No matter how many bios of Franz Kafka you’ve read, you’re guaranteed to have read none quite like James Hawes’ WHY YOU SHOULD READ KAFKA BEFORE YOU WASTE YOUR LIFE, and certainly you can tell from that title. The Oxford alum and Kafka scholar discusses the German writer’s life not as a thesis, but as a conversation, as if you and he were sitting at the pub, talking literature over a beer.
How else to explain so much hubbub over Kafka’s porn collection? So terrified was the celebrated novelist over its discovery that he hid it in a locked case and left instructions for its destruction upon his death. Obviously, someone didn’t follow them to a T. Oops!
The pornography is not comprised of photos, but absolutely twisted drawings that nonetheless are sick and disturbing, even by today’s comparatively lax standards. Several are reprinted here.
On the actual sex front, letters from Kafka portray a bizarre, tortured courtship of a woman he had absolutely zero interest in, as well as his first sexual encounter, which was with a prostitute. Whatever went down (no pun intended), something about its “vile” nature and, um, its smell haunted Kafka for the rest of his life.
Hawes spends a great deal of time debunking famous myths surrounding the author, such as that his work went unknown during this lifetime, that he was poor, that his father was a tyrannical parent. And he does this all without sounding like a boring academic or pompous English professor.
Two things, however, with which I take issue:
1. Hawes uses too many absolutes — such as “There is no debate” and “There’s simply no way around ths one” — as if to discourage challenges, when ….
2. …. I challenge a point he makes on the very first page: “Apart from Shakespeare, there’s simply no writer whose image is so well known to so many people who have never read a word he wrote. The face of Kafka has become virtually a brand.”
On that point, I disagree. I’ve read Kafka in high school, college and on my own time, and I don’t think I’d ever seen his photo until now. In fact, I’d float the theory that Edgar Allan Poe enjoys this “brand” recognition far more.
Despite this pair of objections from the bench, I found this unconventional bio to be unique. After all, very little is devoted to Kafka’s output — it really is all about Kafka, the man. Big points to Douglas Smith for the excellent cover illustration as well. —Rod Lott
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellent point about the “brand.” Poe’s image was always among those that appeared on those grey t-shirts you ordered through the New York Review of Books. Right up there with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Elliot, and many others. But never Kafka’s face.
On the other hand, we use references like “Kafka-esqe” or “like something out of Kafka” to describe something insane, surreal, or completely devoid of reality. And there are probably many who use such phrases who have never read Kafka.
I’ve given three of Kafka’s short stories a serious effort. Just didn’t click with his style. I can take Poe, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Wagner, HP Lovecraft, any day. For me, Kafka’s writing came across as bizarrely listless. Maybe I’m just a lazy reader who doesn’t have the time to weigh all the deeper meanings ….
I think you’re misreading the promotional material on the website. Hawes is not an Oxford undergraduate; he is a literature scholar with a Ph.D.
The promotional materials are just saying that, when he was an Oxford undergraduate, he was allowed access to the manuscript of The Castle.