Fixing a Hole

Well, fixing to READ a Harry Hole novel, anyway. (Pronounced HO-lay, by the way.)

Didn't even know that Jo Nesbø had written another Harry Hole novel. In fact, I thought the previous one, number 12, gave clear signs that that was it for my favorite Norwegian detective. But as I was breezing past the 7 Day Bestsellers table at the library today, I saw this thing of beauty:

I almost didn't pick it up, as (1) I'm up to my neck in books at the moment and (2) I didn't think it was an HH book. But, well...you know. And lo and behold, Hole's back.

How much do I love Jo Nesbø's HH books? I once planned a visit to Norway so I could see the places where these books were set. And of course I thought that there was a chance I could bump into Jo (blush blush). 

7 days isn't a lot to read a 489 page book when you're already reading A bunch of other stuff, but like the little engine, I think I can.

So I'm off.

Along the way, here is a thing I thought was worth snagging.

"He new of no one who needed to be alone as much as he did. Rakel had called it 'limited social capacity' and she had also been the only person he could — and wanted to — spend time with out picturing a finish line up ahead, knowing that he would be set free at some point." (126)

I know about that, for sure.

P.S. Finished it in 5 days. Woot.

DDR: Amerika: The Missing Person by Franz Kafka

Amerika: The Missing Person. A new translation, based on the restored text. So that's pretty exciting. XXXIII + 300= 333 pages...which is surely a sign of something or other, hmmm? If nothing else, A sign that I should be able to finish this book in 11 days.

So let's go.

Day 1 (DDRD 2,184) October 24, 2023

Read to page xxxiii, end of Translator's Introduction.

At one point in the Publisher's Introduction, reference is made to a two volume publication of The Castle. The first volume is the novel proper, the second is comprised of variant texts and notes.  As I read that I once again felt like abandoning my Kafka Project. I'm not sure precisely why. It seems to have something to do with the impossibility of actually reading The Complete Published Works of Kafka, since (1) not all of the fragments have been published in English and (2) so many of the fragments I've read--indeed, almost all of them--have not been worth my time, so I'm sure that I would grow weary of reading the not-good. There's something else, though, and I think it has to do with the reverential attitude that's shown towards Kafka. This was epitomized in Max Brod's biography, wherein he literally said that every phrase Kafka wrote was a sign of his genius. But it also lies behind this publication of every scrap of writing that Kafka produced. I know of no other writer who has been accorded this kind of treatment...and it irks me. It also seems to me that it dishonors Kafka as a writer. In the same way that Elvis could elicits gales of applause and acclaim simply by flipping up his cape. After all, most or all of these fragments were committed to paper without much deliberation, and it's clear (from what Kafka said to Brod and others, as well as from the fact that Kafka destroyed many of his fragments himself) that Kafka did not want these pieces preserved. 

Sigh.

That said, so far as I know I will be starting Amerika tomorrow morning. We'll see how it goes.

Day 2 (DDRD 2,185) October 25, 2023

Read to page 34. Which was Chapter 1, aka "The Stoker." Sorry to say that it was not very interesting. The only thing herein that really caught my fancy was the image of the Statue of Liberty wielding a sword instead of a torch. Seems much truer to the Real America.

Day 3 (DDRD 2,186) October 26, 2023

Read to page 60. Which was a bit of a struggle. For one thing, because I'm not feeling very engaged with this novel. For another thing, because I'm tearing through Jo Nesbø's latest Harry Hole novel, Killing Moon. Say what you will about popular fiction...at least if it's any good at all, it pulls you along.

In fact, I'm gonna go read some more HH right now.

Day 4 (DDRD 2,187) October 27, 2023

Read to page 90. And am now wondering what I ever saw in this book. The pace is so slow that it's excruciating, and the "action" so insignificant that it tempts me to just quit. 

But I shall endeavor not to do that.

Day 5 (DDRD 2,188) October 28, 2023

Read to page 120.

Kafka makes reference to "The Bridge connecting New York to Boston.... " (96) That'd be one hell of a bridge, wouldn't it?

In other news...I'm pretty sure that I will be moving on from Kafka after I finish this book. I'm sorry to say that it is doing nothing for me at all. The mist "interesting " thing that's happened in today's reading is that three guys argued about the mistreatment of a suitcase. Fir fuck's sake. It's not funny, it's not interesting,  it has no greater relevance. It's just tedious and frustrating.  I'll push myself to finish this, but unless a miracle occurs, I'm calling it quits at that point.

180 bottles of 🍻 on the wall....

Day 6 (DDRD 2,189) October 29, 2023

Read to page 150. When I was a lot younger...in my early 20s...I remember writing to a friend that I'd been reading Kafka and it had made me feel that my own writings were worthless by comparison. Well...I've still got some live for FK, but I certainly don't feel that way any more. This novel is so tedious that it reminds me of Beckett. But Beckett is also clever and funny and deep, so once you acclimate yourself, the sense of tedium dissipates. But this? Page after page of an elevator boy at his job. The only good thing I have to say about today's reading is that I hit the halfway point in this novel. 

Funny: I read a longer (489 pages) novel in just four days, and there was no sense of strain or even effort. Au contraire, I didn't want to stop reading it, even when it was past my bedtime. But this thing...it's just work. I know I shouldn't blame Kafka; he wanted the thing burned. Sorry to say it, but I think he was right on this one. In fact, having read his Complete Stories , I'd have to say that thus far I haven't read ANYthing that he ordered burned which "should" have been saved from the 🔥.

Day 7 (DDRD 2,190) October 30, 2023

Read to page 180. 

Sigh.

JUST IN CASE...I put in a request for The Trial: A New Translation Based on the Restored Text (The Schocken Kafka Library), Translated by Breon Mitchell. I don't think I'm going to go there, but I like to keep my options open.

Day 8 (DDRD 2,191) October 31, 2023

Read to page 210. 43 more pages, then Fragments. Sigh.

Day 9 (DDRD 2,192) November 1, 2023

Read to page 241. End of Chapter, not extra interest / enthusiasm. 

And me? I'm day dreaming about Uwe Johnson, H. P. Lovecraft, Wealth of Nations, Philip Wylie, The Brothers Karamazov, and some other stuff. Mmmm-hmmm.

Day 10 (DDRD 2,193) November 2, 2023

Read to page 253, where the text abruptly ends. And now the Fragments. Sigh.

Read to page 271. So tomorrow is it. And then...?

Day 11 (DDRD 2,194) November 3, 2023

Read to page 300. Finished. That was not a pleasant experience, and I would certainly recommend that if you live (or intend to live) Kafka that you skip reading thus "novel." It is tedious, boring, shallow, repetitive, and inelegant.

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 1,001 to Day 2,000:
(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

(29) Master Humprhey's Clock 4 days, 145 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

DDR Day 2,001 to Day 3,000:

(1) Miscellaneous Papers Volume II 28 days (don't count, while reading BH), 494 pages
(2) 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 (!).

(3) Hard Times 11 days, 459 pages

(4) Little Dorrit 29 days, 1,606 pages

(5) A Tale of Two Cities 9 days, 460 pages

(6) Great Expectations 16 days, 580 pages

(7) Our Mutual Friend 29 days, 1,057 pages

(8) The Mystery of Edwin Drood 6 days, 314 pages 

FTR vis-a-vis Dickens: 18,671 pages in 468 days

(9) Dickens and Kafka, 7 days, 315 pages

(10) Franz Kafka: A Biography 8 days, 267 pages

(11) The Frozen Sea: A Study of Franz Kafka 5 days, 198 pages

(12) Franz Kafka, A Writer's Life 12 days, 385 pages

(13) The Lost Writings 2 days, 138 pages

(14)  Amerika: The Missing Person 11 days, 333 pages

DDR: The Lost Writings by Franz Kafka

 

Yeah, what can I say? I panicked. So I'll see how this little bit o' book (138 tiny* pages) goes, then see if I still want to peruse The Novels.

* 4.8 x 0.7 x 7.6 inches

Day 1 (DDRD 2,182) October 22, 2023

Read to page 51. No great feat given the dimensions of this book (see above), but it is what it is. I'm thinking two more days will put this to rest. Maybe even one, since I'm heading to church in a little while and will have an hour and a half of pew time before the service begins. (Daughter, choir). I'm happy to say that the "stories" in this volume are much better than the short pieces in The Complete Stories. Maybe because they were chosen by an editor from two volumes of unpublished stuffs. (So far as I've been able to find, those two volumes were only published in German. Danke schön, Gott.

ADDENDUM: Had waiting time before a Louisville Chamber Music concert, too, so I read to page 90. Tomorrow ought to do it, then. (Woo-hoo.)

Day 2 (DDRD 2,183) October 23, 2023

Read to page 138, so that's that. And while the "stories" in this book were much better than The Shorter Stories in The Complete Stories...there was still nothing here that I'd consider essential. Which makes me wonder if it's wise to continue down this "Complete" Kafka road. But that saud, I picked Amerika up from the library today.

Oh, here are a few things from the Afterward to The Lost Writings:

the editor refers to Kafka as "the master of the literary fragment." Which is not as fawning as the stuff Max Brod had to say about FK, but is still more than a bit much. And isn't "master of the literary fragment" something along the lines of "master of masturbation"... something that really has no place in the public eye (do to speak)? 

Also, the editor says that all of Kafka's published works could be fit into 350 pages...and that said published works represent only about 1/10th of the extant Kafka writings. 

So there's that.

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 1,001 to Day 2,000:
(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

(29) Master Humprhey's Clock 4 days, 145 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

DDR Day 2,001 to Day 3,000:

(1) Miscellaneous Papers Volume II 28 days (don't count, while reading BH), 494 pages
(2) 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 (!).

(3) Hard Times 11 days, 459 pages

(4) Little Dorrit 29 days, 1,606 pages

(5) A Tale of Two Cities 9 days, 460 pages

(6) Great Expectations 16 days, 580 pages

(7) Our Mutual Friend 29 days, 1,057 pages

(8) The Mystery of Edwin Drood 6 days, 314 pages 

FTR vis-a-vis Dickens: 18,671 pages in 468 days

(9) Dickens and Kafka, 7 days, 315 pages

(10) Franz Kafka: A Biography 8 days, 267 pages

(11) The Frozen Sea: A Study of Franz Kafka 5 days, 198 pages

(12) Franz Kafka, A Writer's Life 12 days, 385 pages

(13) The Lost Writings 2 days, 138 pages

More Stoned Humor

Delta 9 again. I was trying to watch television, but mostly just hallucinating (lightly). And a commercial for Cave Hill Cemetery came on, which got me to thinking about my not-so-far-in-the-future death. And that made me think about what I would like to have on my tombstone. And that made me remember my previous thoughts on this subject. 

When I was in college getting my degree in Secondary Education, we were given an exercise to design our own tombstone...in relation to our imminent teaching careers. I came up with this:

It got a few laughs, but I was really thinking that that was pretty much how it would go being a teacher: if you held your students to strict standards, they would probably hate you even if they knew that you worked hard and strove for fairness. Turns out I was wrong: after 23 years of teaching, there were only a few students who hated me, and there were many who showed their love. I'm particularly grateful for that as I enter my dotage and begin to feel the firm ground of my past crumble beneath the feet which tread it in memories.

When I thought about an epitaph again, it was just a passing thought, but I decided that the perfect one for me would be a simple

Because as I've grown older, my befuddlement at this world has only grown greater. Why are people so obstinately cruel and vile? I don't know.

But that's a bit too bitter, even for me, so I tried not to let it pop into my mind too often.

Yesterday with the assistance of Delta 9--and after listening to Pink Floyd's "Time" as reduxed by Roger Waters--I decided that I had a much better epitaph for myself:

Yeah. I think that's the one.

And if that don't suit ya....

DDR: Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories

XVII + 486 = 503 pages

Day 1 (DDRD 2,166) October 6, 2023

Read to page 13. After two short "parables"--"Before the Law" & "An Imperial Message," both of which were published during Kafka's lifetime --comes the substantial (43 pages) "Description of A Struggle," which was not published while Kafka lived. (And which I did not finish reading today.) Which makes me wonder what the operating principle behind this book is. It's clearly not chronological. And John Updike's introduction didn't go into this at all. Which is understandable, as that was not his job, but it would have been nice to have an Introduction written by the Editor to give some information on that.

At any rate, I'm off. Not at a breakneck pace, but (I'm sorry to say) those three ordinary biographies took some of the wind out of my little sail.

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

P.S. Whilst digging around for the picture I took of this book cover, I found a bit from Charles Neider's The Frozen Sea which pretty much sums up how completely full of shit that man could be. In commenting on a Kafka character's name, Neider says

Sweet Jesus save me from such a fate.

Day 2 (DDRD 2,167) October 7, 2023

Read to page 51, which was the end of the first story, "Description of a Struggle." And once again I am sorry to confess to my lack of enthusiasm. This was not really a story. It's a series of fragments. The primary action involves two guys walking down a road. I can't understand why the Editor would put this in the first position. Oh. Wait a minute. I just Wikipediad this and turns out this is the earliest Kafka work which survived his purges, thought to have been written between 1903 and 1907. So maybe I was wrong about there not being a proper system here. Let's see...the next story up is "Wedding Preparations in the Country." Which Wikipedia says was written between 1907 and 1908, and was (1) incomplete and (2) not published during Kafka's lifetime. After that comes "The Judgment," which was not the next story written by Kafka...but might have been the nest "long" story he wrote, and this book is divided into THE LONGER STORIES and THE SHORTER STORIES. Okay, I give up on trying to figure out the chronology. I think a better job could have been done of it, but nobody asked me, so I'll read and shut up.

Still didn't think "Description of a Struggle" was much of a story, though.

Day 3 (DDRD 2,168) October 8, 2023

Read to page 76.

"Wedding Preparations in the Country" was a 25 page story, but it consisted of two fragments, and it was indicated in that there were 12 missing pages. So what you get here is a guy gets on A train and talks to another guy. Thassall. Again I have to wonder...and I have loved Kafka's for half a century (literally)...if this and the story before it should have been published. Kafka was not finished with the writing, and he asked his friend Max to burn his unfinished writings. Publishing them almost seems like impertinence. 

At any rate, I'm happy to say that the next few stories were both finished and published during Kafka's lifetime, so at least THAT issue will sink below the surface for awhile.

Btw, here's an interesting thing from page 56: After saying that he will send his body off to the country, Eduard Raban says, "As I lie in bed, I assume the shape of a big beetle, a stag beetle or a cockchafer, I think."

P.S. I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to act on it, but I had a strong thought whilst slogging through "Wedding Preparations in the Country." I thought, "Maybe I should just get to an even number of pages...say 100...and ditch this Kafka Project. I've got lots of other stuff to read, after all." 

Hmmmmm. 😐

Day 4 (DDRD 2,169) October 9, 2023

Read to page 107, which included all of "The Judgment" and the first half of "The Metamorphosis." The former seemed like a pretty inconsequential piece, I regret to say. A guy argues with his dad, then goes out and kills himself. There were some hints of more substantial things which would crop up in later pieces, though, and at least this story was complete and published during Kafka's lifetime. Starting on "The Metamorphosis" was a great relief. This is the Kafka I know and love. I regretted stopping halfway through, but duty called and I could not linger. Hopefully I'll get a chance to finish it off later.

Day 5 (DDRD 2,170) October 10, 2023

Read to page 139, the end of "The Metamorphosis." I had pretty much come to the conclusion that this was a story about mental illness...that there was no bug, and that that was one of the reasons why Kafka insisted that his cover artist must not show "the insect," but this time through I had to question that perspective. I could discount Gregor's crawling on the walls and ceiling as part of his mental illness, but when the narrator makes reference to him crawling on top of the picture of the woman he had framed and says that the picture could no longer be seen--"she stepped to one side, saw the enormous brown patch against the flowers of the wallpaper..."--well, it seems like you just have to accept his bugness. Also the fact that the cleaning woman refers to him as a cockroach, and that at the end of the story she refers to disposing of his body. Also, the fact that the story continues for a few pages after Gregor's death seems to render the idea of the story being told from his perspective moot, doesn't it? I still think the story has a lot to say about mental illness and etc., but sometimes a cockroach is a cockroach. 

This was an excellent story, and just as powerful as when I first read it fifty years ago.

Day 6 (DDRD 2,171) October 11, 2023

Read to page 167, thus the entirety of "In the Penal Colony." This is one fucked up story, for sure. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Au contraire, it is an amazing thing. Been awhile since I read it, so the horror of it all was quite vivid for me. This one was a finished and published during Kafka's lifetime, but I noticed that the next one was neither, so hopefully it will be better than the other nf, npdK'sl stories have been.

P.S. Just realized that this is my first DDR piece which is a thing I've previously read...as will be the three novels, assuming I stick with the plan and get through all of them. I may even have previously read the letter to his father and the letters to Milena. But hey...that was fifty years ago, so it's pretty much all new to me.

Day 7 (DDRD 2,172) October 12, 2023

Read to page 205.

Got a new word:

des·ue·tude
/ˈdeswəˌto͞od/
noun
a state of disuse

As for the stories today...two of them:

"The Village Schoolmaster / The Giant Mole"...unfinished, unpublished during Kafka's lifetime... seemed like a waste of time to me. A schoolmaster writes a pamphlet about a giant mole and the narrator writes another pamphlet in support if him.  That's really about it. I rate this one 🔥.

"Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor": u,udK'sl...So this guy, Blumfeld, who is, by the way, an elderly bachelor, comes home to find two balls bouncing up and down in his apartment. The balls proceed to follow him around. The next morning he traps the balls in a closet and goes to work. His coworkers are inept. The End. No, really. Sigh. Another 🔥

Day 8 (DDRD 2,173) October 13, 2023

Read to page 234.

"The Warden of the Tomb":  u,npdK'sl  A play, which was surprising. But it doesn't get far enough to do anything. 🔥

"A Country Doctor": pdK'sl and therefore finished, but it sure doesn't seem that way. A doctor goes out at night to a dick patient. Gets there, does nothing, then leaves. WTF?

"The Hunter Gracchus" & "The Hunter Gracchus: A Fragment": So two Gracchi for the price of one, I suppose. Both u,npdK'sl. And both 🔥ers. The plot (so to speak) is the same for both: A dead hunter comes back to life and chats about how he was killed and then taken aboard a boat to the afterlife which promptly proceeded to get lost. 

Why oh why wasn't this book separated into PDK's life and Not? I mean, the novels are one thung: they're substantial enough that their lack of closure isn't a death blow. But a four page story? It's just frustrating. Perhaps of interest to scholars, but not to readers. Maybe a later piece will change my mund, but for now my opinion is that (exceoting the nobels) if Kafka's didn't see t published, it shouldn't have be been...and that going against Kafka's wishes actually caused mire harm than good to Kafka's reputation.

Just sayin' sir.

Day 9 (DDRD 2,174) October 14, 2023

Read to page 262. Which puts me over the halfway point of thus book (with 224 pages--7 days to go).

" The Great Wall of China": u,npdK'sl. More historical essay than story, though it does contain A form of "An Imperial Message." This was followed by "The News of the Building of the Wall: A Fragment," which is, ibviously, another u,npdK'sl. There's not enough substance to either of them to say much about...other than 🔥🔥.

"A Report to An Academy": f&p, and interesting, at the least. An ape talks to a group of people about how he was captured and subsequently taught himself to be human. It was kind of Ishmael-ish (talking Daniel Quinn). After that came " A Report to an Academy: Two Fragments" (u, npdK'sl) which was really just an alternate take on the finished story. So we wouldn't be any poorer if it had been 🔥ed.

Day 10 (DDRD 2,175) October 15, 2023

Read to page 292. Which left me stranded in the middle of "Investigations of a Dog," but I really couldn't take any more of it just now. 

"The Refusal": I couldn't tell if this was unfinished, since there was so little to it, but it was npdK'sl. In four pages, A guy goes to a local official to ask for exemption from taxes for a year and he us refused. The End. 🔥

"The Hunger Artist": finished, published during Kafka's lifetime. After reading the opening sentence--"In the last decades interest in hunger artists* has declined considerably."--it hit me that Kafka's true realm is when he posits an "absurd" circumstance at the get-go and then proceeds from that pint without any attempt to explain or validate the premise. You're either in or you're out, you know? 

"Investigations of A Dog" u, npdK'sl. And 40 pages long, making it the second longest of Kafka's stories. Which in this case is not a good thing. Stopped halfway through, but this already smells like a  🔥er to me.

Here's one sentence that stopped me cold though: “Recently I have taken more and more to casting up my life, looking for the decisive, the fundamental, error that I must surely have made; and I cannot find it."

Oh, yeah. That hurts. Is there any old person who DOESN'T feel that way, though? I kind of doubt it.

* The Muirs' translation uses "professional fasting," which strikes me as superior--not so On The Nose.

Day 11 (DDRD 2,176) October 16, 2023

Paused at page 307, only halfway through today's reading. This dog story is wearing me out. Nothing happens. There's far too much talk about urinating in the ground. And it is just. So. Boring. And I still have 9 pages to go. Sigh. Oh, angle yes,🔥Flame On🔥.

Read to page 324. Finished "Dog," which ended (or, more properly, "ended") as badly as it began. Then to " A Little Woman," which has the distinction of being the first Published During Kafka's Lifetime story that I thought was worthless. According to Wikipedia, "During his final illness Kafka corrected the proofs of the story for the inclusion into collection A Hunger Artist (Ein Hungerkünstler) published by Verlag Die Schmiede after his death." *  So maybe that goes some way to explaining its lesser quality. 

Only two "Longer" stories left now. I'm once again feeling my interest in Kafka wane, though. Might need to move on after I finish this book (140 pages to go!).

Day 12 (DDRD 2,177) October 17, 2023

Paused at page 339. Reading "The Burrow" (u, npdK'sl). It's not much fun. A badger (?) talks (and talks, and talks, and talks...) about his burrow. Yep. Sigh. I took a three hour break. Still don't feel like going back to it.

But I shall.

In the spirit of Godot's Vladimir... Did it! Read to page 359.

But not without mustard. My God, these were some of the dullest and most frustrating pages I've ever read. Not only does nothing happen, but there's nothing if interest in the language, either. Wikipedia tells me that this "story" was "written six months before [Kafka's] death...." So maybe that's an explanation for it. As for me...I'm quite happy to be rid if it.

Only one "Longer" story to go now. And about 100 pages.

Woot.

Day 13 (DDRD 2,178) October 18, 2023

Read to page 390.

"Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" (f, pdK'sl) was another of those Going Nowhere stories. Just a description of Josephine's singing. Very tedious. Very 🔥y.

Then onto "The Shorter Stories." A great many of these were published during Kafka's lifetime, and I think it can be assumed that they were as finished as the were going to be, so for them I'll simply indicate the published ones with a *.

"Children on A Country Road" * Meh. On the one hand, more happens in these 3 pages than in the 20 of "Josephine," but even so, not much happens. 

"The Trees" * 3 1/2 lines, man. 

"Clothes" * 3 paragraphs 

"Excursion into the Mountains" * 1 paragraphs

"Rejection" * 4 paragraphs

"The Secret Window" * 1 paragraph

"The Tradesman" * 2 pages

"Absent Minded Window-gazing" * 3 paragraphs

"The Way Home" * 4 paragraphs

"Passers-by" * 3 paragraphs

"On the Tram" * 3 paragraphs

"Reflections for Gentlemen-Jockeys" * 1 page

"The Wish to be A Red Indian" * 1 paragraph

Total for this set of Shorter Stories: 379 to 390 = 11 pages. So an average length of .85 pages per story. That's not much. I'd write a little summary for each of them if I could, but (1) nothing happens in any of them and (2) even though I just read them, I've already forgotten them. Sorry, Franz, but this is a 🔥x 13 for me.

Day 14 (DDRD 2,179) October 19, 2023

Read to page 419. 

Mostly not good stuff. To wit:

"Unhappiness" * 4 pages

"Bachelor's Ill Luck" * 2 paragraphs

"Unmasking a Confidence Trickster" * 2 pages

"The Sudden Walk" * 2 paragraphs

"Resolutions" * 4 paragraphs

"A Dream" * was the first interesting piece I've read in The Shorter Stories. It's a two-pager, and it has a little bit of a plot...and it stars Joseph K. JK dreams that he goes to a cemetery, sees a fresh grave, sees a headstone dropped into place, sees an artist start writing on the stone (with a pencil!), then falls into the grave.  

"Up in the Gallery" * 1 page

"A Fratricide" * 2 pages

"The Next Village" * 1 paragraph

"A Visit to a Mine" * 3 pages

"Jackals and Arabs" * 4 pages

"The Bridge" 1 page

"The Bucket Rider" 2 pages This was, without a doubt, the silliest piece that I've read from Kafka (so far). A guy gets into his empty coal bucket and rides it (through the air) to the coal dealer's house. He's refused any coal, so he flies off into the heavens.

"The New Advocate" *1 page

"An Old Manuscript" * 2 pages

"The Knock at the Manor Gate" 1 1/2 pages

16 pieces, 30 pages...average length 1.9 pages. Considerably more than the first set of The Shorter Stories, but still...that's not much room, is it? I find myself wondering why these pieces were published. Was it just because Max Brod had pull, and the editors figured what the hell, it's just a page or so?

25 pieces to go (to page 457). Then Postscript, Bibliography, Editors and Translators, On the Material Included in This Volume, Chronology, and Selected Writing on Kafka (to page 486). 

Day 15 (DDRD 2,180) October 20, 2023

Read to page 450. I could have finished this book off today's there are 36 pages left, but only 7 of them are actual text--but I just didn't have it in me. So mañana it is. As for today:

"Eleven Sons" * 4 1/2 pages

"My Neighbor" 1 1/2 pages

"A Crossbreed [A Sport]" 2 pages

"The Cares of a Family Man" * 1 1/2 pages

"A Common Confusion" 1 page

"The Truth About Sancho Panza" 1 paragraph

"The Silence of the Sirens" 1 1/2 pages

"Prometheus" 5 paragraphs

"The City Coat of Arms" 1 1/2 pages

"Poseidon" 1 page

"Fellowship" 1 page

"At Night" 1 paragraph

"The Problem of Our Laws" 1 page

"The Conscription of Troops" 2 1/2 pages

"The Test" 1 page

"The Vulture" 3/4ths page

"The Helmsman" 1/2 page

"The Top" 1/2 page

"A Little Fable"1 paragraph

"Home-Coming" 1/2 page

"First Sorrow" * (3 pages) was pretty good. Kind of a parallel to "A Hunger Artist"in that the trapeze artist becomes more and more obsessed with his work until it subsumes his existence.

"The Departure" 1 paragraph

"Advocates" 2 pages

And once again, even though I just read these "stories" a few hours ago, I can remember almost nothing about them...because there was really nothing there. I'm sorry to say that not only am I very frustrated with Kafka and struggling with the question of whether I want to continue down this road or not...but I'm also beginning to question if Kafka really is the major writer I've always thought him to be. Looking back, there haven't been a whole lot of pages that I've really considered to have been worthwhile. 😞😢

Day 16 (DDRD 2,181) October 21, 2023

Read to page 486. The End . The last three "stories"--

"The Married Couple" 5 pages

"Give It Up!" 1 paragraph

"On Parables" 1/2 page

--did nothing to

ameliorate my opinion of this collection. 

So...Who's Next?

Think ill worry about that tomor

The Complete Kafka might also be said to include:

Forgiving the Angel: Four Stories for Franz Kafka

The Diaries of Franz Kafka

The Trial: a new translation based on the restored text

The Lost Writings

The Castle: a new translation, based on the restored text

Amerika: The Missing Person: a new translation, based on the restored text

The Blue Octavo Notebooks

Dearest Father: Stories and Other Writings

Letters to Milena

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 1,001 to Day 2,000:
(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

(29) Master Humprhey's Clock 4 days, 145 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

DDR Day 2,001 to Day 3,000:

(1) Miscellaneous Papers Volume II 28 days (don't count, while reading BH), 494 pages
(2) 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 (!).

(3) Hard Times 11 days, 459 pages

(4) Little Dorrit 29 days, 1,606 pages

(5) A Tale of Two Cities 9 days, 460 pages

(6) Great Expectations 16 days, 580 pages

(7) Our Mutual Friend 29 days, 1,057 pages

(8) The Mystery of Edwin Drood 6 days, 314 pages 

FTR vis-a-vis Dickens: 18,671 pages in 468 days

(9) Dickens and Kafka, 7 days, 315 pages

(10) Franz Kafka: A Biography 8 days, 267 pages

(11) The Frozen Sea: A Study of Franz Kafka 5 days, 198 pages

(12) Franz Kafka, A Writer's Life 12 days, 385 pages

(13) Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories 16 days, 486 pages

Report to the Academy

I just finished making my GIF for The Complete Works of Charles Dickens, and while I was on the ImageFlip website I noticed that there were "VIEWS" numbers for each of my li'l projects. Most of them were pretty low numbers, so I was surprised to see that one had hit 23,906 views. Which one is it, you ask? Bouncy Tits For Trump.

Of course.

Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

This is What The Complete Charles Dickens Looks Like

via Imgflip

May 25, 2022 to September 4, 2023