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Желание стать индейцем
Рассказы и романы Кафки аллегоричны, но не в обычном смысле этого слова; они являются, так сказать, математическими, алгебраическими символами — столько же условными, сколько реальными. Это своеобразие творческого метода Кафки возникло не само по себе. В нем явственно ощутимы традиции романтического и даже реалистического гротеска прошлого века. Гофман, Гоголь, Достоевский, новеллы Эдгара По — вот те источники, из которых питалось воображение писателя, стремившегося раскрыть некие потаенные, невидимые простым глазом, непознаваемые здравым рассудком отношения человека с действительностью и самим собой... Такими эти отношения представлялись ему, жившему в
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About the author
Franz Kafka
3,231 books38.7k followersFranz Kafka was a German-speaking writer from Prague whose work became one of the foundations of modern literature, even though he published only a small part of his writing during his lifetime. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kafka grew up amid German, Czech, and Jewish cultural influences that shaped his sense of displacement and linguistic precision. His difficult relationship with his authoritarian father left a lasting mark, fostering feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inadequacy that became central themes in his fiction and personal writings.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 18, 2018
I'm overwhelmed.
To be honest when I read this short story minutes ago I didn't understand what the meaning of all that, but when I read a review on that story I realized that I have a lot to learn.
That story is so short that it is actually one sentence...I highly recommend it to all the people who live this world :)
To be honest when I read this short story minutes ago I didn't understand what the meaning of all that, but when I read a review on that story I realized that I have a lot to learn.
That story is so short that it is actually one sentence...I highly recommend it to all the people who live this world :)
January 9, 2025
3.8/5
January 24, 2023
dalej mnie boli ta ocena dla mojego ukochanego kafki
July 5, 2023
This one is so short it's one complex sentence. If I was to translate and type it out it would be like a short review. I like it a lot, however. Such a short work and yet the ending had been totally unexpected and mind you, very absurd.
November 12, 2023
I THINK!
The horse is maybe a metaphor for a hard life/time/something else(that's prefixed 'hard').
If life is in a complete mess, we feel stuck, out of control and can't see the happiness.
And before it gets well, it ends.
Oh god!
This man just plotted the points.
The horse is maybe a metaphor for a hard life/time/something else(that's prefixed 'hard').
If life is in a complete mess, we feel stuck, out of control and can't see the happiness.
And before it gets well, it ends.
Oh god!
This man just plotted the points.
November 12, 2023
opisuje moje zycie
March 27, 2020
Lubię książki, które są "niewiadomo po co". Bo po co nam kilkunastostronicowa książeczka, w której jest jedno zdanie (Kafki) i minimalistyczne ilustracje do niego (Guridiego)? I choć to piękne zdanie, a rysunki są delikatne i opowiadają rozkoszną historyjkę, to wciąż trudno znaleźć racjonalne uzasadnienie dla jej nabycia. Ale jest we mnie pewien rodzaj książkowego snobizmu, nutka kolekcjonerstwa, która wszystkie takie grzechy wybacza.
Sen Kafki, który przypomina wydawnictwo Łajka w "Stać się Indianinem" to książka pozornie skierowana do dzieci, ale kto z nas nie chciałby w dowolnym momencie transformować się do bajek dzieciństwa? I kogo z nas stać, by dziecku kupić książkę, którą odkłada się na półkę po 10 minutach? Kalkulujecie to? Bo ja bym kalkulował, gdybym miał dziecko.
Piękna to rzecz, estetyczna i do głaskania. Ale pytanie - po co, poza snobizmem, psychofaństwem i szaleństwem prywatnym, komu to? No sami sobie musicie wymyślić racjonalizację.
Sen Kafki, który przypomina wydawnictwo Łajka w "Stać się Indianinem" to książka pozornie skierowana do dzieci, ale kto z nas nie chciałby w dowolnym momencie transformować się do bajek dzieciństwa? I kogo z nas stać, by dziecku kupić książkę, którą odkłada się na półkę po 10 minutach? Kalkulujecie to? Bo ja bym kalkulował, gdybym miał dziecko.
Piękna to rzecz, estetyczna i do głaskania. Ale pytanie - po co, poza snobizmem, psychofaństwem i szaleństwem prywatnym, komu to? No sami sobie musicie wymyślić racjonalizację.
February 12, 2023
What a powerful sentence incorporating the idea of how modern industrialized civilization has corrupted mankind leaving him with an innate wish to return to a time when man felt one with nature.
December 27, 2022
Mini książka, tuszu więcej poszło na ilustracje niż na słowa. Ładnie zrobiona.
November 12, 2023
bardzo mnie urzekło.
September 1, 2025
Apparently an unpopular opinion but this isn't one of his best ones
December 28, 2025
The wish, indeed
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews