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When I started reading Kafka as a teenager I invented a term called “Kafka sensation” to signify the unique state of mind, or internal sensation, created only w
by leephillips 5y ago
When I started reading Kafka as a teenager I invented a term called “Kafka sensation” to signify the unique state of mind, or internal sensation, created only when reading Kafka.
Now my favorite works of his are his short pieces, especially “A Little Fable”:
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/cgi-bin/version_printable.pl?story_id=LittFabl.shtml http://www.eastoftheweb.com/cgi-bin/version_printable.pl?sto...
- 5tefan 5y agoIn German we got the word "kafkeask" to capture that sensation. That also says something about his impact as an author.
- leephillips 5y agoThat may be equivalent to “Kafkaesque” in English. But it’s not the same thing, quite. Among English speakers, the term is used almost exclusively by people who have never read Kafka, and refers vaguely to some situation of bureaucratic morass. EDIT: My “Kafka sensation” is an eerie feeling that one is confronted with a clinically exact description of a routine reality that, although it surrounds us always, is never spoken of, because it is too terrifying to confront.
- 5tefan 5y agoYour edit is close to what it means in German. I would expand with strange and absurd and kind of intangible yet clearly present. Well... it is difficult with words. Different meanings for different readers.
- thorin 5y agoI always thought Kafka was the worst possible name for a simple reliable event streaming/ queuing system. I wish I'd listened to my instincts, but it's probably just our implementation.
- leephillips 5y agoI general I wish people would think about search engines when naming new things.