Franz Kafka

buck65

Just re- reading Kafka's short stories again for the 3rd time in 10 years, I find them quite addictive even though some are just downright surreal and confusing. Nonetheless they always grab me. Any other Kafka fans out there? What are your favourite stories , what drives you crazy about him etc.?
I would say "Metamorphosis", "A country doctor", "In the penal colony" and "Blumfeld, An elderly bachelor" are personal favourites.
First time I read Kafka was in Prague , maybe that's why he stirs something in me.
Comments?

monkey9

I'd never even heard of Kafka before going to Prague, but now realise it's kind of like not ever hearing of James Joyce before going to Dublin. I really should have heard of him before, but better late than never i suppose. I love Metamorphosis, but my favourite is The Trial. I couldn't stop reading it. The end left me kind of confused though, i didn't know what was going on. It seemed to skip a few chapters.

bellton

loved the trial too..

when I started reading the castle, I found it far too similar

Mr. Bones

monkey9 wrote: »

The end left me kind of confused though, i didn't know what was going on. It seemed to skip a few chapters.

I think he may never have actually finished writing The Trial and there's some dispute over the order in which the last few chapters that were written should be read. Doesn't take away IMHO from what is one of my all-time favourite books though. The Metamorphosis and The Judgement are my two favourite of his shorter works, but I haven't managed to finish some of the other stories in his collected short stories.

Valmont

buck65 wrote: »

First time I read Kafka was in Prague , maybe that's why he stirs something in me.
Comments?

me too, I bought the short stories before I went to the museum (which is brilliant), and I've just recently finished the castle.

'the burrow' was my favourite. It sounds strange but I really related to the whole story, weird as it was. The penal colony was brilliant too.

The castle was the craziest and weirdest book I've ever read. It was like an episode of the twilight zone. I can't even say what it was specifically. I really enjoyed it though. The assistants creeped me out a fair bit. I thought the end (or lack thereof) actually made a point about the futility of the situation.

I'm sure everyone took away something different from it.:D

brianthebard

I love Kakfa, In the penal colony is one of my favourites, as well as metamorphosis of course. There's a strange quality to his writing, half way between childish and surrealist, and the way he can suspend morality on occasion in order to get to the root of a character is brilliant.

pwd

After Hours (1985) is a film by Scorsese somewhat inspired by Kafka's work. It's very good.

Might be of interest to people reading this thread, I thought.

remus808

I'm reading 'Die Verwandlung' (Metamorphisis) at the moment for college.. Enjoyable read in english, but not particularly enjoyable to study!

Ronan3345

I love The Hunger Artist, Bucket Rider, Trapeze Artist. Metamorphisis is just perfect, Penal Colony too. Kafka kicks ass.

I think 'Complete Short Stories' would be my desert island book.

can anyone recommend me other authors that come close?

Valmont

Ronan3345 wrote: »

can anyone recommend me other authors that come close?

One of the reasons I like Kafka so much is that it seems he is out there in a genre of his own making. I've never read anything quite like his stories. I'm sure some of the other boardsters can point you in a few directions though

kmick

Read the trial and hated it. It was too Catch 22 for me and I hated that as well. Metamorphisis I found to be basically unreadable. Sorry for a voice of dissension in a sea of love.

buck65

I reckon Kafka is a bit of a love it or leave it style of writing

Per Liefsonson

Jorge Luis Borges would be similar to Kafka thematically; the way he writes is very different though. So in short I'd have to agree that it would be extremely hard to pin him down exactly. A really fascinating author though. I read "Amerika" not too long ago and was quite impressed.

Shutuplaura

I read a bit of the Castle and had to put it down - it just seemed like he was writing whatever popped into his head at any moment whether it had any particular relevance or continuity with what was already on the page. I guess thats why some people like it but definately not my cup of tea.

I really liked the trial..Thecastle too, and the short stories were about 50/50..I thought Amerika was really good too..The statue of liberty holdng the sword rather than the torch..Anyway...Its too early for this..

Kanzler

my favourite story of kafka is "brief an den vater". i dont know the english title. probably "letter to the father". if you reads this book, you can have a understanding covered of all of the books from franz kafka. this book has a overlook of his life and his mental world-opinion.

p.s.: sorry about my bad english language. i`m german.

lucille

I guess it's true, you either hate or love him.
Most people I talk to at uni consider him a pain in the ***. My favs are "Die Abweisung", "Vor dem Gesetz", "Brief an den Vater" (don't know the English titles), "The Metamorphosis".

Valmont wrote: »

One of the reasons I like Kafka so much is that it seems he is out there in a genre of his own making. I've never read anything quite like his stories.

He def is unique- if not a new genre, at least people found what he created worth inventing a new word (kafkaesk/kafkaesque) for.

Kanzler

Kanzler wrote: »

my favourite story of kafka is "brief an den vater". i dont know the english title. probably "letter to the father". if you reads this book, you can have a understanding covered of all of the books from franz kafka. this book has a overlook of his life and his mental world-opinion.

p.s.: sorry about my bad english language. i`m german.

i did find it --> Letter to His Father. Bilingual edition. New York: Schocken Books, 1966.

As said, this book i can recommend.