Kafka

[Rabid Potatoe]

Never heard of him and you make him sound pretenious and ****.

Me neither, but taking care over your work hardly makes you pretentious.

Basically what Arch said.

That meaning is there now that you've emphasised "you", although it's still pretty ambiguous. 

 

[Adorno]

Kafka is hard to understand sometimes. But basically he was a surrealist (long before Beckett/Eunesco).
Think of it as dreams: things take different shapes, and space and time becomes distorted.

If a man wakes up as a bug it's simply another way of saying he's changed and doesn't recognize himself; he's alienated.
It's existentialism long before Sartre - and more profound.

 

[Einar]

I've read both his Metamorphosis and A Hunger Artist, but they were so depressing that i never wanted to read another of his works.

 

[pesja]

Kafka is starting to close up on my reading list. So you would recommend me to read his works in english instead of an translation? Is his sentences that well built? What would you recommend me to start with by the way?

 

[Adorno]

I would suggest his Metamorphosis (the one where the main character transforms into a giant bug). It's fairly short, comprehensible - and the symbolism is straight ahead 
Another one - anticipating his famous novel The Process (EDIT: The Trial) - is 'Before the Law'.
I found it here:
http://records.viu.ca/~Johnstoi/Kafka/beforethelaw.htm

Finally 'The Judgement', about the everlasting theme father & son:
http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/kafka/judgment.htm

 

[pesja]

Noted

 

[Trooper5445]

I have the Trial on hand I need to read it.

 

[Cleaning agent]

In the Penal Colony has to be my favorite so far. I was reading it like this - - the whole way through.

 

[ecto_plasm]

Kafka is starting to close up on my reading list. So you would recommend me to read his works in english instead of an translation? Is his sentences that well built? What would you recommend me to start with by the way?

The English is a translation.  Guy was from Prague.

Metamorphosis was an interesting short story.  It's more a work of early Magical Realism than Surrealism, I think, as the imagery is Jungian above all, and the setting is not surreal, but steeped in realism, with some fantastic elements.

Just read this one, however.

 

[placenik]

Kafka is damn hard to read, but is actually quite good, even in translation.

 

[Adorno]

In the Penal Colony has to be my favorite so far. I was reading it like this - - the whole way through.

That should please some of the 'sadistic elements' here in the forum    (no names).

 

[Locke Foreer]

I've read both his Metamorphosis and A Hunger Artist, but they were so depressing that i never wanted to read another of his works.

I was exactly the same, but, his writing really was sublime, and I'll definitely read more of his if only for an example of what I can strive for, even if I only go for certain elements of his writing.