Why does nobody really talk about how funny Kafka's work is?
Why does nobody really talk about how funny Kafka's work is?
Camden Edwards
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Noah Long
Lost in translation
Isaiah Martinez
Shit movie inspired by a shitter author
Leo Reyes
I found Metamorphosis incredibly cute and charming in the beginning.
Jackson Carter
which translation did you read? ive been researching the best translation and stumped
Julian Collins
Yeah it's strange to me that people find his work scary or unsettling. The Trial had me actually chuckling several times and amused at the baffling situations. I feel like it means they don't know how to deal with the absurd and recognizing it as such. But I dunno, I feel like if you get a sense of dread when being confronted by the absurd you just aren't gonna make it; it's more than fair to be baffled or frustrated by it, but to be unsettled seems like the person has a lack of will or any kind of perseverance.
Adam Long
The best Doctor directed a short movie based on this and it's a top tier short movie.
Aaron Taylor
Always liked the end of “A Hunger Artist” where the supervisor finds the protagonist at the end of his fast under a pile of straw
>“Are you still fasting?” the supervisor asked. “When are you finally going to stop?” “Forgive me everything,” whispered the hunger artist. Only the supervisor, who was pressing his ear up against the cage, understood him. “Certainly,” said the supervisor, tapping his forehead with his finger in order to indicate to the spectators the state the hunger artist was in, “we forgive you.” “I always wanted you to admire my fasting,” said the hunger artist. “But we do admire it,” said the supervisor obligingly. “But you shouldn’t admire it,” said the hunger artist. “Well then, we don’t admire it,” said the supervisor.
Jaxon Nelson
its about masturbation in public
Robert Sanders
It’s soooo absurd
Grayson Cook
Metamorphosis was pretty funny. The bits where he's planning to go to work despite being a bug made me laugh out loud, and a few of the other inner monologues are funny as well. I was still pretty heartbroken when he got that apple stuck in his exoskeleton though.
Daniel Thompson
It's not funny. Stop parroting DFW.
Xavier Bell
Susan Bernofsky
>he found himself transformed right there in his bed into some sort of monstrous insect.
Good translation that
Eli Jenkins
Kafka has that good Jewish humour.
Parker Rogers
Literally everyone does so though, including accounts of how much Kafka laughed at his own writing.
Oliver Flores
Monstrous is so ill fitting in that context. I'm German and "monströs" is something Kaffi never used. It's a far too "direct" adjective for him, he is all about the subtle nuances of feeling like a shitty joke.
Elijah Myers
Kafka is funny, I'm reading it in the original and it's basically full of this absurd comical quality.
As you said, the part about him wondering if he can show up to work while being a fucking bug nonetheless, are just amazing
Samuel Green
I see, so could you find a better translation for that line? Other translations have said "beetle" or "roach" which would be completely wrong of the source. Since Kafka never stated what bug it was
Jacob Thomas
>Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer verwandelt.
As Gregor Samsa awakened from restless dreams one morning, laying in his bed, he found himself transformed into an enormous vermin.
That would be my (amateurish) translation.
Ungeheuer and Ungeziefer are both very strong words in German, one referring to sheer awe inspiring size, but as well conjuring up a sense of wonder and mystery, as if one can not truly know what it is that made something so "ungeheur". Ungeziefer on the other hand is something extremely negative, it carries with it connotations of extinction, Ungeziefer has to be killed, it's extremely negative and does refer to all the small pests that give a sense of horror as well as a sense of disgust. You're right, cockroaches or bugs aren't simply "Ungeziefer", the term can even refer a maggot, or a grasshopper, in some cases even rats or mouses (or Jews in the days of the Nazi rule).
Well, I hope I could give you some insight.
Lincoln Thompson
Tedious is a little more accurate.
Hudson Roberts
>Fellas I tell ya, one day I awoke from troubled dreams to find myself changed into a monstrous vermin
>my wife she says "better get outta here quick sugar before my husband comes home"
>no respect I tell ya
Jacob Johnson
>fuck man I can't get up I dont know what's going on, I hate all this confusion I hope my life is not negatively affected by whatever health issue I am suffering, I must feed my family
>user: "how cute and charming"
Connor Brooks
Pests might be the right translation then
Aaron Walker
I don’t know why but I read that in his voice thanks user
Julian Ross
I mever thought about it, but it is true that Kafka's books can be read both from a comedic and a dramatic prespective. Mind you when i read the Metamorphosis just some days ago, it actually disturbed me, because it forced me to imagine in detail how horrible it would actually be to be stuck in a debilitating body, weighting down my family, which not only can i not help, but even communicate with, and resulting in them ostracising me out of their life. I guess it has to do with the personality of the reader. So long i have read only the Trial and the Metamorphosis, but i have grasped the basic theme of Kafka's stories, people being subjected to a certain fate/doom by a higher power, but being so docile and passive that they not even dare to question the nature of the power or why they are made to go through their ordeal (sentenced to death for a crime they don't even know about, being turned into a bug with no explanation on how it happened etc). Certain people who place great value in their intergrity and independence probably read these stories like their worse nightmare, while the state your life you are in right now can also resonate emotions out of those stories (for example, for someone having something as simple yet as meaningfull as a close-knitted loving family, the idea they gradually become sickened by you and in the end rather wish for your death can be quite disturbing) That being said, i will try to read the Tower under a more comical light
Nicholas Collins
So should I still go with Bernofsky? Someone help. :(
Easton Young
The 'Kafka is funny' read pains me a little because everyone (including me) who ventures to proclaim it, does so as if they are unique in doing so.
I believe there is a lot of merit to it, as even Kafka himself would have agreed as he would choke laughing reading his drafts to his friends. It is totally in keeping with the absurdist hangdog humor that typifies a lot of the Czech outlook.
You should glad to know that you are far from alone, and even David Foster Wallace[1] has written about the "joke" in Kafka's depicted tortures.
[1]harpers.org
Gabriel Price
They do, all the fucking time.
Adrian Young
that's not in the very beginning, I found the very beginning quite funny as well and it made the second part ever more horrifying, like a plain weird dream turning into a straight nightmare
Mason Allen
truly kafkaesque
Tyler Sanchez
I've always found Kafka to be intelligent, Nihilistic and with a wicked sense of humor