91 years after Franz Kafka died
- Thread starter Kyriakos
- Start date
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
What's a good/classic example of something being "Kafkaesque" ?
I see that thrown around, but having never read any of his works, it doesn't really mean much to me.
I see that thrown around, but having never read any of his works, it doesn't really mean much to me.
SS-18 ICBM
Oscillator
Does the number 91 have a significance in his works or are you pulling a Google here?
Borachio
Way past lunacy
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2012
- Messages
- 26,698
The classic example that comes to my mind is when he's accused of "guilt" in the Trial. No crime, just "guilt". And he has to negotiate a Byzantine labyrinth of prosecutors and defence lawyers arguing his case while he hasn't a clue what's going on or what he should be doing about it.
Nice spoiler in the thread title. I was 95 years behind on the episodes.
Zkribbler
Deity
His works are clausterphobic, where the protagonists find themselves trapped an a grotesque world, through no fault of their own, and are unable to escape. "Kafkaesque" works are bizarre, frightening, weird, but never fantastic. To the contrary, the worlds he described are essential our own, but hostile and threatening. Nightmarish.
aelf
Ashen One
From what I know, kafkaesque means characterised by absurd bureaucratic totalitarianism. Seemingly simple tasks like trying to gain access to a castle or trying to get off of a criminal charge you're clearly innocent of are made impossible, not by evil overlords, but by ordinary people holding some semblance of official posts - your clerks and whatnot, who actually have almost unlimited power pertaining to the task you're trying to accomplish. If the local clerk say no, and there's no way you can gain access to someone higher up, then there's just no way you're going to get what you want to do done, sometimes with very dire consequences.
I suppose it's most strongly evocative of a sense of powerlessness of the individual against his/her circumstances.
I suppose it's most strongly evocative of a sense of powerlessness of the individual against his/her circumstances.
Yes.
Although going by Kafka's own diary, it seems fairly certain that those endless sequences of obstacles are metaphors for internal obstacles/bad emotions etc. For example at the time he was writing the Trial he tried to marry Felice Bauer and so went to Berlin where she and her family lived. In the notebook he writes that it was 'as if i was summoned by an invisible court'. Etc.
There are other passages on the same tone. Anyway he often speaks of his use of metaphors. Another colorful example is when he writes that his doctor told him to stay a lot time in the Sun, take a vacation etc, so Kafka notes that if he takes that advice as a metaphor then it seems the solution to his metaphorical (mental) illness (his literal/somatic illness was tuberculosis of the lung).
festive 
So, 9 years later, this is the 100th anniversary of Kafka's death
Times does fly.
Kafka died a month before he'd get to be 41, primarily from a weak disposition brought about by chronic hypochondria, anxiety, and resulting in complications of tuberculosis. Memorably he attributed his impeding death to "a self-caused wound".
So, 9 years later, this is the 100th anniversary of Kafka's death
Times does fly.
Kafka died a month before he'd get to be 41, primarily from a weak disposition brought about by chronic hypochondria, anxiety, and resulting in complications of tuberculosis. Memorably he attributed his impeding death to "a self-caused wound".
Gori the Grey
The Poster
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 13,143
We can start asking whether his works are classics, then, by the old standard of seeing whether they outlast the author's death by a century.
Looking pretty good.
Looking pretty good.
Not until tomorrow.
I remember how, as a teenager, I read Metamorphosis and felt for the first time like the protagonist.
There is a short free video game featuring three essential works. It's called Playing Kafka. You move the protagonist like a minion in Dungeon Keeper, imho quite spot on.
There is a short free video game featuring three essential works. It's called Playing Kafka. You move the protagonist like a minion in Dungeon Keeper, imho quite spot on.
Last edited:
Gori the Grey
The Poster
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 13,143
Hang in there Franz. You can do it!
Similar threads
