Kafka is a lot of fun to read. All these stories are available online already, by the way [1]. First story's title is translated as "On Parables" in this version. Presumably the letters/journal entries are what will be new with this book. I've always been a fan of his story "A Little Fable":
"Alas", said the mouse, "the whole world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I am running into."
"You only need to change your direction," said the cat, and ate it up.
Funny you should mention DFW. When I read the "Give It Up" story it reminded me of one of the films in his book Infinite Jest called "Wave Bye-Bye To The Beaurocrat", where a man hurries to the train late for work and knocks over a child who mistakes him for Jesus Christ. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the short films in the book were inspired by Kafka.
>What annoyed him the most—indeed the principle source of his displeasure with the job—was the image mankind made of him forever gadding about with his trident in the tides. While all the while he sat there in the watery depths endlessly crunching numbers, a trip every now and then to check in with Jupiter was his only break from the eternal monotony, a journey from which, moreover, he generally returned in a rage. He hardly ever got a chance to enjoy his journey through the seven seas, just sped through them on his way to Olympus, never pausing to look around. He liked to joke that he was waiting for the end of the world, then he’d find a free moment right before the end, after completing his final calculation, to take a quick spin in the sea.
It's very deep. I wrote an analysis of this story when I was 14, that got me the nickname le philosophe with my literature professor. Unfortunately, 22 years later, things don't look as bright, including me, and I fail to ask the right answers. I think I were more of a man or boy then of faith, and could draw the right analogies with light. Now I am worn, I sat on a stool with my back facing the law in a twisted and forgetful demonstration of respect for too long but maybe not long enough.Yet.
Very brilliant. Somehow Kafka's writing appeals to many people around the world, and everyone feels it's close to their experience, even though of course there is no 'right' meaning in the stories. After reading his work for a long time, I think he touched upon some general psychological mechanisms, which is why we can relate.
Really beautiful prose too - feels like you can't change anything without making it worse.
Somehow Kafka's writing appeals to many people around the world, and everyone feels it's close to their experience
I remember visiting his grave in Prague years ago and ahead of me, already at the grave, was an older woman with plastic shopping bags draping heavily from each hand, her head bowed deeply and silently as she stared at the grave. I stopped and waited. Five minutes later, she lifted her head slightly and turned and went on her way with her heavy shopping.
"Alas", said the mouse, "the whole world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I am running into."
"You only need to change your direction," said the cat, and ate it up.
1. PDF warning: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/olli/class-materials/Franz_Kafka.p...