"We are as forlorn as children lost in the wood. When you stand in front of me an look at me, what do you know of the grief's that are in me and what do I know of yours. And if I were to cast myself down before you and tell you, what more would you know about me that you know about Hell when someone tells you it is hot and dreadful? For that reason alone we human beings ought to stand before one another as reverently, as reflectively, as lovingly, as we would before the entrance to Hell."
A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us.
You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
May I kiss you then? On this miserable paper? I might as well open the window and kiss the night air.
Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.
You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.
And if Kafka is mind territory you have merely dipped your toes into, R.Crumb has an illustrated guide to Kafka that could well become the pride of your collection.
And I adore Kafka, the movie. Surreal, political and lovely in the grimmest way.
2 comments:
I didn't know anyone else remembered the KAFKA movie. Made by Steven Soderbergh, more famous for OCEAN'S 11/12/13.
I adore that movie. I've seen it a dozen times and catch something new with each viewing.
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