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| v + 267 = 272 pages |
Day 1 (DDRD 2,141) September 11, 2023
Read to page 38 (of 267). Turns out that Max Bros is a most excellent writer. So much so that I've been trying to track down one of his novels, Tycho Brahe's Path to God. No free version (yet), and only pretty pricey copies found so far, but I'm still looking.
Meanwhile....
First "adult" Kafka writing mentioned by Brod (but referred to as "one of his last writings") is Letter to My Father, written November 1919.
And here's a thing which made me think about the three major romances in my life:
"The question arises, posed in sober arrogance, "What did Kafka need his father for?" Or, better put, "Why was he not able to break away from him...?" (22)
Of course, that's wife (x 2) and first girlfriend instead of father. Something to think about...especially since I've now broken away from two of them and am good friends with the other.
Also, this:
"The soul can only blossom forth to its sublime and rare capacities when it feels it is being met with faith." (34)
Thus far this book isn't giving me what I was looking for--a solid, chronological listing of Kafka's works--but it's giving me a lot of good stuff that I wasn't looking for.
I'm reading this book courtesy of Internet Archive. Which is very cool and lovely (not to mention free), but since it can't be downloaded, it means I can't travel read, which puts a damper on things. Guess ill just have to have another book for travels.
Day 2 (DDRD 2,142) September 12, 2023
Read to page 77.
Brod makes reference to a picture that hangs over young Kafka's desk: The ploughman (1897), an etching by Hans Thoma (1839-1924).
Brod refers to Kafka reading to him, in 1909, the beginning of a novel, "Wedding Preparations in the Country." (Looks like only 24 pages of this were written... or survived.)
March 14, 1910, Kafka reads "Description of A Battle."
Second * published work "The Aeroplanes at Brescia" September 28, 1909.
Third published work "Contemplations" which included "At the Window," "At Night," "Clothes," "The Passenger," and "Thoughts For Gentlemen Riders."
Pages 68 - 73 include the text of various notes (15 of them) Kafka wrote to Brod. Brod prefaced his presentation of them by noting how extraordinary they are, but they seemed pretty staid to me. It would have been nice if they'd been dated, but maybe that wasn't possible. In any event, if you want the complete complete Kafka, clearly you'll need to read this book.
Reference to a play Kafka wrote, "The Watchman of the Tomb."
* Brod doesn't say what Kafka's first published work was.
Day 3 (DDRD 2,143) September 13, 2023
Read to page 95.
From page 83 to 84, Brod quotes from something that Kafka wrote for his job at the Worker's Insurance office. Once again, Brod presents this as a shard of genius, but truth to tell it's pretty banal. Not bad, mind you, not at all. But certainly nothing extraordinary...or even noteworthy.
Brod refers to "Josephine the Songstress--or The Mice-Nation" as the last piece that Kafka wrote (95).
Day 4 (DDRD 2,144) September 14, 2023
Read to page 126.
Kafka's first book is Contemplation.
Mentions story "Excursions Into the Dark Red" from 1904.
Brod mentions that Kafka's favorite song (which he liked to sing) was "Count Eberstein" by Löwe. This might be a version of that song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=vwSQM1JdliY ...assuming that C. Loewe is Brod's Löwe, and that Graf is German for Count.
Minutes later: Yes to the German, and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=JZdE__We8yw seems to indicate that it is indeed the song Brod was referring to. So Victory there.
"...the idea that Kafka was a kind of stylite or anchorite is completely wrong." (116)
Brod mentions that he and Kafka planned to write a novel together, Richard and Samuel. (119) Apparently a portion if this was completed and published in a periodical (Herderblätter).
Brod also talks about how he and Kafka "planned" a series of travel guides entitled "In the Cheap." He says that he and Kafka "laughed ourselves sick" (121) when they talked about this. What an image, eh?
And btw, Kafka was, quite the Max, a huge fan of Goethe. I'm sorry to say that I've never read anything by The Man.
Kafka's first book, Contemplation , is so short that he publishers decide to print it in "unusually large / gigantic type." (125) Even so it is only 99 pages, and only 800 numbered copies are printed.
Kafka writes "The Verdict" September 22 to 23, 1912, in one sitting.
Day 5 (DDRD 2,145) September 15, 2023
Read to page 158.
November 1912 "The Metamorphosis" written.
May 1913 "The Stoker" published.
"In September [1914] he read aloud to me the first chapter of the novel The Trial, and in November, In the Penal Colony." (146)
"The Railroad in Russia."
December 13, 1914 finishes "Exegesis of the Legend" (published as chapter 9 of The Trial).
December 18 writes "The Giant Mole."
April 1915 Chapters 5 and 6 of The Trial.
February 1916 "Investigations of A Dog."
Day 6 (DDRD 2,146) September 16, 2023
Read to page 190.
The text of this book ends on page 260. So not only am I under 100 pages to go...I'm only 70 pages from the end, which is two days' worth of reading. I think The Frozen Sea is next. Which is a lot of foreplay, I suppose, but it feels like the thing to do this time around.
Brod talks about Kafka's going to a convalescent center, Zürau, and I Googled about to see if I could find a picture of it. I was expecting something Magic Mountain-ish (of course), and found a short video, Kafka in Zürau) @
https://vimeo.com/175186046. The narration is in German and I could only catch a few words here and there (entshuldigung, Frau Bosley), but there were some good pictures of the sanatorium and of Kafka...who looked strangely happy.
Brod quotes Kafka: "Man cannot live without a permanent faith in something indestructible in himself...." (172)
Yep. Maybe that's why some people kill themselves: they're seeking to escape the fragile, temporary world (filled with pain and disappointment and sorrow) we live in to enter into the permanent world we come from.
Brod: "...every great writer has made some facet of life clear, that no one has seen so clearly before him." (173) Which Brod follows with: "And what has become clear through Kafka? The unclear news of life!"
Which is funny and maybe partially true...but certainly not definitely true.
March 15, 1922, Kafka reads the beginning of The Castle to Brod.
Day 7 (DDRD 2,147) September 17, 2023
Read to page 220.
Again Brod includes material which he refers to as not published. Maybe it has been published since then, but if not, then that means the only way to read The Complete Kafka is to read this book. For future reference, the fragment Brod quotes from here is a 14 page story about a night traveler looking for an inn when he encounters a strangely hostile family who invite him to lodge with them.
Then there's this bit of loveliness:
Conversations With Kafka by Gustav Janouch sounds like a must read, too. Gustav recorded conversations that he had with Kafka. I want that.
Speaking of Kafka's conversations, Brod stretches my credulity by saying, "Kafka was absolutely incapable of saying anything insignificant." (218) Dud I say stretches? I meant breaks. There is no human being who makes it through life without saying many insignificant things. Unless s/he never speaks, of course. But that's what love does, isn't it? It magnifies the good to such an extent that the not-so-good becomes unnoticeable.
Day 8 (DDRD 2,148) September 18, 2023
Read to page 260 = The End. Going for a swim in The Frozen Sea tomorrow.
Meanwhile...
Hmmm. That's more than a little disturbing. It comes courtesy of Milena...as in Letters to.
According to the CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, Kafka's first published work (1909) was "Description of A Struggle." So THAT'S settled.
A book which sounds interesting and which may have influenced Kafka's The Castle (and which certainly was a book he read and loved): The Grandmother by Božena Němcová. The copies I've found have Bern pricey ($35 and up), but it looks like Wiki source has the whole novel online.
DDR Day 1 to 1,000: 13,449 pages read, 13.45 Average Pages Per Day
A History of Philosophy Volumes I - XI
History of Civilization in England Volumes I - III
Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Volumes I - III
Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century Volumes I - III
The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip IIl Volumes I - III
This Happened In My Presence: Moriscos, Old Christians, and the Spanish Inquisition in the Town of Deza, 1569-1611
The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates
Peat and Peat Cutting
+
DDR Day 1001 to Day 2000:
(1) Leviathan 63 days, 729 pages
(2) Stalingrad 27 days, 982 pages
(3) Life and Fate 26 days, 880 pages
(4) The Second World War 34 + 32 + 40 + 43 + 31 + 32 days = 212 days, 4,379 pages
(5) Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming 10 days, 572 pages
(6) The Great Bridge 25 days, 636 pages
(7) The Path Between the Seas 29 days, 698 pages
(8) Blake: Prophet Against Empire, 23 days, 523 pages
(9) Jerusalem 61 days, 1,266 pages
(10) Voice of the Fire 9 days, 320 pages
(11) The Fountainhead 15 days, 720 pages
(12) The Pacific Trilogy: Pacific Crucible 23 days, 640 pages
(13) The Pacific Trilogy: The Conquering Tide 28 days, 656 pages
(14) The Pacific Trilogy: Twilight of the Gods 31 days, 944 pages
(15) Jazz: Its Evolution and Essence 13 days, 304 pages
(16) Toward Jazz 18 days, 224 pages
(17) The Worlds of Jazz 13 days, 279 pages
(18) To Be or Not...to Bop 14 days, 571 pages
(19) Kind of Blue 4 days, 224 pages
(20) Kind of Blue: Miles Davis and his Masterpiece: 5 days, 256 pages
(21) Miles: The Autobiography 16 days, 445 pages
(21) A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album: 8 days, 287 pages
(22) Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest 8 days, 304 pages
(23) Living With Music: Ralph Ellison's Jazz Writings 11 days 325 pages(24) The Pickwick Papers 28 days, 983 pages
(25) Oliver Twist 16 days, 542 pages
(26) Nicholas Nickleby 27 days, 1,045 pages
(27) The Old Curiosity Shop 22 days, 753 pages
(28) Barnaby Rudge 24 days, 866 pages
(30) Martin Chuzzlewit 32 days, 1,045 pages
(31) American Notes 10 days, 324 pages
(32) Pictures From Italy 7 days, 211 pages
(33) Christmas Stories Volume I 10 days, 456 pages
(34) Christmas Stories Volume II 15 days, 472 pages(35) Christmas Books 17 days, 525 pages
(36) The Annotated Christmas Carol 7 days, 380 pages
(37) Dombey and Son 30 days, 1,089 pages
(38) Sketches by Boz 22 days, 834 pages
2nd 1K Total: 26,834 pages (to SBBII) = 28.76 Average Pages Per Day
Grand Total: 40,273 pages, 20.83 Average Pages Per Day
(39) David Copperfield 21 days, 1,092 pages(40) The Uncommercial Traveller 12 days, 440 pages
(41) A Child's History of England 10 days, 491 pages
(42) Reprinted Pieces 14 days, 368 pages
(43) Miscellaneous Papers Volume I 18 days, 542 pages
+ 25 pages Bleak Hose and 9 pages Miscellaneous Papers II = 2,000 days' worth.
2nd 1K Total: 29,801pages = 29.8 Average Pages Per Day
Grand Total: 43,250 pages, 21.625 Average Pages Per Day
(44) Miscellaneous Papers Volume II 28 days (don't count, while reading BH), 494 pages
(45) Bleak House 37 days, 1,098 pages
494 - 9 = 485 + 1098 - 25 = 1073 = 1,558 pages towards 3K...in 37 days, for a daily rate of 42+ pages (!).
(46) Hard Times 11 days, 459 pages
(47) Little Dorrit 29 days, 1,606 pages
(48) A Tale of Two Cities 9 days, 460 pages
(49) Great Expectations 16 days, 580 pages
(50) Our Mutual Friend 29 days, 1,057 pages
(51) The Mystery of Edwin Drood 6 days, 314 pages FTR vis-a-vis Dickens: 18,671 pages in 468 days
(52) Dickens and Kafka, 7 days, 315 pages
(53) Franz Kafka: A Biography, 8 days, 267 pages
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