Favorite Kafka short story?

[Anonymous No.10645716]

Mine's Hunger Artist.

[Anonymous No.10645729]

>>10645716
Does he have anything about lobsters

[Anonymous No.10645746]

>>10645716

In the Penal Colony

[Anonymous No.10645758]

>>10645716
I like anime

[Anonymous No.10645881]

>>10645716
Definitely A Country Doctor.

[Anonymous No.10645885]

>>10645716
I haven’t read any lol

[Anonymous No.10646635]

>>10645716
the one with the guy who want to get to justice and face the first doorman

[Anonymous No.10646645]

What do you think the Metamorphosis signifies?

[Anonymous No.10646650]

>>10645885
You aren't missing out desu

[Anonymous No.10646659]

>>10645716
GRRRR ARRRR KAFKA IS A JEW HE'S BAD RRAAAAA TGGRWETRHRSHRFH

[Anonymous No.10646665]

>>10645716
The Hunter Gracchus

[Anonymous No.10646684]

COUNTRY DOCTOR

[Anonymous No.10647028]

>>10646645
change from a common man subjugated by his family to an author

[Anonymous No.10647064]

>>10646645
Love isn’t infinite

[Anonymous No.10647070]

give it up

[Anonymous No.10647102]

http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/07/01/message-emperor-new-translation/

[Anonymous No.10647106]

>>10646645
depression

[Anonymous No.10647183]

>>10646645
Life itself.

[Anonymous No.10647190]

>>10646645
>jewish man is transformed into more despicable life form
>despite his virtuous thoughts and deeds, he is widely despised by his family and by jewish elders
>his death saves all his kin
gee anon, I really don't know, maybe if someone wrote some kind of Bible to explain it to us

[Anonymous No.10647224]

>>10646645
When a man comes down with an illness he becomes a burden to his family. To some degree, people would rather have good ol plague victim dead and buried than having to pay for meds and care. Even if they were a cornerstone of the previous life before. Because stress sucks.

[Anonymous No.10647237]

>>10645746
This is such a great short story. The visceral nature of how Kafka describes the machine's process is just perfect.

[Anonymous No.10647257]

>>10646645
a man's transformation into an insect

[Anonymous No.10647267]

>>10647190
I don't think the Metamorphosis is an analogy to Jesus, but I think Jesus was a Kafkaesque figure

[Anonymous No.10647299]

>>10646645
Samsa is and always was a spineless fool who couldn't even conceive of his family taking advantage of him. He did have a subdued spitefulness about himself though - entirely impotent and unable and unwilling... to will anything.
How fitting of him to turn into an invertebrate, an insect. He's not 'cursed' because he is 'evil', to me it seemed like a natural conclusion to his utter weakness, of course it's also a metaphor for a relative becoming a burden through aging or illness.

[Anonymous No.10647306]

>>10647299
>How fitting of him to turn into an invertebrate, an insect.
I heard "insect" is a translation error and "vermin" or something would be closer.

[Anonymous No.10647318]

>>10647299
Adding: It's almost like the universe grasped him and shook him and shouted: 'THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE. These are the people you sacrifice yourself for! This is how pathetic you are!' and he still die not listen, did not understand. Samsa was incapable of changing his ways. The transformation merely matched his appearance to his psyche.

[Anonymous No.10647334]

>>10647306
he's a woodlouse, so not an insect.

[Anonymous No.10647339]

>>10647306
I'm German. I don't remember if insect is ever actually used. For my point it doesn't really matter, but duly noted - it does fit better.

I don't mean to only bash poor Samsa, I really liked the story and I could relate to him to varying degrees, I also saw basic human flaws and needs in him and his environment. It's a great story.

[Anonymous No.10647346]

>>10645716
I remember liking the penal colony

[Anonymous No.10647356]

>>10647339
the words in question are from the first sentence, "ungeheueres Ungeziefer." I hope you'll agree there's no English equivalent that expresses the idea of an unwanted being without imposing a certain idea of what that being would be

[Anonymous No.10647396]

>>10647356
Monstrous vermin comes close and doesn't put a clear picture in my mind. Why did you say that? Why do you hope I'll agree?
>>10647334
From Nabokov(http://www.kafka.org/index.php?id=191,209,0,0,1,0)
>This brown, convex, dog-sized beetle is very broad. I should imagine him to look like this: In the original German text the old charwoman calls him Mistkäfer, a "dung beetle." It is obvious that the good woman is adding the epithet only to be friendly. He is not, technically, a dung beetle. He is merely a big beetle. (I must add that neither Gregor nor Kafka saw that beetle any too clearly.)

I agree, although I don't see why it couldn't be a dung beetle. Ultimately it doesn't really matter.

[Anonymous No.10647417]

>>10647299
I hadn't thought of that glaring aspect. Thank you.

[Anonymous No.10647435]

>>10647417
Well, no one else stated the obvious.

[Anonymous No.10647445]

>>10647396
vermin refers especially to rats, mice and other small pests that eat grain. I hoped you'd agree because, unlike most of the people in the thread, you know both german and english

[Anonymous No.10647463]

>>10647445
Ungeziefer can include rats as well. Any unwanted small pests. Just like vermin. I get the feeling I'm missing the point.

[Anonymous No.10647473]

The one about Poseidon.

[Anonymous No.10647504]

>>10647463
Ungeziefer can, but does not necessarily, include rats. There's no word in English (that I know) that is as non-specific as Ungeziefer, which makes it untranslatable. Kafka didn't mean to say anything in the first sentence of the story about what kind of creature Gregor has been transformed into because it's irrelevant to the rest of the story. If he had been writing in English and he had put vermin or pest or insect or bug, it would have called to mind a certain type or class of creature that "Ungeziefer" doesn't, and that calling to mind distracts from the point of the sentence

[Anonymous No.10648799]

>>10647504
Where did you get that from? The difference between vermin and Ungeziefer is incredibly minor. I'd say negligible.

[Anonymous No.10648821]

>>10647318
This explains why he was so unfazed by his transformation

[Anonymous No.10648849]

>>10648821
>>10647318
>>10647299
Fuck

[Anonymous No.10648946]

For me, it's First Sorrow.

[Anonymous No.10648953]

>>10646645
The horror of work

[Anonymous No.10648978]

>>10648946
fuck me don't remind me of that

[Anonymous No.10649390]

did anyone else ever read that one in his diaries about the weird old guy luring the brother and sister inside some abandoned building and then he drags the brother away by his legs

[Anonymous No.10649393]

>>10645716
he must be really fucking afraid to be perspiring all those lines

[Anonymous No.10649400]

>>10647102
heh...

http://home.nwciowa.edu/firth/kafka.htm

can't beat the muirs kid

[Anonymous No.10649404]

>>10649390
anon fuck you im trying to sleep

[Anonymous No.10649422]

Investigations of a Dog is his masterpiece imo

[Anonymous No.10649429]

>>10649390
whats it called

[Anonymous No.10649436]

>>10649429
I don't think it's titled. It's just something written in his notebooks. There's a lot of interesting, haunting stuff in his diaries. I'll try and find it and post a pic

[Anonymous No.10649554]

>>10649429
Found it
1/4

[Anonymous No.10649556]

>>10649554
2/4

[Anonymous No.10649561]

>>10649556

[Anonymous No.10649562]

>>10649561
4/4

[Anonymous No.10649612]

>>10649554
>>10649556
>>10649561
>>10649562
I love me some Kafka, this was great

[Anonymous No.10649637]

>>10649612
Yeah, there are a lot of intriguing short fragments in his diaries. Mesmerising.

[Anonymous No.10649648]

Another version of Don Quijote, or the Silence of the Sirens

[Anonymous No.10649657]

>>10646645
In his society man is a bug

[Anonymous No.10649950]

>>10645716

A country doctor.

[Anonymous No.10649979]

>>10645716
>>10645746
>>10645881

All great. Good taste, anons.

[Anonymous No.10649996]

The Judgment, The Hunger Artist and, to name a less known one, Unglücklichsein (don't know the English title).

[Anonymous No.10650129]

>>10645716
The chinese wall is underrated.

[Anonymous No.10650150]

>>10647473
This, The Bucket Rider, and The Vulture. Poseidon especially really ought to get more mentions and praise. Among his shorter pieces and yet conveys one of his favorite themes as well as anything else he wrote.

[Anonymous No.10650166]

>>10649562
...and let what???

[Anonymous No.10650255]

>>10649996
>The Judgment
Great choice

[Anonymous No.10650440]

Anybody read Description of a Struggle? I have the Kafka short stories collection and it's the first one in it. I found it confusing as fuck. Other than that I've read Wedding Preparations in the Country and Metamorphosis which were both nice.

[Anonymous No.10651544]

Hmm, probably The Burrow. There are still a few I haven't read though.

>>10650129
Agreed. I have a very soft spot for The Great Wall of China, re-read it last night. I love his phrase about how the capital might as well be a travelling cloud to the people of the empire.

[Anonymous No.10651936]

>>10645758
and manga?

[saucy No.10651940]

I'd only read The Trial and The Metamorphosis.

[Anonymous No.10651957]

>>10651940
cool money caggot

[Anonymous No.10652282]

>>10651940
same

[Anonymous No.10652289]

One of the ones that hasnt been translated

[Anonymous No.10652588]

>>10646645
Old Europe seducing Young America

[Anonymous No.10652858]

>>10647267
>Jesus was a Kafkaesque figure
kek, never thought of it like that

[Anonymous No.10652866]

>>10645716
A Country Doctor. Also it isn't my favorite but I like how fucked up and unfocused Description of a Struggle is.

[Anonymous No.10652922]

>>10645716
"The Cares of a Family Man" is my personal favorite, "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" it's also bretty good
>>10645746
>>10645881
these are great as well

[Anonymous No.10653023]

>>10646645

whatever it is you think is an internal problem at the time of reading