Kafkaesque The only way to really understand the true meaning of this term is to live in Prague for an extended period of time. From the labyrinthine bureaucracy that continues to affect every aspect of life in this former Austro-Hungarian town to the overwhelming sense of displacement that seems to hover over the city like a dim fog, it’s not difficult to understand how Prague really is Franz Kafka’s home town. While he belonged to no literary or artistic movements, the mysterious insurance salesman inspired the existentialists, the surrealists, and the absurdists with his bizarre tales of bureaucratic nightmares and metamorphoses. Although he never finished any of the novels he started, his literary legacy continues to inspire visitors and residents of Prague to this day. The best selection of Kafka books in English translation can be found at Anagram Books (www.anagram.cz), conveniently located behind Tyn Church in the Ungelt. You can also find them at Big Ben (www.bigbenbookshop.com), Shakespeare & Sons (www.shakes.cz) and the Globe (www.globebookstore.cz). No one knows what Kafka would have thought of his post-mortem fame as one of Central Europe’s most original writers – he instructed his literary executor, Max Brod, to burn all of his manuscripts. In modern day Prague, the fact that you can buy t-shirts with Kafka’s face emblazoned on them in tourist shops is perhaps the most Kafkaesque feature of all.
|
