Franz Kafka is often viewed as a genius whose bleak vision of life in modern society was prophetic. In books like "The Trial" he demonstrates the horrors of a lone individual against the power of a System.The feeling that a Bureaucracy is destroying your life is very Kafkaesque.
But I have startling new insights into the human condition which suggests that Kafka was actually a dumb dumb.
Big systems are actually very cool and nice.
Compare these two passages. The first is from Kafka's The Trial. It is an explanation to the main character who is being bullied by the courts.
"The Court wants nothing from you. It receives you when you come and it dismisses you when you go.”
The court pretends to be innocent as it takes you in to its power. How Kafkaesque.
Compare with a real statement from a major corporation:
"We apologize for your dissatisfaction in our in-store music." (See Yesterday's Post.)
See? Systems don't want to harm you. Big organizations aren't so bad. Corporations aren't so bad. In fact they feel bad if you dislike their music.
I'm sure Kafka was a nice man, but he was wrong about the scariness of life. Maybe, you should celebrate the beauty of the powers that be by going to Ye Old Irony Shope and picking up the newest product from conceptofirony.
Thank you and sorry about my poor taste in music, and most everything else.
10 comments:
Kafka was not really writing about bureaucracies but about his own upbringing and his father. Try reading Metamorphosis and not being moved by it..
Kafka was not really writing about bureaucracies but about his own upbringing and his father.
Oh, please.
Doesn't it look like Kafka has "elf ears" in that picture?
It's been years since I've read The Trial or Metamorphosis , but maybe getting picked on for the ears could have contributed to his "bleak vision of life"....
rorschach: Not the psychologist?
lisa: It is refreshing to see you lash out at something other than me. Even if that something is a Man's ears, something that one can do precious little about.
On the other hand, my misspellings are clearly the result of a genetic defect and you show no mercy there either.
J.
Lashing out? I've always thought our relationship has been quite cordial.
And, as for Kafka, I was just providing another possible cause for his bleakness - besides the whole upbringing with his father thing...and his aversion to bureaucracies, etc.
Is that you modelling your latest product?
As much as I could use a new bbq apron, yours seem a tad high. Is there a discount for multiple purchases?
rodney:
You have class and I like that. For you, I'd throw in a free classic mug when you purchase 100 of the bbqs.
Otherwise, you'll have to hold out for a sale.
J.
Jenn: That is not me.
But if it fuels your devotion to Conceptofirony you may believe that it is.
J.
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