I have to say that I enjoyed The Trial and his short stories more, but that this is perhaps his most disturbing and complete novel. In The Castle Kafka transports the reader to a world of bizarre and surreal extremes, but one that reflects our society and human nature in a rather frightening way. The Castle is a book full of alienation, isolation, difficulty, hopelessness and infuriating bureaucratic measures that to me were quietly terrifying. I think that the book is a fairly difficult read in that it deals with weighty topics often of a very philosophical and metaphysical nature and describes them in complex and long conversations. I was reminded a little of early greek philosophy where writings consist of imagined conversations to describe philosophical view points. The book is not finished like the other two novels that Kafka wrote, this somehow suits The Castle, making it feel like the travails of the protagonist stretch on forever into infinity. Definitely worth a read for a different way of looking at the world and how to write a novel. No one else creates such labyrinth worlds (except perhaps Borges who often spoke of his love of Kafka) and the parallels between this and modern society are a little chilling (if you have ever tried speaking to any organisation over the phone then you will know what I am talking about). DIRGE.
No comments:
Post a Comment