Name: The Essential Kafka
ISBN: 9781840227260

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka has given his name to a world of nightmare, but in Kafka's world, it is never completely clear just what the nightmare is. Kafka deals in dark and quirkily humorous terms with the insoluble dilemmas of a world which offers no reassurance, and no reliable guidance to resolving our existential and emotional uncertainties and anxieties.

The Essential Kafka

Diana Platgalve

Kafka's 20th century world comes from a threatening existential experience. The experience (closely described in the "Letter to my Father") disturbs his being in the world in a meaningful way. All of his works: "The Trial", "The Castle", "Metamorphosis", and other stories comes in a form of distorted reality due to ones inner suffering, alienation, corruption, and abuse of power. Often Kafka touches upon ones inability to form meaningful relationships, which was one of the most disrupting parts of his existence. 
His self-reflection in writing describes his inability to overcome his own darkness that continuously surrounds him. His romanticization of death can be seen in most of his writing, and is his way of ending the absurd. He often reflects on over-sensitivity as a flaw and anxiety as an inner confusion mechanism. At the same time, he reflects on overworked society losing itself in meaningless jobs, slaving their life away. In "The Judgement" he admits that we must think of a new way of life. 
All of the writing ties together once you reach "Letter to my Father" which I'd call the best bonus of reading all his works in a single copy. His struggle for existence created one of the most insightful writings on inner-suffering. "Letter to my Father" was one of the most vulnerable pieces I have ever read.

The Essential Kafka

Reviews

Highlights