5 ms·

Okay, I'll bite. Except for the farmer story, I didn't understand any of the other stories.

pasquinelli 6y ago
What do you expect to understand exactly? In the first one he progressively sucks the drama out of a myth by taking the concept of eternity seriously. The second one is about being in possession of something that you can't have. The third one is a joke about a man talking to a dog about his family problems. The last one is about two approaches to take when there's nothing you can do, not that it makes a difference. Do i understand these stories? I don't know. They're interesting. I just read them tonight though. Maybe in a year i will have forgotten them, or maybe i'll bump into them in my thoughts every so often, be reminded of them, draw parallels between them and other things. Each story has one thing following another in a logical progression that i'm sure you can discern, so what more understanding are you asking for? I could tell you all about the movie Toy Story, but do i understand it? I don't know. It's interesting, and i bump into it every so often in my thoughts and all that. If i understood it, i guess i wouldn't ever need to think of it again. Which reminds me of Twin Peaks, which i definitely don't understand.
- natosaichek 6y ago
  I think the last is actually about a prisoner and his interrogator / torturer.
archi42 6y ago
The introductory sentences of Prometheus - "A legend is [...] to end in the inexplicable." - actually belong to the story's end[1]. Maybe that makes it a little more clear? But TBH, I don't find the original easy to understand. I mean, I /understand/ the words and everything, but I couldn't say for sure if I really understood what Kafka wanted to say, hence it's probably pointless trying to explain it (maybe as pointless as an eternal punishment by gods long forgotten) ;-) [1] German original: https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Prometheus_(Kafka) https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Prometheus_(Kafka)

What do you expect to understand exactly? In the first one he progressively sucks the drama out of a myth by taking the concept of eternity seriously. The second one is about being in possession of something that you can't have. The third one is a joke about a man talking to a dog about his family problems. The last one is about two approaches to take when there's nothing you can do, not that it makes a difference. Do i understand these stories? I don't know. They're interesting. I just read them tonight though. Maybe in a year i will have forgotten them, or maybe i'll bump into them in my thoughts every so often, be reminded of them, draw parallels between them and other things. Each story has one thing following another in a logical progression that i'm sure you can discern, so what more understanding are you asking for? I could tell you all about the movie Toy Story, but do i understand it? I don't know. It's interesting, and i bump into it every so often in my thoughts and all that. If i understood it, i guess i wouldn't ever need to think of it again. Which reminds me of Twin Peaks, which i definitely don't understand.

natosaichek 6y ago
I think the last is actually about a prisoner and his interrogator / torturer.

archi42 6y ago

The introductory sentences of Prometheus - "A legend is [...] to end in the inexplicable." - actually belong to the story's end[1]. Maybe that makes it a little more clear? But TBH, I don't find the original easy to understand. I mean, I /understand/ the words and everything, but I couldn't say for sure if I really understood what Kafka wanted to say, hence it's probably pointless trying to explain it (maybe as pointless as an eternal punishment by gods long forgotten) ;-) [1] German original: https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Prometheus_(Kafka) https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Prometheus_(Kafka)