Kakfa's pornography collection finally revealed
August 19th 2008 01:42
Category: Eclectic
The work of Franz Kafka is revered as some of the most influential literature in European history, even if much of it was incomplete and only discovered after his death from tuberculosis.
His writing is treated with a sense of hushed awe, as if he was a patron saint of the tortured artist, suffering in poverty and disdain until he was rightfully acknowledged for his genius.
There was another side to Kafka, though some might say it's the same side, just hidden. Kafka was a great fan of hardcore pornography, apparently, and selections from his collection have been suppressed for a long time.
It's all coming out in the open, now.
"Having stumbled by chance across copies in the British Library in London and the Bodleian in Oxford while doing unrelated research, James Hawes, the academic and Kafka expert, reveals some of this erotic material in Excavating Kafka, to be published this month. His book seeks to explode important myths surrounding the literary icon, a "quasi-saintly" image which hardly fits with the dark and shocking pictures contained in these banned journals."
It doesn't bother me in the slightest... he was a writer, and he used his own humanity as a foundation for his work. Why not pornography? Why not lust?
In fact, my only real problem with this entire issue is the attention that people are giving it - as if it's so salacious that we should hide it under the mattress.
For example, I find this quote from the Times Online to be quite offensive:
"Even today, the pornography would be "on the top shelf", Dr Hawes said, noting that his American publisher did not want him to publish it at first. "These are not naughty postcards from the beach. They are undoubtedly porn, pure and simple. Some of it is quite dark, with animals committing fellatio and girl-on-girl action... It's quite unpleasant.""
Whaaat? Girl-on-girl is unpleasant and to be compared to bestiality? Are you kidding me?
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Cibbuano
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Comment by Raoul Duke
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Comment by JohnDoe
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So where are some pics links?
I'm a bit of a fan of vintage pornography...reassuring to know that subversive erotisism has always had its place in the upper echelons of culture.
Comment by Mountain Fog
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Personally, I see this as some has-been, non-entity hack, trying to make a name for himself and lots of money along the way, by bringing down one of the great writers in literature, for more than likely he could never achieve such greatness by his own creative exertions.
This expose' is an example of a person who thrives on the destruction of others, for his own enrichment, he is probably a psychopath.
These low life, uncreative, social vampires are proliferating it seems, but there is one sure fire antidote, to this kind of poisonous, self serving, self-enriching 'journalese';
DON'T BUY THE BOOK!
cheers
fog
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aimster, everyone's hiding a collection!
JD, to get pics, JD, you'll probably need to bid.
Fog, I agree. Kafka is one of those revered artists, studied to exhaustion. This will give people more to chew on, but really, for their own satisfaction.
Cheryl, once you're famous, your personal life becomes exceedingly interesting, it would appear...
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Unfortunately, I haven't read any of Kafka's work... what genre are they? What are they like?
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Comment by Bryn
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Bryn, Jeremy Irons is an awesome actor, one of my favourites. When was this movie filmed?
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Comment by Mountain Fog
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"The Trial" would have to be one of his most incredible and excruciating works... very tortured stuff.. a film was made of it many years ago, Orson Welles directed, Anthony Perkins starred, but try reading it first, if not, try a good video library that specialises in arthouse.
As for The Metamorphosis;
the famous opening line says it all;
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. "
Some saw the translation from the original German language as indicating that he transformed into an insect, a cockroach has been used for instance, however, language scholars disagree, and say Kafka never specified what he transformed into, (that was not the point of ti anyway) but left it at a generality, "vermin".
If you like dark brooding works, exploration of emotional torture, paranoia and persecution, Kafka is the boy for you!!!
cheers
fog
Comment by Mountain Fog
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I have the very rare movie Kafka by Steven Soderbergh starring Jeremy Irons,
hmmmm... now that would be very interesting to see... methinks maybe an Orble movie marathon night might be in order somehow... someday...
cheers
fog
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Bryn, is the movie any good?
Wolfsbane - the story very richly depicts revulsion - you can imagine that Kafka himself perhaps felt shame about his life, and was alienated?
Fog - I read recently that the German version, because of the German grammatical structure, allows for a different kind of timing with the language, and the English translation struggles to capture that.
Comment by Danceswithwords
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Maybe its Kafta Korn (lost in that different timing of the Germanic and the English languages) and we are just getting excited about nothing?
The one thing I have found about "beach cards" is that they are more Korn than Porn. If Kafta needed this aside to write then what about all the great writers that have ever been, and their sordid and strange vices? I often find when they "discover" things in a dead mans closet, and try to bring that person into disrepute, it only serves to make one feel how very normal they are.
I liked that you titled the post "finally revealed". It implies so many things, like the collection was so huge it's taken this long to get through the mountain of material, or that he had a very large closet indeed! I wonder what else they are hiding from us, and all whist performing unrelated research in a British Library! I feel like buying an air ticket, and the longest extend able ladder I can lay my hands on - because after all the best stuff is all on the TOP shelf.
I'm up for the Movie Orble marathon too. Bags not posting the screenplays.
Dances
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