what is Kafkaesque?

blazeofglory · 07-02-2008, 12:33 PM

Kafka is unique and Kafkaesque is something characteristic of his writings.

I have gone through the Metamorphosis several times and yet I end up far from comprehending him.

I tend to seek a meaning, a commonality. I seek to order, systematize or sequence things.

I try to conventionalize him or chain him to a world of systems or orders or conformity.

No he breaks with conventions and wherein he succeeds. And we fail.

Kafka takes us away, far away from conventional realities. Our understanding of man is different from Kafka. We try to confine the study of man within parameters of our understanding, derived from religions, creeds, nationalities, geographies.

Englishness, Arabness, Americanness is nothing but an idea of stupidity at the bottom of the thing. Beneath the ness man is just a vermin and nothing else.

All attributes we call ethics, love, moralities, disciplines are skin-deep and go beyond the margins there remain nothing but the man-insect only.

Man-the insect then stings.

We love to choose hypocrisy. Kafka speaking truth is unpalatable to our taste.

That is how I understand him.

kelby_lake · 07-02-2008, 02:54 PM

kafkaesque is surreal bizarre entrapment- fighting an unknown enemy

Trystan · 07-02-2008, 10:56 PM

That's an interesting take on it. But the thing I like about Kafka is the way that he can be interpreted in so many different ways. Yet his stories/novels have something that I can never quite put my finger on.

blazeofglory · 07-03-2008, 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trystan

Yet his stories/novels have something that I can never quite put my finger on.

Yes Trystan, we all have the same feelings. First when I read him I thought I was immature to undersntand the height or intensity of his intellectul persuasions and afterwards when I read comments on his works by some critics or writers I thought I was not singled out in finding his works intricate.
Notwithstanding the intricacies I still like to keep on reading. It is life like, the meaning of which is being perpetually sought by us and we are unsure whether we can ever get it.

Guinivere · 07-23-2008, 02:29 PM

Kafkaesque is a situation or feeling marked by surreal distortion and even a sense of impending danger.

johann cruyff · 07-23-2008, 02:52 PM

I don't think blazeofglory was looking for a definition of "Kafkaesque", but rather our interpretations of his works... I may be wrong though.

Guinivere · 07-23-2008, 02:57 PM

If you are right he we should go for different works not a general interpretation. It is just al too much to get it into one sentence much less a definition. If you know what I mean.

Oh and would you be so kind and translate your signature ? I would like to know what it says. Is is in Tschech ?

lolie · 07-23-2008, 05:41 PM

kafkaesque is to me something absurd, with a lack of significance, opposite of the reason and the logic..
All the heroes or should i say anti-heroes of Kafka are involved in absurds situations, situations with no exit, situations they are not able to explain to themselves...
Absurdity as a metaphor, an existential parabol...
Some other authors are kafakesque too , such as Ionesco or Camus or Beckett, Robbe-Grillet and even Sartre...

Erichtho · 07-26-2008, 06:28 AM

For me kafkaesque is a feeling of incertitude, an awareness of the impossibility of any action while seemingly having every option.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guinivere

Oh and would you be so kind and translate your signature ? I would like to know what it says. Is is in Tschech ?

It is Bosnian. German translation: Die Lebenden wissen nichts. Lehrt mich, ihr Toten, wie man ohne Furcht oder wenigstens ohne Entsetzen sterben kann. Denn der Tod ist sinnlos, so wie das Leben.

libernaut · 06-26-2009, 05:11 AM

Kafkaesque to me means the ultimate existential absurdity of life, and the deathly irony and tragedy that it causes and leaves us hanging, alone.

Nemo Neem · 10-31-2009, 01:16 PM

It's like this:

Say for instance, you know you have to be at work at 9 am. You get there, and your boss says you're an hour and fifteen minutes late. (Meaning you have work at 7:45.) So, the next day, you arrive at 7:45, but nobody's there.

07-02-2008, 12:33 PM	#1
blazeofglory Haribol Acharya Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Kathmandu Posts: 3,719	what is Kafkaesque? Kafka is unique and Kafkaesque is something characteristic of his writings. I have gone through the Metamorphosis several times and yet I end up far from comprehending him. I tend to seek a meaning, a commonality. I seek to order, systematize or sequence things. I try to conventionalize him or chain him to a world of systems or orders or conformity. No he breaks with conventions and wherein he succeeds. And we fail. Kafka takes us away, far away from conventional realities. Our understanding of man is different from Kafka. We try to confine the study of man within parameters of our understanding, derived from religions, creeds, nationalities, geographies. Englishness, Arabness, Americanness is nothing but an idea of stupidity at the bottom of the thing. Beneath the ness man is just a vermin and nothing else. All attributes we call ethics, love, moralities, disciplines are skin-deep and go beyond the margins there remain nothing but the man-insect only. Man-the insect then stings. We love to choose hypocrisy. Kafka speaking truth is unpalatable to our taste. That is how I understand him. __________________ I am a poet and live the way a poet does A mimic and all I do is mimicry

07-23-2008, 02:29 PM	#5
Guinivere Bibliomaniac Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: In Gabriel Oak's arms. Posts: 241	Kafkaesque is a situation or feeling marked by surreal distortion and even a sense of impending danger. __________________ My lifelong love affair with books and reading continues unaffected by automation, computers, and all other forms of the twentieth-century gadgetry. People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading. Logan Pearsall Smith, 1931

07-23-2008, 02:52 PM	#6
johann cruyff Kafkaesque Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Bosnia & Herzegovina Posts: 405	I don't think blazeofglory was looking for a definition of "Kafkaesque", but rather our interpretations of his works... I may be wrong though. __________________ Noću, u intimnom, poluglasnom razgovoru sa samim sobom, nikako ne mogu zapravo logički opravdati zašto se u posljednje vrijeme toliko uzrujavam zbog ljudske gluposti. Miroslav Krleža

07-23-2008, 02:57 PM	#7
Guinivere Bibliomaniac Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: In Gabriel Oak's arms. Posts: 241	If you are right he we should go for different works not a general interpretation. It is just al too much to get it into one sentence much less a definition. If you know what I mean. Oh and would you be so kind and translate your signature ? I would like to know what it says. Is is in Tschech ? __________________ My lifelong love affair with books and reading continues unaffected by automation, computers, and all other forms of the twentieth-century gadgetry. People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading. Logan Pearsall Smith, 1931

10-31-2009, 01:16 PM	#11
Nemo Neem Modernist Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: New Jersey Posts: 69	It's like this: Say for instance, you know you have to be at work at 9 am. You get there, and your boss says you're an hour and fifteen minutes late. (Meaning you have work at 7:45.) So, the next day, you arrive at 7:45, but nobody's there. __________________ Favorite authors: Poe, Kafka, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman, Kosinski, Faulkner, Crane, Fitzgerald, Cervantes, Joyce, Dickens

07-02-2008, 02:54 PM	#2
kelby_lake Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 1,586	kafkaesque is surreal bizarre entrapment- fighting an unknown enemy

07-02-2008, 10:56 PM	#3
Trystan Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: South Wales, UK Posts: 151	That's an interesting take on it. But the thing I like about Kafka is the way that he can be interpreted in so many different ways. Yet his stories/novels have something that I can never quite put my finger on.

07-23-2008, 05:41 PM	#8
lolie lolie Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: paris Posts: 10	kafkaesque is to me something absurd, with a lack of significance, opposite of the reason and the logic.. All the heroes or should i say anti-heroes of Kafka are involved in absurds situations, situations with no exit, situations they are not able to explain to themselves... Absurdity as a metaphor, an existential parabol... Some other authors are kafakesque too , such as Ionesco or Camus or Beckett, Robbe-Grillet and even Sartre...

06-26-2009, 05:11 AM	#10
libernaut notes Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: California Posts: 89 Blog Entries: 7	Kafkaesque to me means the ultimate existential absurdity of life, and the deathly irony and tragedy that it causes and leaves us hanging, alone.

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