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Started By
Message
What am I missing on Franz Kafka?
Posted on 6/9/16 at 7:08 am
Posted on 6/9/16 at 7:08 am
I'm sure jokes about the poster will be incoming so let's get that out of the way.
Onto the topic. I wanted to broaden my horizons and start reading some of the classics. Most people recognize Kafka as being world famous and a great in his profession, and his 2 most popular works are both short to boot. Seemed like a great starting point!
So I read the metamorphosis first. Quick read, somewhat entertaining. But it was just kinda...meh. It held my interest, but afterwards it felt unfulfilling. Oh well. So then I read the Trial which most would say is his best and most popular work. What a bore. Despite being short it was a struggle to make myself finish. Not a lot happens that has any importance, and then it's just kind of over.
I don't claim to be some literary scholar and I'm not one of those that downplays popular stuff just to be edgy or cool. I'm legit asking if I missed something.
Onto the topic. I wanted to broaden my horizons and start reading some of the classics. Most people recognize Kafka as being world famous and a great in his profession, and his 2 most popular works are both short to boot. Seemed like a great starting point!
So I read the metamorphosis first. Quick read, somewhat entertaining. But it was just kinda...meh. It held my interest, but afterwards it felt unfulfilling. Oh well. So then I read the Trial which most would say is his best and most popular work. What a bore. Despite being short it was a struggle to make myself finish. Not a lot happens that has any importance, and then it's just kind of over.
I don't claim to be some literary scholar and I'm not one of those that downplays popular stuff just to be edgy or cool. I'm legit asking if I missed something.
8
Posted on 6/9/16 at 7:14 am to WG_Dawg
His stories are little satirical fables that teach valuable moral lessons
Posted on 6/9/16 at 7:15 am to WG_Dawg
He posts shitty memes
Posted on 6/9/16 at 7:19 am to WG_Dawg
quote:He died in 1924, was Jewish, was born an Austria-Hungarian then a Czechoslovakian citizen and spoke German.
What am I missing on Franz Kafka?
Does this help?
Posted on 6/9/16 at 7:19 am to WG_Dawg
In my opinion, Kafka is not as thought provoking as some say he is. He is a great writer, though.
The Trial
The Castle
Those are my favorites. The Castle is much better in my opinion.
The Trial
The Castle
Those are my favorites. The Castle is much better in my opinion.
Posted on 6/9/16 at 7:20 am to WG_Dawg
I very recently read Metamorphosis as well. I thought it was good, sort of borderline existentialism without all of the personal responsibility part. Just mainly life's absurd. I think his attitude toward his change fell inline with true existentialist, and that wrinkle was probably the best part. I thought his writing style was excellent.
I'm reading another Vonnegut book, Slapstick, and I tend to like it more than Metamorphosis. Just more compelling to me.
I'm reading another Vonnegut book, Slapstick, and I tend to like it more than Metamorphosis. Just more compelling to me.
This post was edited on 6/9/16 at 7:22 am
Posted on 6/9/16 at 7:27 am to WG_Dawg
Never read Kafka, but I feel the same way about Hemmingway. He's praised, and I don't see it. He spends so much time building his characters that when he ends their story (usually very abruptly) I'm left unfulfilled.
Sorry for the potential hijack.
Sorry for the potential hijack.
Posted on 6/9/16 at 8:04 am to WG_Dawg
Kafka is a fine writer, but nowhere near the titan of literature his legend has been made out to be.
In the 20th century serious literary circles started to move away from merit-based reviews, critiques, etc and began to give way to fanboyism and conflating the personal life of the author and their work- famous and/or prolific authors became as much a character as their actual fictional characters in terms of evaluating a story's merit. This tendency never really left and has proliferated and been established with a religious fervor in academic institutions from grade school to grad school.
The seeds for this new approach to critical analysis may have been planted even earlier- in many ways authors like Mark Twain and Jules Verne became even bigger than their fiction- but you really see this cliquish mindset in the literature world start to take root in the twenties when you had the avente-garde Fitzgeralds, Hemingways, Faulkners, and Steins cavorting around. They were uber-celebrity playboys and girls of their day and critics couldn't help but get caught up in it.
As an example, Gertrude Stein is among the- if not the- single most overrated and unjustifiably idolized figure in all of "serious" American literature; her legacy and supposed import to the craft is a total academic fabrication.
Literary scholars love Kafka as a character, his life-story seems so poetically tragic. All that said, I find Metamorphosis a fantastic read.
In the 20th century serious literary circles started to move away from merit-based reviews, critiques, etc and began to give way to fanboyism and conflating the personal life of the author and their work- famous and/or prolific authors became as much a character as their actual fictional characters in terms of evaluating a story's merit. This tendency never really left and has proliferated and been established with a religious fervor in academic institutions from grade school to grad school.
The seeds for this new approach to critical analysis may have been planted even earlier- in many ways authors like Mark Twain and Jules Verne became even bigger than their fiction- but you really see this cliquish mindset in the literature world start to take root in the twenties when you had the avente-garde Fitzgeralds, Hemingways, Faulkners, and Steins cavorting around. They were uber-celebrity playboys and girls of their day and critics couldn't help but get caught up in it.
As an example, Gertrude Stein is among the- if not the- single most overrated and unjustifiably idolized figure in all of "serious" American literature; her legacy and supposed import to the craft is a total academic fabrication.
Literary scholars love Kafka as a character, his life-story seems so poetically tragic. All that said, I find Metamorphosis a fantastic read.
This post was edited on 6/9/16 at 8:21 am
Posted on 6/9/16 at 9:23 am to Gaston
quote:
Just mainly life's absurd
All you have to do is take a look around you everyday to see that this is largely the case.
Posted on 6/9/16 at 9:25 am to WG_Dawg
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