Kafkaesque

Freakscene said:
The term Kafkaesque evokes an individual’s sense of finding himself victimised by large impersonal forces, feeling after a while that he can’t but take it personally – and feeling haunted, too, by the sense that maybe, after all, he deserves it. I am getting that feeling now from having started this thread. I must admit to having hoped for more nw than w.

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Ки́жи, Russian federation, 2005.
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Wonderful shot.

I think you're spot-on about Kafka. His work, for me, contains a lot of the existential neuroticism I get from Kierkegaard, except rather than being directed toward God, as in Kierkegaard's case, it's directed towards the secular State - perhaps, in a way, giving the State the same omnipotent authority over Kafka's soul as Kierkegaard gave to God.
 
agentlossing said:
Wonderful shot.

I think you're spot-on about Kafka. His work, for me, contains a lot of the existential neuroticism I get from Kierkegaard, except rather than being directed toward God, as in Kierkegaard's case, it's directed towards the secular State - perhaps, in a way, giving the State the same omnipotent authority over Kafka's soul as Kierkegaard gave to God.
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Agreed. But whereas Kafka had a wickedly subtle and dark sense of humor that he directed toward the State, Kierkegaard was afraid to laugh at God. What a wuss!
 
Retro-Grouch said:
Agreed. But whereas Kafka had a wickedly subtle and dark sense of humor that he directed toward the State, Kierkegaard was afraid to laugh at God. What a wuss!
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And let's also remember that within 20 years of his death, Kafka's three sisters were murdered by a State towards which they innately felt more naturally drawn than the first Czechoslovak Republic in which they found themselves living, which in many ways seemed unfamiliar to them. [edit] And Kafka had described and predicted industrialised killing in “In the Penal Settlement”[]. So Kafka was right, and almost prescient. To my knowledge none of Kierkegaard's family was struck down by God, unless you count all deaths, which are inevitable, as 'acts of God', in which case Kierkegaard was still largely wrong because everyone dying is very even-handed, as opposed to the 'single individual' thinking that dominates a lot of Kierkegaard's work.

But I digress. Here is a photo. 'I am here, more than that I do not know, further than that I cannot go. My ship has no rudder, and it is driven by the wind that blows in the undermost region of death.' Kafka 'The Hunter Gracchus'.

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Freakscene said:
And let's also remember that within 20 years of his death, Kafka's three sisters were murdered by a State towards which they innately felt more naturally drawn than the first Czechoslovak Republic in which they found themselves living and which in many ways seemed unfamiliar to them. So Kafka was right, almost prescient. To my knowledge none of Kierkegaard's family was struck down by God, unless you count all deaths, which are inevitable, as 'acts of God', in which case Kierkegaard was still largely wrong because everyone dying is very even-handed, as opposed to the 'single individual' thinking that dominates a lot of Kierkegaard's work.
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Wise words to live by! I think Kierkegaard resonates so much with me because we live in such an individualistic society in the United States, and are also comparatively heavily religious (after a fashion). So his thinking feels very applicable to my circle, for better and worse.
 
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