Just finished Amerika for the first time. Kafka is my favorite author. It's Kafka's most unique novel. It still has the "Kafkaesque" nature of all his work but it is significantly more "realistic" and leans into humor more than any of his other novels. It still has that dreamlike quality of all his work but it definitely seems to be mo concerned with having some sense of realism inside this alternate America
Kafka was stuck in the back rooms. Wish he was still around it’d be amazing to pick his brain and see his thoughts on technology, politics and social justice of today.
Thank you for this review! I’ve been meaning to read Amerika for years, but this inspires me to actually go buy a copy and finally read it. You make it sound very intriguing!
Dear Matthew, greetings, this is Christian, from Italy. Had the afternoon off from work, ended up spending good part of it randomly watching videos from your channel: I really, really, like them, and just wanted to let you know that they feel like being sitting in room chatting over great reads with an old friend: I want to thank you for that. I'm so happy to stumble upon a fellow hard-core Turgenev's fan and, since you happen to love russian literature so much, I hope you don't mind me recommending few extra reads you should definitely consider in 2024: if "Oblomov" by Ivan Aleksandrovič Gončarov is already sort of a "minor" classic, "Peredonov" by Fëdor Sologub and "Sanin" by Michail P. Arcybasev are two absolute hidden gems you should definitely check out. Also, inspired by your video about "Palomar" by Italo Calvino, for some reason I feel like you would most definitely love "The tartar steppe" by Dino Buzzati, one the real unsung heroes of the contemporary italian literature. I'm sure I'll come back soon to enjoy more of your content, and thanks for your really interesting reviews. All the best, keep it up. :)
Very cool. I read this one a few months ago. I liked it extremely. Every moment crepitates with tension in Kafka, even here in this comedic book. God, when he's enslaved in the apartment with the matronly whore and her lover-will he ever escape! It really is as I had been led to understand an unfinished book.
Amerika is great but personally I don't think it's the best introduction to Kafka. The Trial, The Metamorphosis, or some of the short stories would be a better place to start to get a sense of his style.
" Kafka, the story goes, encountered a little girl in the park where he went walking daily. She was crying. She had lost her doll and was desolate. Kafka offered to help her look for the doll and arranged to meet her the next day at the same spot. Unable to find the doll he composed a letter from the doll and read it to her when they met. 'Please do not mourn me, I have gone on a trip to see the world. I will write you of my adventures.' This was the beginning of many letters. When he and the little girl met he read her from these carefully composed letters the imagined adventures of the beloved doll. The little girl was comforted. When the meetings came to an end Kafka presented her with a doll. She obviously looked different from the original doll. An attached letter explained 'My travels have changed me.' Many years later, the now grown girl found a letter stuffed into an unnoticed crevice in the cherished replacement doll. In summary it said: *Every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.'"
I’ve DNFed this 2x (none recently) and am seriously considering undertaking it soon…. So I will not watch your two vids on it until or unless I do - which only may spur me on, because you always have thoughtful things to say. 😂
I was wondering from where did Kafka, who has never seen America, get the inspiration for those rich, detailed images... and I thought that he watched a lot of silent movies, but then I saw this video: ua-cam.com/video/zHHyBy8al3k/v-deo.html Also, Deleuze and Guattari's book: Kafka is a gem.
Just finished Amerika for the first time. Kafka is my favorite author. It's Kafka's most unique novel. It still has the "Kafkaesque" nature of all his work but it is significantly more "realistic" and leans into humor more than any of his other novels. It still has that dreamlike quality of all his work but it definitely seems to be mo concerned with having some sense of realism inside this alternate America
Kafka was stuck in the back rooms. Wish he was still around it’d be amazing to pick his brain and see his thoughts on technology, politics and social justice of today.
Thank you for this review! I’ve been meaning to read Amerika for years, but this inspires me to actually go buy a copy and finally read it. You make it sound very intriguing!
very good video , i also read it and i loved it , keep doing this greats videos 👍👍
Dear Matthew, greetings, this is Christian, from Italy. Had the afternoon off from work, ended up spending good part of it randomly watching videos from your channel: I really, really, like them, and just wanted to let you know that they feel like being sitting in room chatting over great reads with an old friend: I want to thank you for that.
I'm so happy to stumble upon a fellow hard-core Turgenev's fan and, since you happen to love russian literature so much, I hope you don't mind me recommending few extra reads you should definitely consider in 2024: if "Oblomov" by Ivan Aleksandrovič Gončarov is already sort of a "minor" classic, "Peredonov" by Fëdor Sologub and "Sanin" by Michail P. Arcybasev are two absolute hidden gems you should definitely check out.
Also, inspired by your video about "Palomar" by Italo Calvino, for some reason I feel like you would most definitely love "The tartar steppe" by Dino Buzzati, one the real unsung heroes of the contemporary italian literature.
I'm sure I'll come back soon to enjoy more of your content, and thanks for your really interesting reviews. All the best, keep it up. :)
Thank you for the kind words, and also for the book recommendations!
@@MayberryBookclub Matthew, my pleasure. :)
Very cool. I read this one a few months ago. I liked it extremely. Every moment crepitates with tension in Kafka, even here in this comedic book. God, when he's enslaved in the apartment with the matronly whore and her lover-will he ever escape! It really is as I had been led to understand an unfinished book.
I’ve never read Kafka would you suggest starting with Amerika or start with the other novels and short stories ?
Amerika is great but personally I don't think it's the best introduction to Kafka. The Trial, The Metamorphosis, or some of the short stories would be a better place to start to get a sense of his style.
" Kafka, the story goes, encountered a little girl in the park where he went walking daily. She was crying. She had lost her doll and was desolate.
Kafka offered to help her look for the doll and arranged to meet her the next day at the same spot.
Unable to find the doll he composed a letter from the doll and read it to her when they met.
'Please do not mourn me, I have gone on a trip to see the world. I will write you of my adventures.'
This was the beginning of many letters. When he and the little girl met he read her from these carefully composed letters the imagined adventures of the beloved doll. The little girl was comforted.
When the meetings came to an end Kafka presented her with a doll. She obviously looked different from the original doll. An attached letter explained 'My travels have changed me.'
Many years later, the now grown girl found a letter stuffed into an unnoticed crevice in the cherished replacement doll.
In summary it said:
*Every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.'"
I’ve DNFed this 2x (none recently) and am seriously considering undertaking it soon…. So I will not watch your two vids on it until or unless I do - which only may spur me on, because you always have thoughtful things to say. 😂
I was wondering from where did Kafka, who has never seen America, get the inspiration for those rich, detailed images... and I thought that he watched a lot of silent movies, but then I saw this video: ua-cam.com/video/zHHyBy8al3k/v-deo.html
Also, Deleuze and Guattari's book: Kafka is a gem.