OK, so here's how it's going to go down. I'm going to post an initial comment to this post on Kafka's Metamorphosis, our first book club book. Read it online or download it, also free, here.
So if you want to read the book club thread, click on the title of this post, and let the magical exchange of ideas carry you away!
3 comments:
Man, what to say? The guy could flat out write. I feel like I need to go look up the physiology of roaches, or I guess the diseases that affect them, to figure out all the references to the powdery white spots that he kept getting.
One thing that struck me, reading it again, was how much martyr complex type stuff was going on. It starts out with Gregor slaving away in this job that he hates and messing up his health (he thinks, anyway), just to keep ahead of this debt that his family somehow owes to his employers. And then he gets the miracle of the internal discontent that he’s been feeling about the situation being made manifest for him, in a way that no one could possibly miss…maybe this is too much of “story as Rorschach test”, but I think we’ve all been in a situation where we feel like we can’t really voice something that’s bugging us, something we think is unfair or burdensome in some way (but we’d feel like selfish whiners if we complained about it, somehow), and part of us wishes that something big and dramatic would happen that would sort of force those feelings out without us having to say them ourselves, yes? Or no?
The story’s last paragraph underscores it, to me, as the family kind of emerges from this communal sickness that they’ve been under, once Gregor’s dead. He was apparently the dysfunctional glue that held the family’s communal unhappiness together, and now that he’s gone, they can stop and take stock of where they are and where they want to go. It’s really a weird conclusion to get to about the protagonist of the story, when you think about it, as far as writing a story goes…but it worked, I thought.
So, here’s an assignment for somebody: look a little deeper into the stuff that Gregor feels about Grete, specifically…I definitely felt like Kafka was upping the creepy ante there.
So, now it’s everyone else’s turn! Go ahead, hurry over to the link and read the book, it’s short, and I’ll wait. ; )
Yeah, the martyr/savior thing was very interesting, as well as how much dysfunction it caused w/in his family. Although they all acted as though they couldn't do anything to help their situation while he was well and taking care of them, once they were forced to take over they became much happier, prouder people. I had the feeling there was some sort of political metaphor going on here, about the socialist state taking care of you, yet draining you, or some such thing, but because I don't know his leanings or the climate he was writing in.... As far as the Grete creepiness, maybe you've just been reading toooo much John Irving? I'm gonna go back and check that one out, more later.
See if you can Metamophosisize your brain to be able to read the follwing passage in ultra modern geek leet speek (HINT: try crawling into your cupboard and chewing your way into that big bag of refined sugar, eat all you can stomach, give it 10 minutes to warm up your mechanizms, then you should be all set):
']['|-|&|2& |-|& |2&.\\/\!/V&[) ']['|-|& &/V']['!|2& /V!6|-|'][', w|-|!{|-| |-|& $|o&/V'][' |o/\|2']['ly !/V /\ $']['/\']['& ()|= $&.\\!-$l&&|o, ()u'][' ()|= w|-|!{|-| |-|!$ |-|u/V6&|2 {()/V$']['/\/V']['ly w()|<& |-|!.\\ w!']['|-| /\ $']['/\|2'][', [:u'][' |o/\|2']['ly !/V /\ $']['/\']['& ()|= w()|2|2y /\/V[) .\\u|2|< y |-|()|o&$, w|-|!{|-| /\ll l&[) ']['() ']['|-|& {()/V{lu$!()/V ']['|-|/\'][' |=()|2 ']['|-|& ']['!.\\& [:&!/V6 |-|& w()ul[) |-|/\v& ']['() |<&&|o {/\l.\\ /\/V[) w!']['|-| |o/\']['!&/V{& /\/V[) ']['|-|& 6|2&/\']['&$'][' {()/V$![)&|2/\']['!()/V |=()|2 |-|!$ |=/\.\\!ly ']['()l&|2/\']['& ']['|-|& ']['|2()u[:l&$ w|-|!{|-| !/V |-|!$ |o|2&$&/V'][' {()/V[)!']['!()/V |-|& w/\$ /V()w |=()|2{&[) ']['() {/\u$& ']['|-|&.\\.
(HERE IT IS, A VERY NICE SENTENCE/PARAGRAPH INDEED: There he remained the entire night, which he spent partly in a state of semi-sleep, out of which his hunger constantly woke him with a start, but partly in a state of worry and murky hopes, which all led to the conclusion that for the time being he would have to keep calm and with patience and the greatest consideration for his family tolerate the troubles which in his present condition he was now forced to cause them.)
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