2721 KAFKAESQE - definition of the word:

Kafkaesque is an adjective which is used to describe concepts, situations and ideas which are reminiscent of the literary work of Franz Kafka, particularly his novel The Trial and his short story The Metamorphosis.

The term, which is quite fluid in definition, has also been described as "marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity: Kafkaesque bureaucracies" [1] and "marked by surreal distortion and often a sense of impending danger: Kafkaesque fantasies of the impassive interrogation, the false trial, the confiscated passport . . . haunt his innocence - The New Yorker." [2]

It can also describe an intentional distortion of reality by powerful but anonymous bureaucrats. "Lack of evidence is treated as a pesky inconvenience, to be circumvented by such Kafkaesque means as depositing unproven allegations into sealed files ..." Another definition would be an existentialist state of ever-elusive freedom while existing under unmitigatable control.

Category
Circolo di Conversazione

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 02/19/2006 - 04:02

Franz Kafka was an Italian bureaucrat...read on:

In 1906, Kafka finished his exams and became an official Doctor of the Law. After a mandatory year of unpaid work for the courts, Dr. Franz Kafka took a job at the Assicurazioni Generali, an Italian insurance company.
Apparently the salary was poor, the regulations were soul-crushing and the many hours of overtime thankless.

It may just have been the inspiration for the overriding theme of Kafka's later writing.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 02/19/2006 - 04:02

sdoj

if i could make a further addition to your defenition .. without taking it off thread ... i regard the forum as akin to the fellowship... and there is something following along... a sort of golom ... i just hope that as in all good fairy stories the end will be happy ... the dark side defeated...

maybe you could define it better ... but i am sure there are enough characters within that epic to reflect on life and circumstances here and maybe we could all just mention golom or gandalf ...fodo or bilbo ... aragon and really all would know without offending whoever or whatever... the reference of the various characters

it seems the straight forward approach is not to be allowed ...

so if i might be allowed i think the wise gandalf has made some very clear points and we should all heed his warnings ....golom is not to be trusted ... he is ruled by delusions of power... obsessed by the gleaming white gold of the ring.... one of the elves... has been cast aside and thrown from the fellowship because of the whispering malice ..... some are now being hounded by the black riders

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 02/19/2006 - 06:56

See John, you CAN join in the play room, who says you haven't got the wit, made me smile! :) ;) :)