Sunday, October 9, 2011

Franz Kafka - Metamorphosis & Other Stories

What an excellent Queneau discussion!  Thanks for coming.  I heard a couple folks mention they'd like to post their own Exercises in Style--this would be a great spot for 'em if you wish to post a reply, can't wait to have a read!

Next month (November): Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and Other Stories.  I'm using the translation linked below, ISBN 9780143105244, but I'd love to hear reactions from folks who've read alternate translations, such as the new Oxford version, for example.  I'd love to write a few paragraphs about how Kafka has changed my life, etc, but alas! I don't have time!  Maybe I'll jot something down in this spot if I get the chance in the next couple weeks.  But please check out this Litquake event on Kafka on October 14th:
http://www.litquake.org/calendar-of-events/event/kafkaesque-sf-in-sf

Another supplement for consideration, Wolfgang Voigt's "Kafkatrax" 12"s (2011) for readers interested in experimental techno--all sounds except the drums were taken from a Kafka audiobook and bear a strong sense of paranoia and astrangement found in Kafka's writing.  I totally dig this!!
http://www.discogs.com/label/Kafkatrax


For all his fame, Franz Kafka published only a small number of stories in his lifetime. This new translation of those stories, by Michael Hofmann, one of the most respected German-to-English translators at work today, makes Kafka's best-known works available to a new generation of readers. Metamorphosis gives full expression to the breadth of Kafka's literary vision and the extraordinary depth of his imagination.
--from http://www.booksinc.net/book/9780143105244

2 comments:

  1. I would love to join the discussion this Sunday. I look forward to reading Metamorphosis again, this time in a different translation by Hofmann. I'm also curious about how books are chosen for the club, and hope to find out how that works.

    Vincent

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vincent,
    We'd love to have you at the discussion--hope you can make it! I've only read the Hoffmann translation--it'll be nice to hear some broader perspectives.

    All are welcome to suggest future books at each meeting; the only restriction being that the title is somewhere in the 20th century modernism/post-modernism ballpark (more or less), to stick to the club concept (more or less)! If we don't have any pending suggestions, either Fyza or myself picks a title we've previously read or one we'd like to read and runs with that.

    Thanks for your interest!

    ReplyDelete