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I've begun reading Franz Kafka's oeuvre (I've always been interested in his stories) and I've finished reading
two short stories, Descriptions of a Struggle and Wedding Preparations in the Country, and am wondering that,
to anybody who has read Kafka, what makes him so brilliant to you? What can you say about the criticism of the miseries his work contains?

I know it's a cliche, but the phrase gruesome fascination springs to mind. My favourites? Not original, but of course, Metamorphosis, which, incidentally, in the original German is called 'Die Verwandlung' which means 'The Transformation' - rather different nuance! - and 'In the Penal Settlement'. I have to admit I have my struggles with 'The Trial', though I know it's a masterpiece. Bit of gratuitous info, the street where he was born in Prague had a name meaning 'Abattoir Road'!!

I have only read Metamorphosis. I was torn between the technical brilliance of his descriptions and giggling the entire time because I keep hearing "Help me...help me" in my head from the movie The Fly. I decided after I was done with the story that while it was amazing I did not feel the need to read any more by him.

crenner07 wrote:I have only read Metamorphosis. I was torn between the technical brilliance of his descriptions and giggling the entire time because I keep hearing "Help me...help me" in my head from the movie The Fly. I decided after I was done with the story that while it was amazing I did not feel the need to read any more by him.

Ah, it seems to me that Kafka isn't for everyone, and as of now I have read most of his longer stories (will have to get into his shorter, more parable-like stories next!) to decide that he is very probing and, like what debbiebee has said, the fascination of his style, gruesome details and plot, and fragments are hard for me to forget. Maybe it's because of his lack of mass appeal that not many seem to talk about him as opposed to more famous writers of the 20th century.

Some of my favorite longer stories (I enjoy them all so far, but if I had to choose) from him might be "In the Penal Colony," "The Metamorphosis," "Investigations of a Dog," and "A Hunger Artist."

Well I have yet to read a Kafka book, but I did recently read Kafka on the Shore this year. It is on my favorite books list. I know some of the things Kafka likes to write in his books are things that mimic other things and machinery things. He was a very interesting man. The symbols that he had in some of his novels gave great significance in the novel and plot of the story for Kafka on the Shore.

I've only read the Castle, its a pretty good book and does an amazing job of changing how you view characters and situations. Your constantly reassessing people's motivations and seeing things from different perspectives. I can't really describe it very well but i highly recommend it.

I have yet to read Kafka's unfinished works, but I'm also interested in reading Kafka on the Shore as well as Murakami's other books. It seems rather interesting to have the main character name himself after Franz Kafka although he has no name to begin with . . .

I've read The Metamorphosis and loved it. I attribute much of my adoration for it toward the time I read it: high school transitioning to college. It felt very relevant. I can't say that his influence was lost among all the 20th century authors; I believe he influenced Albert Camus (of who I get less of a response than Kafka from anyone I ask), a fellow absurdist. If you think about it, a lot of the Nobel Prize laureates from the 20th century are somewhat forgotten outside their respective country. I believe Kafka, posthumously, fought his way through the names to still remain pertinent in this century.

I'm trying to read The Trial, but I'm finding it hard to go through.

Why is Kafka KAFKA, you say? His own name means "the butcher" in Bohemian (from the Kafka Project Online). His writing was, perhaps, a super fusion of generas ranging from Gothic horror, political criticism of pre-1984 Orwell Prague (The Castle), to groundbreaking sci-fi with experimental surrealism (Metamorphosis) He was like Karl Jung; ahead of his time; both could see the down fall of Europe.
Kafka just exposed how we butchered humanity. The first European World War trenches were dug to be filled with millions dead.

debbiebee wrote:I know it's a cliche, but the phrase gruesome fascination springs to mind. My favourites? Not original, but of course, Metamorphosis, which, incidentally, in the original German is called 'Die Verwandlung' which means 'The Transformation' - rather different nuance! - and 'In the Penal Settlement'. I have to admit I have my struggles with 'The Trial', though I know it's a masterpiece. Bit of gratuitous info, the street where he was born in Prague had a name meaning 'Abattoir Road'!!

'Gruesome fascination' so perfectly said.

I find his work,one better that the other.his short stories are my favorite.

Reading Kafka is a lot like eating oysters. One must acclimate to the taste to keep from throwing up.

I have read a few of his pieces, even visited his house in Prague. His story is a very sad one

Firstly I hated him (I mean, nothing personal) but after few years i started to enjoy reading him

David Bowman wrote: ↑12 May 2015, 11:20 I've begun reading Franz Kafka's oeuvre (I've always been interested in his stories) and I've finished reading
two short stories, Descriptions of a Struggle and Wedding Preparations in the Country, and am wondering that,
to anybody who has read Kafka, what makes him so brilliant to you? What can you say about the criticism of the miseries his work contains?

I read his book about a man who suddenly turned into a giant spider. It was a really creepy and sad story. His parents were afraid of him. His own sister threw an apple at him, this apple stuck in his spiderman's back and it hurt him.

I was in Prague and saw Kafka’s house too. Kafka’s own life was not very fun either.

Kafka is overrated. Seriously how can anybody compare Franz Kafka to a brilliant writer like Arthur Miller? Surprisingly enough, Franz Kafka is considered the best jewish writer of all time.