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valzhangI finished reading Kafka's collection last night. None of them measured up to the Metamorphosis—no wonder it's his most famous work—but I still enjoyed all of them greatly, some more than others. Since they're all short stories and poem collections, I'll just do them all in one post. (Especially before I get too sucked into Bret Easton Ellis' The Shards and ostensibly forget about every other piece of literature I've ever read.)
Contemplation: I felt a little frustrated at first because this collection lacks pretty much any kind of story or narrative. Once I began looking at it as just poems I liked them a lot more. It's a nice way to appreciate Kafka's writing style; they feel imaginative and observant, as if you're presented with a world as it is. I especially like 'The Businessman' and 'Being Unhappy'. That being said, I really do prefer his stories over his poems. 7/10.
the Judgment: This one is such an interesting look at a father-son dynamic and only gets more crazy to think about in regards to Kafka's own relationship with his father. While a lot of his works are in some sense very autobiographical this one feels the most direct, the most intrusive. There are probably other things about this book that people more intelligent than me can derive, like its concept of judgment, but definitely what I liked most was just the window into a complicated parental relationship. It feels very real that a son who takes care of his father and seems like a perfectly good man is endlessly criticized by said father, and in the end submits himself to that 'judgment'. 7.5/10.
the Stoker: I feel... as if I'm not allowed to rate this yet. It's just one chapter of the unfinished novel Amerika, sadly not in the book but which I definitely plan on reading because I did like this one as well. The titular stoker is a very Kafkaesque character, downtrodden, mistreated, ignored by everybody, even if Karl is the protagonist. And the characters were fun. Again I did like this but I don't want to say anything about it definitely before I read Amerika.
In the Penal Colony: I loved this one, my second favourite work in the whole book. It's so gruesome but it doesn't feel scary (and Kafka is well capable of writing horror), it just feels very fascinating and almost dreamy. I know most people interpret this one religiously but I appreciate the dichotomy of tradition/modernity in itself and I think it's one of those things that will always feel relevant. The character of the officer seems to me almost romantic, the epitome of the old world loyalist, surrendering himself to his own worshipped style of execution when he failed to convince the dignitary just as a soldier kills himself when he knows a war has been lost (even if he didn't get to have it in the end). I don't know, but it just really resonated with me. Also the subplot of the condemned man and the soldier becoming friends was funny as hell. 9/10!
A Country Doctor (collection): A little similar to Contemplation in nature, though certainly with a more understandable flow of events, veering more toward 'story' territory than poems. Though some of them are equally as nonsensical and bizarre. There were some I didn't care for but some I found really interesting, and I think it would be different for everybody.
The story the collection derives its title from, A Country Doctor, made no sense to me at all. I had to search it up to see what other people thought (something I hate doing before I've come to an opinion myself). But I was glad to see everyone else is as confused as I am xD. I think there's a lot to be said about doctors and expectations, I suppose. But mostly I just think the vibe of the story is so haunting. This is definitely the one that creeped me out the most.
Other stories I liked from here are 'An Old Journal' and 'Before the Law'. Overall, 7.5/10.
A Hunger Artist (collection): All of the ones in here are good, but my definite favourite was the story A Hunger Artist itself. Another one of Kafka's more famous works and I understand why. It's very revealing how he thought of himself and what he saw as his dying art—literature—and perhaps how he devoted himself to it to the point of ascetism and religion almost. Josefine is also about an artist's relationship to art and audience but I found it less compelling.
First Sorrow may also seem to be about artist and art, though a rather unconventional one (a trapeze artist). I wonder if it's about the changing whims of artists and how much they seem to fear mundanity, or strive for originality, another higher level of their craft. Or maybe I'm reaching. Never know with these to be honest.
Again, I liked all of them. Like I said, I love the stories more than his shorter stuff, so this gets an 8/10 from me.
There were three other stories in the appendix. Two of them were okay (Great Noise and The Coal-Scuttle Rider) but the other is the one work I straight-up disliked (Aeroplanes in Brescia). I could not bring myself to like it. Even the dreamy characteristic writing style of Kafka does not come through in that one, it's painfully literal which is not something I enjoyed at all. I think my eyes glazed over reading it.
Other than that! I had a great time reading this collection. I do think the experience is a hundred times enriched if you go through the trouble of learning a bit about Kafka and his personal life, since so many of these stories seem more intimate that way. But the uniqueness and creativity are distinct in both writing style and in the stories and character themselves; it left me with the strong feeling of Oh, I understand now why people call things 'Kafkaesque'. It's just such a... peculiar type of vibe. I really liked it.
I'll be honest, when it comes to reading, I usually appreciate a directness and logic. So these works, in all their bizarreness, were a little challenging for me, but not in a bad way. They really forced me to slow down and think, and God knows I probably don't do that enough.
Overall, a strong 8.5/10.
Contemplation: I felt a little frustrated at first because this collection lacks pretty much any kind of story or narrative. Once I began looking at it as just poems I liked them a lot more. It's a nice way to appreciate Kafka's writing style; they feel imaginative and observant, as if you're presented with a world as it is. I especially like 'The Businessman' and 'Being Unhappy'. That being said, I really do prefer his stories over his poems. 7/10.
the Judgment: This one is such an interesting look at a father-son dynamic and only gets more crazy to think about in regards to Kafka's own relationship with his father. While a lot of his works are in some sense very autobiographical this one feels the most direct, the most intrusive. There are probably other things about this book that people more intelligent than me can derive, like its concept of judgment, but definitely what I liked most was just the window into a complicated parental relationship. It feels very real that a son who takes care of his father and seems like a perfectly good man is endlessly criticized by said father, and in the end submits himself to that 'judgment'. 7.5/10.
the Stoker: I feel... as if I'm not allowed to rate this yet. It's just one chapter of the unfinished novel Amerika, sadly not in the book but which I definitely plan on reading because I did like this one as well. The titular stoker is a very Kafkaesque character, downtrodden, mistreated, ignored by everybody, even if Karl is the protagonist. And the characters were fun. Again I did like this but I don't want to say anything about it definitely before I read Amerika.
In the Penal Colony: I loved this one, my second favourite work in the whole book. It's so gruesome but it doesn't feel scary (and Kafka is well capable of writing horror), it just feels very fascinating and almost dreamy. I know most people interpret this one religiously but I appreciate the dichotomy of tradition/modernity in itself and I think it's one of those things that will always feel relevant. The character of the officer seems to me almost romantic, the epitome of the old world loyalist, surrendering himself to his own worshipped style of execution when he failed to convince the dignitary just as a soldier kills himself when he knows a war has been lost (even if he didn't get to have it in the end). I don't know, but it just really resonated with me. Also the subplot of the condemned man and the soldier becoming friends was funny as hell. 9/10!
"How we watched the transfiguration in the tormented faces, how we held our cheeks in the glow of this arduously achieved and already passing justice! I tell you, comrade, those were times!"
A Country Doctor (collection): A little similar to Contemplation in nature, though certainly with a more understandable flow of events, veering more toward 'story' territory than poems. Though some of them are equally as nonsensical and bizarre. There were some I didn't care for but some I found really interesting, and I think it would be different for everybody.
The story the collection derives its title from, A Country Doctor, made no sense to me at all. I had to search it up to see what other people thought (something I hate doing before I've come to an opinion myself). But I was glad to see everyone else is as confused as I am xD. I think there's a lot to be said about doctors and expectations, I suppose. But mostly I just think the vibe of the story is so haunting. This is definitely the one that creeped me out the most.
Other stories I liked from here are 'An Old Journal' and 'Before the Law'. Overall, 7.5/10.
A Hunger Artist (collection): All of the ones in here are good, but my definite favourite was the story A Hunger Artist itself. Another one of Kafka's more famous works and I understand why. It's very revealing how he thought of himself and what he saw as his dying art—literature—and perhaps how he devoted himself to it to the point of ascetism and religion almost. Josefine is also about an artist's relationship to art and audience but I found it less compelling.
First Sorrow may also seem to be about artist and art, though a rather unconventional one (a trapeze artist). I wonder if it's about the changing whims of artists and how much they seem to fear mundanity, or strive for originality, another higher level of their craft. Or maybe I'm reaching. Never know with these to be honest.
Again, I liked all of them. Like I said, I love the stories more than his shorter stuff, so this gets an 8/10 from me.
There were three other stories in the appendix. Two of them were okay (Great Noise and The Coal-Scuttle Rider) but the other is the one work I straight-up disliked (Aeroplanes in Brescia). I could not bring myself to like it. Even the dreamy characteristic writing style of Kafka does not come through in that one, it's painfully literal which is not something I enjoyed at all. I think my eyes glazed over reading it.
Other than that! I had a great time reading this collection. I do think the experience is a hundred times enriched if you go through the trouble of learning a bit about Kafka and his personal life, since so many of these stories seem more intimate that way. But the uniqueness and creativity are distinct in both writing style and in the stories and character themselves; it left me with the strong feeling of Oh, I understand now why people call things 'Kafkaesque'. It's just such a... peculiar type of vibe. I really liked it.
I'll be honest, when it comes to reading, I usually appreciate a directness and logic. So these works, in all their bizarreness, were a little challenging for me, but not in a bad way. They really forced me to slow down and think, and God knows I probably don't do that enough.
Overall, a strong 8.5/10.
"'Am I supposed to be happy with that as an apology? I suppose it's all I'm going to get. I always have to take what I'm given. I came into the world with a lovely wound; that was my entire outfitting.'