Lost Kafka Writings Thread poster: Marcus Malabad
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(Excerpt)
It seems almost Kafkaesque: Ten safety deposit boxes of never-published writings by Franz Kafka, their exact contents unknown, are trapped in courts and bureaucracy, much like one of the nightmarish visions created by the author himself.
The papers, retrieved from bank vaults where they have sat untouched and unread for decades, could shed new light on one of literature's darkest figures.
In the past week, the pages have been pulled from safety de... See more (Excerpt)
It seems almost Kafkaesque: Ten safety deposit boxes of never-published writings by Franz Kafka, their exact contents unknown, are trapped in courts and bureaucracy, much like one of the nightmarish visions created by the author himself.
The papers, retrieved from bank vaults where they have sat untouched and unread for decades, could shed new light on one of literature's darkest figures.
In the past week, the pages have been pulled from safety deposit boxes in Tel Aviv and Zurich, Switzerland, on the order of an Israeli court over the objections of two elderly women who claim to have inherited them from their mother.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jhbl5iBAqpsRzvxG9hh7mITn00jQD9H3N5NG0
Can't wait to read these! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Niraja Nanjundan (X) 
Local time: 16:42
German to English
| | "Lost" things | Jul 22, 2010 |
Personally I always wonder where all "lost" items are, particularly works of art. We read every day about this or that important item that got "lost" during this or that war, and wonder who has it and secretly cherishes it, calculating its value every morning and not caring a damn that the general public has a right to see the piece as well.
| | | | | Does it matter? | Jul 22, 2010 |
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Personally I always wonder where all "lost" items are, particularly works of art. We read every day about this or that important item that got "lost" during this or that war, and wonder who has it and secretly cherishes it, calculating its value every morning and not caring a damn that the general public has a right to see the piece as well.
I do not understand all this fuss for the writings of an imho quite mediocre author with a sick mind for wich a very accurated term has been coined: Kafkaesque...
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 04:12
English to German
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In memoriam
Pablo Bouvier wrote:
I do not understand all this fuss for the writings of an imho quite mediocre author with a sick mind for wich a very accurated term has been coined: Kafkaesque...
The term kafkaesque does not refer to the author himself, but to a particular kind of sensation that a person might experience - the feel of senselessness, disorientation or menace. The term refers to particular works by Kafka, one of the most influential authors of the 20th century, not to the author himself.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 13:12
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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Pablo Bouvier wrote:
I do not understand all this fuss for the writings of an imho quite mediocre author with a sick mind for wich a very accurated term has been coined: Kafkaesque...
 It's an adjective.
Same way we have "Shakesperean", even "Hamletian".. describing some (universal) concepts that the author and Hamlet's character illustrate/represent.
Big names get their own adjectives. Some of the most beautiful streets in most beautiful cities are named after them, as well. It's a fact of life.
| | | | opolt
Germany
Local time: 13:12
English to German
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| Sick world, sick mind | Jul 22, 2010 |
Pablo Bouvier wrote:
...
I do not understand all this fuss for the writings of an imho quite mediocre author with a sick mind for wich a very accurated term has been coined: Kafkaesque...
Mediocre?
Back in the eighties, during my studies in Havana, at one point I read The Castle, and got totally absorbed in it. I had come from East Germany, only to see that Cuban society was even worse (in political terms). For all it's absurdity, The Castle struck me as totally realistic work, a perfect description of the world surrounding me, an incarnation of the things we were feeling around us every day, but which seemed almost impossible to grasp and to put into words. The Castle had made them palpable for me. I was flabbergasted; the novel had been written more than 60 years earlier. I don't think I will ever be able to forget how profoundly the reading experience touched me.
A sick world requires a sick mind now and then to describe it, to show us how "it" really feels. And Kafka described "it" very well, elegantly even.
| | | | | Entirely agree | Jul 22, 2010 |
opolt wrote:
A sick world requires a sick mind now and then to describe it, to show us how "it" really feels. And Kafka described "it" very well, elegantly even.
Indeed sometimes we need a twisted mind to provide a straight interpretation of the deeds of our society. I'd say the same happens to George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, in a way more "normal" people if you wish, but equally capable of thinking absurd societies that, today, resemble our modern society and can be taken as a sign of caution about things we should stop and avoid.
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Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 14:12
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| How much Kafka, how much Brod | Jul 22, 2010 |
If those papers ever get published we would know how much Max Brod had altered the scripts of Kafka. For the better or for the worse.
At least Brod managed to make his friend an author of world fame. But we must not forget that he was already during his lifetime a well known writer in Austria.
| | | | | Lost Kafka Writings | Jul 22, 2010 |
Lingua 5B wrote: Pablo Bouvier wrote:
I do not understand all this fuss for the writings of an imho quite mediocre author with a sick mind for wich a very accurated term has been coined: Kafkaesque...
It's an adjective. Same way we have "Shakesperean", even "Hamletian".. describing some (universal) concepts that the author and Hamlet's character illustrate/represent. Big names get their own adjectives. Some of the most beautiful streets in most beautiful cities are named after them, as well. It's a fact of life.
Yes, as we ask for Kleenex insted for paper handkerchiefs...
[Editado a las 2010-07-22 17:06 GMT]
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Nicole Schnell wrote: Pablo Bouvier wrote:
I do not understand all this fuss for the writings of an imho quite mediocre author with a sick mind for wich a very accurated term has been coined: Kafkaesque...
The term kafkaesque does not refer to the author himself, but to a particular kind of sensation that a person might experience - the feel of senselessness, disorientation or menace. The term refers to particular works by Kafka, one of the most influential authors of the 20th century, not to the author himself.
Well, I should have said for whose work...
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