[lit-ideas] Kafka
- From: Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 19:11:05 -0700 (PDT)
I always thought that of all people, Kafka best captures the essence of human
life on earth. Metamorphosis for example is life in a lot of
families the way it really is. It happens constantly in all sorts
of ways from big to small; a glaring big example is when Joe Kennedy had
his daughter institutionalized and then never saw her again. (That's
the same Joe Kennedy who was an insatiable womanizer; one wonders where his
sons got it). But it happens in much smaller ways all the time too.
Gregor's family only cares that Gregor is not bringing in money,
not that their son morphed into an insect. His sister stays
connected to him until Gregor gets unmanageable, but he's rejected from
the get go by the parents if I remember correctly. They just pretend it's
business as usual. Turning Gregor into an insect is ludicrous, but
by taking out the usual and
substituting it with the unequivocal, Kafka gets to the heart of a
concept in no uncertain terms. Personally, I don't think Kafka is giving
advice. He's just painting what he sees around him only not doing it
representationally.
--- On Sun, 6/8/08, Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Books that bite and sting...
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sunday, June 8, 2008, 6:51 PM
Many years ago I was impressed with Kafka. ... On the other hand,
Franz Kafka was nuts, and taking advice from someone who is nuts has its risks;
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