Favorite Kafka short story?

The Hunter Gracchus

COUNTRY DOCTOR

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

Love isn’t infinite

give it up

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

depression

Life itself.

>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 user, I really don't know, maybe if someone wrote some kind of Bible to explain it to us

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.

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

a man's transformation into an insect

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

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.

>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.

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.

he's a woodlouse, so not an insect.

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.

I remember liking the penal colony

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

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?
From Nabokov(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.

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

Well, no one else stated the obvious.

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

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

The one about Poseidon.

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

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

This explains why he was so unfazed by his transformation

Fuck

For me, it's First Sorrow.

The horror of work

fuck me don't remind me of that

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

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

heh...

home.nwciowa.edu/firth/kafka.htm

can't beat the muirs kid

user fuck you im trying to sleep

Investigations of a Dog is his masterpiece imo

whats it called

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

Found it
1/4

2/4

...

4/4

I love me some Kafka, this was great

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

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

In his society man is a bug

A country doctor.

All great. Good taste, anons.

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

The chinese wall is underrated.

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.

...and let what???

>The Judgment
Great choice

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.

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

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.

and manga?

I'd only read The Trial and The Metamorphosis.

cool money caggot

same

One of the ones that hasnt been translated

Old Europe seducing Young America

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

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

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

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