Franz Kafka.
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THE CENTENARY OF FRANZ KAFKA'S DEATH IS IMMINENT
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Homelessness, the fragility of life, and his influence on literature are three key themes arising in the work of Czech author Franz Kafka. And what a sense of humor! If Martin Amis is right in claiming that the test of any great writer is an ability to amuse, then Kafka certainly passes the test. His works display a fantastic sense of humor!
Almost a century has passed since the death of Kafka. {He died on 3 June 1924.} Despite a whole industry publishing endless articles and books about this fascinating writer, the essential meaning of the writer's works can be still be summed up in one word: inscrutable. Ambiguity abounds in any interpretation of his works and Kafka himself once confessed he was not fully aware of any attached meaning to all his words and 'Just wrote ' without any particular plan or concept.
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HOMELESSNESS
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It has never stopped snowing here in Moscow! Or rather that is how it feels! In the middle of last December the snow fell relentlessly on, on and on. There was no reprieve. You had to wade through knee-deep drifts to get to the nearest Supermarket. According to the meteorologist Yevgeny Tishkovets, snowdrifts had grown to 49 cm. This is highest snowfall for 150 years! It was at this time when I started rereading Franz Kafka's novel 'The Castle' {1924}. In this novel, a land surveyor turns up at a village inn in response to a job offer granted to a castle owned by an absentee nobleman Count Westwest and attempts to secure his contract it never stops snowing. Snow is a permanent characteristic of the landscape around this castle.
Snow impedes the movement of the land surveyor who is exhausted having to wade through it.
The snow seems a symbol of the oppressive atmosphere which lingers around the Castle. It stifles, smothers and makes the villages sick. Snow always gets in the way: “Pulling the feet out of it as they kept sinking in again was hard work” {page 13, The Castle }. There are other ways the novel reminds me of Moscow.
That is the land surveyor known as 'K' turns up at an inn to be told by officials that he requires a special permit to stay here. Instead of being provided with board and lodgings, he is treated with contempt. He is also viewed as a homeless vagabond or drifter. K claims that he has been summoned to assume the work of a land surveyor. A warden checks up with the castle and claims that there are no such records of an appointment. The warden states, “I said as much. There is no record of any land surveyor. This is a common lying vagabond and probably worse.” He continues. “The manners of a vagrant,” he cried. “I demand respect for the count's authority. I woke you up to tell you that you must leave the count's land immediately.”
It also sounds like K has fallen into 'a hostile environment. He is told by another villager “We don't need visitors' and that “Hospitality is not our custom.” The blatant contempt for the homeless is detected in how the officials perceive both the homeless and any outsiders. They look down on them.
As In Moscow, you need special registration to stay in the village. K is impolitely called a 'nothing' and 'nonentity.' Another aspect is that like in Moscow, you can frequently be summoned to appear at a hearing only to be told that the interview or your case has been put off. Only recently I heard of how a person accused of 'assault' was summoned 50 times by a court only to be told his trial was postponed again.
'The Castle' retains a resonance with my experience in Russia. I think that despite the passing of 100 years, Kafka's works remain relevant and real to many people. It chimes directly with their experiences. This enigmatic author who penned many puns, puzzles and novels has been subject to endless interpretations. Indeed, a whole industry churns out their own interpretations. But despite often superb and sophisticated analysis much of his work remains inscrutable.
However, there are some useful pointers to grasping his works. One common theme is how powerless and impotent the small man feels when attempting to carry out or fulfill any project. Anything can undermine or thwart a project. Life is fragile and full of facticity. By facticity one implies much of our life is determined by things beyond our control. We are often thrown into an inescapable situation not of our choosing. There is often no logic or reason why we are born into certain circumstances. It is like the throw of a dice. You could be born into poverty or wealth, or be born clever or foolish.
A common theme in Kafka's stories is how much of our human activity turns out to be in vain because of a vast bureaucracy or the influence of caprice or chaos. For instance, in a story called 'The Next Village' a person is told that one lifetime does not suffice for him to go to discover the next village. In one short story it is impossible for a servant to deliver a message with the dying wish of the Chinese emperor because it takes just too long to deliver this message.
In Kafka's novel, ‘The Castle,’ messages get lost, are not delivered, or are delayed forever.
A person is at the mercy of a formidable and absolute authority that tends to overwhelm them. It is not surprising to find that Kafka's works are viewed as a vindication of existentialist philosophy. For instance, John MacQuarrie, in his book on existentialism claims, “Perhaps Franz Kafka 1883-1924, must be reckoned the greatest existentialist writer of all” {page 265}. MacQuarrie reflects on how in Kafka's works people are thrown into a situation where they lose control and access to an elusive authority which prevents them from fulfilling their own goals. All activity seems futile and in vain because it is blocked by all powerful forces.
Of course this pessimistic view of life has been challenged by people who condemn it is as griping, negative and encouraging people to wallow in despair. But it is important to grasp the fact that Kafka's works are not a guidebook or recommendation on how to live but fiction which describes the plight of so many poor and powerless people who feel trapped. His works at least challenge the shallow optimism behind the rise of new technology and science which often makes ludicrous promises.
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INFLUENCE ON LITERATURE
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Kafka 's influence on world literature is vast ! Why is this the case? It is largely because his works convey very powerful, potent and vivid images which few other writers can even dream of surpassing. Who can forget the striking image of the salesman Gregory Samsa, who wakes up one morning to find he has been transformed into some huge insect? Then there is the case of the ghost of a dead hunter, Gracchus, who is doomed to wander the world in some pointless attempt to find peace! Gracchus is unaware why he finds himself in such a terrible predicament! And you have Joseph K who finds himself arrested for a crime he is never informed about.
Kafka had an enormous empathy with obsessive types of people who were afraid of giving up their quest because they felt they 'would lose face' before other people. For instance, a person could not return to their home town after failing to do well abroad or in another city. In his short story ‘The Judgment,’ a friend won't return from Saint Petersburg to his home town in Germany despite a failing business because he will feel a loss of respect from locals.
And in Kafka’s novel 'The Castle' we learn that the land surveyor won't return home because he has given up so much to pursue his goal. When he meets the mayor he explains in one illuminating passage:
“Let me tell you some of the things that keep me here: the sacrifices I made to leave my home; my wrong and difficult journey; my well founded hopes of my appointment here; my complete lack of means; the impossibility of finding suitable work at home now; and last but not least my fiancee, who comes from this village” {page 68, The Castle by Kafka}. This could be the voice of some migrants, refugees and homeless people!
Kafka 's works have exerted a profound influence on Scottish writers such as Alasdair Gray, James Kelman and Iain Banks. For instance in Iain Banks' novel, ‘Walking on Glass,’ two prisoners are forced to play interminable games on a table whose legs are made from the pages torn from the works of Kafka's novels.
When Quiss has a break down and destroys the table his fellow prisoner finds a leg consisting of pages from Kafka's The Trial and The Castle.' The novel takes place in a castle. I cannot think of many writers who so openly acknowledge the influence of Kafka on their works as Banks! The Japanese writer Haruki Murakami also wrote a short story which offers a retelling of Kafka's Metamorphosis in his 'Samsa and Love.'
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A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR
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But too often distracted by the apparent gloom of Kafka's works, readers can overlook the humor in his works. You can see the humor in stories such as ‘Blumfeld: An Elderly Bachelor,’ where a lonely elderly man considers the pros and cons of getting a dog and then opens his door to find two mysterious animate balls bouncing around him and following him. He attempts to lose the balls by pretending to jump into a wardrobe to trap him. In the novel "The Castle,' the antics of the land surveyor's two servants are just absurd. They keep following and peering at him even in his most intimate moments. There are many amusing moments in his works which remind you of Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.
Perhaps Kafka was influenced by the silent movies of his era! Of course, it would be going too far to describe Kafka as the patron saint of stand-up comedians. But his light and at times dark humor should never be underestimated. We should laugh with him. What would Kafka make of all this attention after his death? How would he view those different interpretations? What if he just retorted in his defense "I was only joking! I just wanted to make you laugh"?
Kafka was certainly a capable and caring author—existentialist? Certainly celebrated. And now read by millions. To be remembered for accomplishing so very much! And for having a great sense of humor too!
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Further reading
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1. Martin Amis, The War against Cliché: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000, reprint edition, 2002, New York: Vintage.
2. John MacQuarrie, An Introduction, Guide and Assessment: Existentialism, 1972, New York: Penguin Books.
3. Haruki Murakami, Desire: Samsa in Love, translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin,Ted Goossen and Phil Gabriel, 2017. London: Vintage, pp. 40-77.
4. Iain Banks, Walking on Glass, 1985, London: Abacus.
5. Klaus Wagenbach, translated by Ewald Osers, 2003, London: Haus Publishing.
6. Franz Kafka, The Castle, a new translation by Anthea Bell, 2009, Oxford and New York: Oxford World's Classics.
7. Franz Kafka, Collected Stories, 1946, New York and London: Everyman's Library.
8. Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis and Other Stories, translated by Joyce Crick, 2009, New York: Oxford World's Classics.