By Stephen Wilson
Klaus
Wagenbach
Translated
by Ewald Osers
Introduced
by Ritchie Robertson
Haus
Publishing London 2003
An
alienated salesman wakes up to find
himself transformed
into a huge
insect, a banker Joseph K finds himself arrested
for an
unspecified crime and a land surveyor who has been
invited to
work in the castle can't begin his work due to
endlessly
enveloping red tape which exhausts him. Whether
it is the
short story Metamorphosis, the novel , the Trial and
The Castle,
Kafka seems to be a dark writer of a nightmarish world
where the
individual is deprived of all kinds of resources of
support such
as a strong belief, family , community or friends
of any kind.
The characters are fully exposed and vulnerable
to the
relentless hostility of an inhospitable world. "Hospitality
is not our
custom," bluntly declares a villager to the land surveyor.
Many people
claim that Kafka is just too dark, despairing and
pessimistic.
However, a biography of Kafka, by Klaus Wagenbach
provides a
refreshingly counter balance to this one sided view by
emphasizing
the boundless inexorable energy of
Kafka's literary
style, his
humor and his way of perceiving the world in a deeper,
more
profound and arresting way which truly wakens us up.
The book is
adorned with many photos, illustrations and superb
quotes from
the author himself. The layout of the book
also makes
this a joy
to read. The author does not drown us
with too many facts.
There is
even a map of Prague showing Kafka's famous landmarks
which are
still preserved.
The
introduction by Ritchie Robertson provides an overall context of
his general
influence on subsequent world literature and largely
questions
many prevailing views which try to pigeon hole Kafka
by stating
he was simply a critic of Bureaucracy, or a proponent
of
Existentialist philosophy. Instead, a more complex and many
sided
personality emerges which makes all of us uncomfortable.
It is
interesting to note that Kafka worked as a lawyer at the Worker's
Accidental
Insurance Company for 14 years where he learn at first
hand all the
injustice which workers were exposed to and how callously
factory
owners ignored the safety of workers from lethal machinery.
Kafka drew
up recommendations and a report ,for employers to read,
where they
could make the machinery less dangerous for workers.
He found
that even the most cautious worker in a textile worker could
lose a
finger not through any carelessness or incompetence, but
through
badly designed machines that often went out of control.
Wagenbach
offers a superb and succinct account of the terrible
conditions
Czech workers had to undergo. They worked a 60 hour
week for a
pittance. He writes: Kafka travelled through this region in
order to
check the 'classification' of these plants into risk categories and to
recommend
accident prevention measures. However, the insurance institute
with its 230
employees was powerless in the face of the conditions in the
factories.There
were more than 200,000 businesses under its jurisdiction,
run by a
class of entrepreneurs. ' Those employers often just ignored
Kafka's
reports. So Kafka not only wrote about the oppressed, but did all
his best to
defend them.
Kafka comes
across as a quite generous, caring and sensitive person who
would bend
over backwards to help people. It is suffice to point to two
examples
noted by the author. At his work, he was the most popular employee.
He never had
a single enemy. People always went to him for advice and help.
Kafka often
made small loans to workers. When the workers offered to return
his money he
refused. He would tell them : "You need the help, and I am able
to provide
it." Another story was provided by Kafka's last girlfriend Dora Diamant,
who tells
how Kafka came across an upset girl who was crying because she
had lost her
doll. Kafka invented a story on the spot telling her that the doll
had given
him a letter stating she had gone on a journey. When the girl asked
for the
letter, Kafka claimed to have left it at home and promised to bring it
the
following day.
Kafka was a
brilliant storyteller because he could not only write intriguing
descriptions
which encouraged us to see the world in a childlike and clear way,
but with a
sense of amazement where the reader could be persuaded to believe
that the
world itself was full of miracles. The world was still full of enchantment.
Perhaps the
unique style of Kafka is bested captured by the following quote:
'Where
Hofmannsthal quotes a line from the poet Stefan George , 'Ripe fruits
knock upon
the ground', Kafka writes , 'Unripe fruit struck senselessly from the
trees on to
the ground.' It is these slightly offbeat, concrete evocations of a
moment of
reality that excite Kafka.' So Kafka's sense of magic and mystery
is rooted at
how strange he found the world.
Kafka could
make a melodrama about a woman in a bathtub losing a piece of
soap and
bawling at her servants.
We can
easily forget the Humor which Kafka conveys. In his less known novel,
Amerika ,
the main character , Karl Rossman is sent off to America after making
a servant
girl pregnant. But the America which Kafka depicts is almost a nightmare
where all
the injustice of Europe is simply replicated. Rossman is forced to work
as an abused
and insulted lift elevator boy, a servant and
exposed to all kinds of shady
company.
There is little protection from either employers or policemen who can
remove the
world under his feet. America is a sharply divided country split between
poor slave
workers and rich factory owners. It is worth quoting the following from
the novel:
'Karl
realized that to all extents and purposes he had already lost his job , because
the Head
Waiter had said as much , the Head Porter had referred to it as a foregone
conclusion,
and in the case of a mere lift boy the approval of the management would
hardly be
necessary. It had all happened rather faster than he had expected,
because he
had served for two months as well as he could, and certainly better than
one or two
other boys he could think of. But such things, when it came down to it,
were
obviously of no importance, neither in Europe or America, rather matters are
decided by
whatever the impetuous judgement the initial rage of one's superiors
might
dictate. ' Does this not sound familiar to many people unfairly dismissed in
both America
and Russia? While many people have
heard of Kafka's novels,
The Trial
and The Castle, few people are acquainted with his comical novel called
Amerika , or
'The Man Who Disappeared'. If they read the latter they would discover
that Kafka
had a great sense of humor as well as sense of the absurd.
Kafka showed
supreme subtle perception of the American reality. Yet he had never
even
visited America once!
Klaus
Wagenbach's book is a rare gem. You'll see Kafka in an entirely new light!
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