. You could understand it poetologically, religiously, as a critique of colonialization and/or totalitarianism and and and ....

[Anonymous No.10823030]

>>10817829

I love Kafka's novels, their magic is unmatched anywhere, their tone is pitch perfect and entirely unique, I have read the three of them three times each but I have yet to get into any of his short stories besides The Hunger Artist and The Metamorphosis and the strange torture machine one. One day I will get a collection of his stories and read them through.

[Anonymous No.10823082]

>>10819975
Third was funny when it was first posted five years ago.

[Anonymous No.10823308]

>>10817816
He looks like the Parkland School shooter

[Anonymous No.10823346]

>>10822448
You get over yourself, you pretentious fuck. I was pointing out a very important qualification. God, I wish I could eradicate your genes from the gene pool and Holocaust every faggot like you.

[Anonymous No.10823355]

>>10822448
>>10823346
Just to make clear, I was saying Nabokov himself said it was the best piece of prose of the 20th century

[Anonymous No.10824977]

>>10817816

>be supervisor at work
>out of the blue, nice educated co-worker (and immediate subordinate) asks me: did you ever read the Metamorphosis?
>Yes, yes I did, once a long time ago
>what did you think it was ABOUT, really?

>in a work setting, and given our professional relationship, I did not dare tell her that it represents Kafka's internalized self-hatred and anti-semitism b/c Europe sees jews as roaches and consequently Kafka projects himself a roach; I instead simply gave her some pablum about body horror and how it (the story) is just an experiment. She's smart so she'll probably find out the real content of the story soon enough-but she's not getting it from me, while I'm on the job. You're not going to catch me out there

[Anonymous No.10825061]

>>10817816
he sucks, fuck that jew

[Anonymous No.10825102]

>>10823355
Nabokov is trash, don't take that pretentious twat's advice

[Anonymous No.10825206]

>>10819761
didn't he also like to do gymnastics nude and flex in the mirror? if so, doubly my guy