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Summary: The meaning of Kafkaesque..
Review: Kafkaesque: Impenetrably oppresive or nightmarish, as in the fiction of Franz Kafka.Indeed, "The Trial" is the epitome of this adjective used to describe the haunting novels of Franz Kafka. Breon Mitchell's translation is fantastic as it expands and clarifies the first version by the Muirs. A lengthy translators preface is included, written by Mitchell, explaining the reasoning for this new translation based on the German definitive edition. Various examples of the text (in German) are also used in the explanations of the hows and whys. On to the story itself. Josef K. awakens one more to find that he's been arrested. He doesn't know why and is never told. His daily life is allowed to go on over the course of the year the novel takes place, while trying to understand what is happening. Throughout this process Josef begins to sink further into paranoia and guilt, with the fate of his life in the balance.... This is a deep and dense novel, with various interpretations. It's scary to realize that this could actually happen (perhaps not on this scale) and that's one of things Kafka excels at. Taking the everyday mundane and catapulting it into the realm of the absurd and nightmarish.. The leftover fragments of "The Trial" are also included after the story, adding further insight into this tragic story. It's also worth it to pick up the Muir's translation, to see the differences, and to have the original english version to keep. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: The meaning of Kafkaesque..
Review: Kafkaesque: Impenetrably oppresive or nightmarish, as in the fiction of Franz Kafka. Indeed, "The Trial" is the epitome of this adjective used to describe the haunting novels of Franz Kafka. Breon Mitchell's translation is fantastic as it expands and clarifies the first version by the Muirs. A lengthy translators preface is included, written by Mitchell, explaining the reasoning for this new translation based on the German definitive edition. Various examples of the text (in German) are also used in the explanations of the hows and whys. On to the story itself. Josef K. awakens one more to find that he's been arrested. He doesn't know why and is never told. His daily life is allowed to go on over the course of the year the novel takes place, while trying to understand what is happening. Throughout this process Josef begins to sink further into paranoia and guilt, with the fate of his life in the balance.... This is a deep and dense novel, with various interpretations. It's scary to realize that this could actually happen (perhaps not on this scale) and that's one of things Kafka excels at. Taking the everyday mundane and catapulting it into the realm of the absurd and nightmarish.. The leftover fragments of "The Trial" are also included after the story, adding further insight into this tragic story. It's also worth it to pick up the Muir's translation, to see the differences, and to have the original english version to keep. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: ÒKafkaesqueÓ all the way
Review: Not until 1982 had I formed a clear idea for the meaning of the term Òkafkaesque.Ó The revelation came when I found myself trapped in the middle of Prague, KafkaÕs hometown, on a crossroad that received one way lanes from every direction. It was real and surreal and frightening and comical, but nothing dreamy about it. I knew, if I tried to get myself out of this situation, there would inevitably be a very real cop just waiting to give me a very real ticket,. And he did. He was drunk and rather shabbily uniformed. For many years in my early teens, I had KafkaÕs ÔTrialÕ on my bedside table. If you want to learn German, this is the book for you. It comes in simple and straightforward language. Kafka was a great admirer of Flaubert and his maxim to tell extraordinary things in ordinary language. So whatever KafkaÕs translators may say, Kafka does not exactly pose a linguistic challenge. Still there are differences. The Muirs' translation, prior to MitchellÕs, is still a respectable piece of late Victorian imitation furniture. But Mitchell does improve, no doubt. However the actual order of the chapters in this unfinished novel is still open to questions -- MitchellÕs editors chose to be conservative. As it stands, the ÒTrialÓ is a great step forward from KafkaÕs first novel ÔAmerica!Õ which was written under the influence of Oliver Twist. It has many scenes of burning intensity and a sensual quality, Kafka himself never matched again. However the American backdrop is cut from cardboard and not very convincing. Kafka always had a problem to convey a sense of locality if it wasnÕt his hometown. Any reader of KafkaÕs ÒCastleÓ faces the same problem, the interiors come to life vividly enough, but the geography is curiously vague. The ÒTrialÕsÓ setting is Prague, and it shows. This is perhaps KafkaÕs most guilt-stricken story. From scene to scene the shadows thicken until Joseph K.Õs providential encounter in the mystical bleakness of the Cathedral. I refuse to speculate on the meaning in all of this, however I would advise against fetching too far for an interpretation. The language is straightforward but still loaded with little pointers and puns. For instance: the protagonist (Joseph K.) has a crush on a certain Miss ÔBŸrstner.Õ This name is derived from the verb ÒbŸrstenÓ Ð German for Òbrushing,Ó which in German is also a vulgar euphemism for sexual intercourse; and this is no coincidence. There is sex all over the place: the protagonist has an affair with his attorneyÕs maid, shabbily dressed judges simply carry away women into their chambers, during Joseph KÕs conversation with the painter, you hear the painterÕs models giggle in the background. Notice the running parallel between illicit sex and dingy justice. The Viennese critic Karl Kraus had published a series of essays under the title ÒThe Chinese Wall.Ó In it Kraus attacked AustriaÕs legal system and spoke up in defence of prostitutes. Kafka knew Kraus, he attended his public readings, and he might have picked up on a phrase Kraus liked to scream at his audience. It began with: ÒBecause justice is a whore ... ,Ó (which no doubt it is.) In KafkaÕs novel the courts convene in the strangest places, in attics and lofts, under the rafters of top floors, in sub-tenancies of housing projects. This strange judicial system never allows to approach the upper echelons, but the lower charges are beggarly and sly. The whole state seems to be afflicted by an underground conspiracy, and you never know whether your friendly janitor isnÕt one of them. If it were ancient Rome, you could say the slaves are judging their masters. Joseph K. himself is a somewhat aloof and haughty character, not un-typical for a senior manager. K. works for a bank and he is a sharp dresser and moves with ease in circles of attorneys, chief administrators and CEOs. Kafka lifted out of the text the key-parable, ÒBefore the LawÓ and published it separately in a collection of shorter pieces. It is difficult to put your finger exactly on the meaning of this famous parable, but it certainly gives the entire novel in a nutshell. In the era of Stalin and McCarthy and after the horrors of the death-camps it has became fashionable to read into KafkaÕs novel a brooding indictment against oppression and persecution. I am not so sure: itÕs a tough call, because he is never told the charges, yet something seems to be expected of Joseph K., a change of heart perhaps, or a sign of redeeming humility, but K. remains unchanged, his ordeal merely infuses an ever more deepening gloom. One of the great paradigms of modern literature.
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Summary: very good
Review: one of the best
Rating:
Summary: You should read it.
Review: Really, what are you going to say about Kafka in an Amazon review? If you haven't read it, you should. You really have no excuse.
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Summary: wooo scary
Review: Scary book i make no sleep nights and i go ahh that was scary. i make wet beds from scariness. ding. supper's ready.
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Summary: An allegorical phenomenon
Review: The morose and satirical style of Kafka is so powerful that you may find yourself stopping to catch your breath between pages of this stirring and frightening book. "K" is as hauntingly real as any of us, and his situation is also sadly compatible with that of many of us.
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Summary: Difficult, but definitely worth the effort
Review: The Trial is a book not meant for people who like to read modern mindless babble by the likes of King and Koontz. This book will force you to think to get anything out of it. But especially interesting and enlightening was the chapter entitled "The Cathedral". There's a lot of insight in this single chapter that not only will help explain a lot of the book, but also possibly make the reader think about his/her own life in a slightly different perspective.
Rating:
Summary: Difficult, but definitely worth the effort
Review: The Trial is a book not meant for people who like to read modern mindless babble by the likes of King and Koontz. This book will force you to think to get anything out of it. But especially interesting and enlightening was the chapter entitled "The Cathedral". There's a lot of insight in this single chapter that not only will help explain a lot of the book, but also possibly make the reader think about his/her own life in a slightly different perspective.
Rating:
Summary: A Journey Through the Mind of Kafka
Review: The Trial is a book that draws you into its sea of words and never lets you rise back up to the surface. Once immersed in its content, you do not want to place it back down until you have finished it. "The Trial," is about man enslaved trying to become truly free. It is about the cruelty of life and man's failure in trying to find some importance, some meaning, some salvation that is inaccessible in the physical world.
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