From the Bookshelf of On Paths Unknown…

The Castle

Franz Kafka

Start date: January 29, 2016

Finish date: December 16, 2018

Discussion: THE SURREALISTS: FRANZ KAFKA

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Showing 2 of 2 topics — 26 comments total

THE SURREALISTS: FRANZ KAFKA

Franz Kafka: The Castle. Opening thread. Chapter 1: Arrival
By Traveller · 15 posts · 32 views

last updated Feb 27, 2016 07:32AM

The Castle by Kafka; thread 2 from Ch 2 (Barnabas) to Ch 6 ( 2nd Conversat w. the Landlady)
By Traveller · 11 posts · 54 views

last updated Feb 09, 2016 07:32AM

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What Members Thought

Feb 25, 2018 P.E. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: absurd, treasure-hunt, magical-realism

To me, along with The Trial, the short stories of In the Penal Colony (éditions Garnier Flammarion) and the Metamorphosis, The Castle comes as the pinacle of the absurd : readeable, zany and utterly disturbing.

Turntable :
Inertia Creeps - Massive Attack

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À mes yeux, entre Le Procès, les nouvelles de La Colonie Pénitentiaire chez Garnier Flammarion, la Métamorphose, il ressort comme le récit "absurde" le plus lisible, et le plus cocasse !

Tourne-disque :
Inertia Creeps - Massive Atta ...more

42 likes · Like · see review

Jul 16, 2016 Michael Finocchiaro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, existentialist, classics, novels, czech-20th-c

Left unfinished at his death, Kafka's castle is as inaccessible as the top of Sisyphus' hill or any other utopia that one could imagine. The intricacies of the impenetrable bureaucracy is stupendous as is the terror of the unknown. Every bit as exciting as an Edgar Allen Poe tale or funny as Musil, it is one of Kafka's must important and enigmatic works. ...more

40 likes · Like · see review

Feb 24, 2016 Ronald Morton rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I hate to rate a book four stars and call it a disappointment, but this was disappointing for me.

I really wanted to like this more - and the first 100 pages or so of it are absolutely superb - but some of the later sections come off as pretty un-curated, and go on entirely too long. This is especially true of some of the long conversations/dialogues with the villagers, which came off as tedious and repetitious to me. It's likely that there is a lot of significance in the conversations presented, ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Mar 02, 2021 Klowey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I love the ending . . . in mid-sentence.

Ok, I loved ths book until about 3/4 of the way through, by which time I was beginning to understand why Kafka never finished it. The long explanations (in the last chapters) always leading to yet another intense disagreement was making me angry and emotionally claustrophobic.

Hm. That's probably what he intended.

Anyway, ***** for the first 3/4 and *** for the last 1/4, due to my uncomfortableness with it.
Yes, I have claustrophobia. I also love Kafka.

FYI: ...more

5 likes · Like · see review