How do I analyze literature?

[FoghornBellows]

I am about to begin reading The Complete Stories of Kafka. I am of average intelligence. However, I do not know how to understand, analyze, and critique canonical literature. The last English class I took was in 11th grade. I was wondering how I go about reading such dense material and extracting meaning from it and understand the major themes, symbolism and motifs of a piece of work. I am also wondering how I uncoil some of the riddles that Kafka sets forth. Any comment would be greatly appreciated. I need something stimulating to do with my free time, and I would like to develop an ancillary passion for literature. Thanks. :yawnb:

[JBI]

Just read some critical literature, and eventually you will pick up the trick - or just keep reading more. Probably the best way would be to start incorporating critical viewpoints into your reading - there is much available on Kafka for instance, that you could probably dig up in a library.

[FoghornBellows]

Thanks man, I'll start checking out the critiques right after I complete "The Metamorphosis." However, I'm at a loss when it comes to finding things. I have a sumptuous library not even a mile from my house, and, most obviously, I have internet access. Do you know ways to access valid, cogent critiques? It'd be of great helps. Thanks!
- Matt

[LitNetIsGreat]

Thanks man, I'll start checking out the critiques right after I complete "The Metamorphosis." However, I'm at a loss when it comes to finding things. I have a sumptuous library not even a mile from my house, and, most obviously, I have internet access. Do you know ways to access valid, cogent critiques? It'd be of great helps. Thanks!
- Matt

Unless you have an university access getting good scholarly criticism can be a bit of a minefield - sometimes even if you have it! You could try Google Scholar which is probably your best option online, but even so I usually stick to books myself, getting good criticism there for me is often less frustrating to be honest.

Overall though, I wouldn't discount getting to grips with the novel on a basic level first before digging deeper, especially if you are not overly used to this sort of thing.

Out of interest could I just ask why you have started with Kafka?

[FoghornBellows]

My mom, an eccentric, coffee-and-cigarette English professor, suggested it. She introduced me to "The Stranger" by Albert Camus which I adored due to its bleak naturalism. I thought it was gorgeously-wrought. So I figured it was a pertinent suggestion; she knows me well.

[LitNetIsGreat]

My mom, an eccentric, coffee-and-cigarette English professor

OK, I like that. Enjoy!

[JBI]

Unless you have an university access getting good scholarly criticism can be a bit of a minefield - sometimes even if you have it! You could try Google Scholar which is probably your best option online, but even so I usually stick to books myself, getting good criticism there for me is often less frustrating to be honest.

Overall though, I wouldn't discount getting to grips with the novel on a basic level first before digging deeper, especially if you are not overly used to this sort of thing.

Out of interest could I just ask why you have started with Kafka?

Books are probably better anyway - current criticism seems to be a bit jargon heavy, so better known classics of criticism perhaps would be more friendly.

[sixsmith]

Overall though, I wouldn't discount getting to grips with the novel on a basic level first before digging deeper, especially if you are not overly used to this sort of thing.



I tend to agree. I think many of Kafka's concerns will be evident upon reading. Of course, critical scholarship will give you a deeper understanding of his work but there's a certain thrill to being led unaided through the canals of Kafka's mind, at least the first time around.

[dfloyd]

If you are not a literature professor, why make the effort? Just do widespread reading. Literature is to be enjoyed; you don't read one book so that you might enjoy another. And literary criticism is a relatively new thing. It is writing by critics and college professors which justifies their job. If there were widespead literary criticism in mid-nineteenth century universities, there would have been horrible things said about Dickens and George Eliot.

I have read The Trial and Metamorphoses, or is it Metamorphosis. I can never remember. I enjoyed The Trial, and I really liked the Orson Welles' movie. I would suggest you read The Trial and watch the movie. No amount of reading criticism could make me like the other. If a book is so abstruse that you have to read another book about it .... then you'll join the long line of those pretending to enjoy Ulysses.

[mayneverhave]

If you are not a literature professor, why make the effort? Just do widespread reading. Literature is to be enjoyed; you don't read one book so that you might enjoy another. And literary criticism is a relatively new thing. It is writing by critics and college professors which justifies their job. If there were widespead literary criticism in mid-nineteenth century universities, there would have been horrible things said about Dickens and George Eliot.

What about the outlandish notion that a reader can derive even more enjoyment from [insert play name/novel name/poem name here] by reading extraneous criticism? I don't treat reading like a crack addiction; hiding my books under mattresses and behind toilet seats. I enjoy hearing what others think, especially when those others may be more knowledgeable than I.

[JBI]

If you are not a literature professor, why make the effort? Just do widespread reading. Literature is to be enjoyed; you don't read one book so that you might enjoy another. And literary criticism is a relatively new thing. It is writing by critics and college professors which justifies their job. If there were widespead literary criticism in mid-nineteenth century universities, there would have been horrible things said about Dickens and George Eliot.

I have read The Trial and Metamorphoses, or is it Metamorphosis. I can never remember. I enjoyed The Trial, and I really liked the Orson Welles' movie. I would suggest you read The Trial and watch the movie. No amount of reading criticism could make me like the other. If a book is so abstruse that you have to read another book about it .... then you'll join the long line of those pretending to enjoy Ulysses.

You would note that literary criticism has been a dominant genre of writing for thousands of years. Criticism has been part of many traditions as well, as is not just limited to the West.

Poetics, for instance, has been beaten into the English tradition as thoroughly as Shakespeare - Sidney cannot be read, nor late 16th century English literature, without Sidney's Defense of Poetry. Gascoigne's theoretical work was no small feat either.

When you think about it, the commentary has pretty much gone hand in hand with the poetry. Spenser's commentary attached to the Shepherd's Calendar for instance, is as much a part of the poem as the Eclogues themselves.

Hell, are you aware that George Eliot herself wrote essays attacking and criticizing authors of her time? She wrote non-fiction too, sorry to say, and criticism was a well established genre even in that time.

Lets be honest, it is hardly a new thing, and hardly an inaccessible thing - it's just, that in the last 50 or so years there has been a speeding up of literary thought, and it has created a lot of technical vocabulary to replace and represent thought which changes constantly.

[Modest Proposal]

For some entertaining and brilliantly opinionated criticism read 'Studies in Classic American Literature'. I don't know that it will help with Kafka particularly, but it will certainly give you a taste for what criticism can do.

For Kafka I would recommend reading the Norton Critical Edition and browsing the essays in the latter half of the book. They tend to be modern, but geared toward students. Also they give some very interesting cultural contexts such as letters to/by the author as well as contemporary criticism.

[kiki1982]

I started (way back) with asking the biographical question... Out of myself I thought that an author's characters and what happened could be influenced by what he saw and experienced. That's the easiest thing to do. Just look the author up on the internet and some themes will become clear instantly. Don't read a 300 page biography, just a small one, say length wikipedia. This is only one approach, and a very old one...

I never heard of (professional academic) criticism until I came on this forum. I never had it in university. Maybe in Belgium they are not so hot on literary theory...

Anyway, just think it over after you have read it. What are the general points? Are there any things you recognise from other books? Is this realistic or not (Kafka will be a 'no')? Then, why is it not realistic?

And so you advance... If you need explanation, you cannot go wrong with the internet. Tons on there...

[blazeofglory]

I am about to begin reading The Complete Stories of Kafka. I am of average intelligence. However, I do not know how to understand, analyze, and critique canonical literature. The last English class I took was in 11th grade. I was wondering how I go about reading such dense material and extracting meaning from it and understand the major themes, symbolism and motifs of a piece of work. I am also wondering how I uncoil some of the riddles that Kafka sets forth. Any comment would be greatly appreciated. I need something stimulating to do with my free time, and I would like to develop an ancillary passion for literature. Thanks. :yawnb:

Read Kafka and seeking meaning in his works and using literary theories to analyse them is a futile attemopt and I too read reviews and comments on Kafka but all turned useless. And I read Kafka many times and make my own opinons and analysis about his works.

[mal4mac]

Try "Kafka: A Very Short Introduction" by Ritchie Robinson. It's part of an excellent series from Oxford University Press that gives very good introductions to many authors. It gives directions to further critical reading if you really want it! Also try Harold Bloom's "The Western Canon" (sorry folks I had to mention him again :) .) Bloom has a chapter on Kafka and does a good job of situating Kafka within the canon. But why not ask your mum?

"Freud, slyly following Shakespeare, gave us our map of the mind; Kafka intimated to use that we could not hope to use it to save ourselves, even from ourselves.... he has no hope, not for himself or for us... The dreadful is going to happen...[but] the spiritual centre in Kafka is indestructibility... and patience" - Harold Bloom

[LitNetIsGreat]

What about the outlandish notion that a reader can derive even more enjoyment from [insert play name/novel name/poem name here] by reading extraneous criticism? I don't treat reading like a crack addiction; hiding my books under mattresses and behind toilet seats. I enjoy hearing what others think, especially when those others may be more knowledgeable than I.

Yes you and JBI beat me to it.

[kasie]

m4m has just beaten me to it - what's wrong with discussing the book with your mum? She may be longing to hear your take on a book she has recommended and would probably be only too happy to give you a pointer or two to help you find your way into the text, and maybe a critical title or two that will lead you gently into the maze that is Lit Crit.

Above all, read and enjoy - it's for pleasure not for scourging yourself.

[FoghornBellows]

Thanks for all the helpful advice! I can see that this a forum worth sticking to.

[kelby_lake]

I am about to begin reading The Complete Stories of Kafka. I am of average intelligence. However, I do not know how to understand, analyze, and critique canonical literature. The last English class I took was in 11th grade. I was wondering how I go about reading such dense material and extracting meaning from it and understand the major themes, symbolism and motifs of a piece of work. I am also wondering how I uncoil some of the riddles that Kafka sets forth. Any comment would be greatly appreciated. I need something stimulating to do with my free time, and I would like to develop an ancillary passion for literature. Thanks. :yawnb:

Read the book. Make notes on when certain images, emotions, or situations keep coming up and ask yourself whether they are relevant- and if they are, what do they mean? Think about what a bug represents, what emotions and images you get from certain symbols.

You need to look beyond what the story appears to be about to work out what it actually is about.

[mal4mac]

Thanks for all the helpful advice! I can see that this a forum worth sticking to.

Great ... tell us what your mum says about our recommendations. For instance, Harold Bloom? Or just read him in front of her :) (He brings out strong reactions, both ways...)

[prendrelemick]

Remember ,what ever you read of Kafka's, or about Kafka and his themes and concerns and use of symbols, your opinion is just as relevent and important as anyone else's.

[blazeofglory]

Reading Kafka necessitates a great deal of patience in fact. When I read him first many things were out of comprehension and yet I continued with the book and now I am proud to say I enjoy the book. And the best thing about understanding something is to read it repeatedly, patiently and persistently and everything at the end of the day will be clear to you

[glover7]

"Freud, slyly following Shakespeare, gave us our map of the mind; Kafka intimated to use that we could not hope to use it to save ourselves, even from ourselves.... he has no hope, not for himself or for us... The dreadful is going to happen...[but] the spiritual centre in Kafka is indestructibility... and patience" - Harold Bloom

That sounds inane.

[blazeofglory]

In point of fact confining a writer within critical frameworks is injustice. To be a successful novelist one has to dedicate his entire life to writing, for example reading the Brothers Karamazov I feel that writing a novel of this size and quality demands of a writer a great deal of dedication and sacrifice in life.

Of course literary theories will help understand a novel to some extent and when it comes to poetry it really helps, but the best judge can always be the reader, for the success of a novel always rests on the reader's liking.

[Modest Proposal]

Keep in mind that Kafka, more than most, seems ripe for analysis but tends to resist classification due to its complication. I think it was Naomi Schor who said Kafka's work, "invites rape but denies penetration."

[Drkshadow03]

I don't treat reading like a crack addiction; hiding my books under mattresses and behind toilet seats.

Your comment made me think of this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR4O-GOkjUI&NR=1) and this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rjk31KzyGk&feature=related).

[Ashoka]

Another thing to lok at is the actions of the story. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in looking for allegorical and metaphoical insight that I forget about the actions of the story. Why does the Author include a particular action or phrase- it is a good rule of thumb to assume things are put there for a reason, why would a writer keep something in their final work if it wasn't valuable or didn't contribute?

The first time I read Metamorphosis, I did not find very much meaning in it. The second time around, I was thinking about the actions of te story, and why seemingly extraneous things were included. I remember having the realization that Gregor's self-sacrificial actions had religious undertones. I was reminded of Christ and all that. I was fairly proud of this insight because it was the fruit of my budding literary analysis skill (which are still regrettably impotent), so I don't really remember much else from that story. No ground breaking revelations or anything,