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BBC Radio 3's Word and Music program(me) did a feature called "Kafka and Co" yesterday.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05tpm7y
Description:
Poetry, prose and music exploring the themes in Kafka - the absurd, isolation, chaos, parents and children, transformation and authority. The readers are Rory Kinnear and Juliet Stevenson. With poems and prose by Franz Kafka, T.S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, Carol Ann Duffy and U.A. Fanthorpe and music by Martinu, Dvorak, Gideon Klein, Krenek, Talking Heads, Prokofiev, Kurtag and Rufus Wainwright.
BBC Radio 3's Sunday Feature program(me) aired "In the Shadow of Kafka: Prophet of Prague" yesterday.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05tpm80
Description
Misha Glenny journeys to Prague to examine how Franz Kafka's life and ideas were shaped by his native city at a critical point in European history at the start of the 20th century. Part of Radio 3's "In the Shadow of Kafka" series.
Today Franz Kafka is an icon in Prague: his face a logo, his name adopted by coffee houses and tourist brochures. And in some ways it has a right to claim him: Kafka was born and grew in Prague. He went to school and spent his working life within a 12-block radius of the city's old town. Some have argued the city is there, unstated but ever-present, in all his fiction. Yet he had mixed feelings about his native city, famously writing "this loving mother has claws; he who would liberate himself, would have to set her on fire".
Misha Glenny worked as a journalist in Prague in the 1980s. He returns to examine the life of one of the most elusive and intriguing figures in 20th century literature.
How were Franz Kafka's ideas shaped by his time in Prague? Misha visits key locations including the Workers' Accident Insurance Institute where Kafka worked as an insurance lawyer for the best part of 15 years. He examines the global influences on Kafka's ideas: the esoteric philosophies circulating in Prague's cafes, the politics and paranoia of an empire in decline, the rising tide of Czech nationalism which threatened to engulf the Jewish old-town where the Kafkas lived.
Since his passing in 1924, Kafka has cut an ambivalent figure on the city's cultural landscape. In novels like The Trial and The Castle he seemed to anticipate the totalitarian forces which came to play in subsequent years. He was later dubbed The Prophet of Prague and his books duly banned, considered a threat to the communist regime.
MIsha Glenny is a writer and broadcaster. He lived in Prague in the 1980s as the Central Europe correspondent for the BBC.
Producer Joby Waldman
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 3
This is part of the series "In the Shadow of Kafka", a week of Kafka-related programmes on Radio 3 from 10th-16th May 2015. 2015 marks 100 years since the publication of The Metamorphosis and 90 years since the posthumous publication of The Trial.
It includes:
Sunday Feature, The Prophet of Prague, 10th May 1845
Drama on 3, The Process, Mark Ravenhill's adaptation of The Trial, 10th May 2200
The Essay, Encounters with Kafka by five contemporary writers, Mon-Fri 2245
Jazz on 3: A session from British quartet Blue Eyed Hawk inspired by Kafka's short stories. 11th May 2300
Between The Ears, Mr Rainbow, a drama documentary inspired by Kafka's The Metamorphosis, 16th May 2130.
BBC Radio 3's Drama on 3 program(me) presented "The Process" yesterday.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05tpnkk
Description
A new adaptation of Franz Kafka's classic book The Trial - dramatised and updated by Mark Ravenhill as part of Radio 3's series "In the Shadow of Kafka".
Imagine being accused of something you've not only not done, you don't even know what it is. Imagine a series of quasi-authority figures invading your office, bedroom and streets at any time of day or night. Imagine the buildings and city in which you live changing in front of your eyes. Imagine a never-ending, increasingly frightening process in which you are the key player and the least in charge. Welcome to the world of Joseph Kay.
Franz Kafka spawned a whole genre of writing and entered the OED with an adjective that encapsulates his very specific brand of clear, considered prose, nightmarish landscapes of misunderstanding, twisted psyches and utter loss of individual identity. Der Prozess was first published in 1925.
Mark says:
"Kafka's Der Prozess is one of the defining texts of the twentieth century, so it was an exciting challenge to re-imagine it for our times. I found that Kafka's story - of an individual struggling with a system in which responsibility, judgement and meaning are endlessly deferred - sat remarkably and yet uncomfortably well in a contemporary setting. Reading through my script before I delivered it, I couldn't be sure if I'd written a comedy or a tragedy. I would guess that's what Kafka wanted."
Sound design, Eloise Whitmore
BA, Lucy Duffield
Executive producer, Joby Waldman
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 3.
BBC Radio 4 started a dramatization of The Castle yesterday.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05tbw1m
Description:
In Franz Kafka's mind-warping novel, set in a bureaucratic wonderland, the hapless land-surveyor known only as K answers a summons to work at the mysterious Castle, only to find himself drawn into a labyrinth of terror and absurdity.
With the Jackie Palmer Children's Choir
Dramatist: Ed Harris
Producer: John Taylor
A Fiction Factory production for BBC Radio 4.
Yesterday, on Radio 3's The Essay, "In The Shadow of Kafka," Episode 1, is presented by List Author Margaret Atwoodhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05tptfy
Description:
Franz Kafka means many things to many people. Five leading writers explore the breadth of his thinking, his world and how his writing still resonates for them as contemporary writers.
Part of In the Shadow of Kafka, Radio 3's series exploring the work and influence of Franz Kafka.
1. Kafka: Three Encounters - Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood's first essay on Kafka was written when she was 19 years old not yet a writer herself. Over the years she visited Prague three times, each time looking for traces of the iconic writer, each time finding a different version of him and a changing attitude of his native city to one of its most famous and elusive sons. How did he have such a far-sighted interpretation of the world around him and beyond?
Margaret Atwood is a multi award-winning novelist, poet, essayist and environmental campaigner.
Producer, Polly Thomas
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 3.
Jazz inspired by Kafka? Why yes! Jazz on 3
In the Shadow of Kafka: Blue-Eyed Hawk in Session
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05tptg0
Description:
British band Blue-Eyed Hawk perform in session, premiering new music inspired by the celebrated Czech writer Franz Kafka.
Now 100 years since the publication of his seminal work The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung), Franz Kafka remains one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, inspiring generations with his novels and short stories, themes of alienation, authority and mythical transformation. To coincide with a series of programmes across Radio 3 celebrating his life, Jazz on 3 invited Blue-Eyed Hawk - a quartet born from the fascination between improvisation and literature - to write new music inspired by Kafka's short stories.
As their namesake line from W.B. Yeats's poem Under the Moon suggests, Blue-Eyed Hawk's first projects have focused mainly on the musicality found in poetry, powered by vocalist Lauren Kinsella's impressive ability to reimagine the rhythms and twists of verse. However Kafka's prose poses a different sort of challenge and it's a focus on his characters and themes that come to the fore in this session. The band members, including acclaimed young trumpeter Laura Jurd, guitarist Alex Roth and drummer Corrie Dick, share composition duties and bring their own individual sound to the world of Kafka.
Presenter: Jez Nelson
Producer: Miranda Hinkley.
The second radio essay this week on Franz Kafka, this time by List Author Hanif Kureishi.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05tq3rd
Description:
Franz Kafka means many things to many people. Five leading writers explore the breadth of his thinking, his world and how his writing still resonates for them as contemporary writers.
Part of In the Shadow of Kafka, Radio 3's series exploring the work and influence of Franz Kafka.
2. His Father's Excrement: Franz Kafka and the Power of the Insect - Hanif Kureishi
Hanif Kureishi explores Kafka's personal and artistic fascination with the body and food. A lifelong vegetarian, Kafka was tormented by his delicate digestion and his father's blustering, carnivorous robustness. His characters use their bodies as weapons to attack others and ultimately destroy themselves.
Hanif Kureishi is a playwright, film maker and novelist.
Producer, Polly Thomas
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 3.
BBC Radio 3's third Essay on Kafka: Waving or Drowning: Kafka and Meaninghttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05tq3rg
Description:
Franz Kafka means many things to many people. Five leading writers explore the breadth of his thinking, his world and how his work still resonates for them.
Part of In the Shadow of Kafka, Radio 3's series highlighting the work and influence of Franz Kafka.
3. Waving or Drowning: Kafka and Meaning - Karen Leeder
Kafka's work is full of messengers and messages. Leeder examines the significance and interpretation of communication in Kafka, delving into meaning, a key debate around his work. She argues that it is not so much the meaning as the very act of purveying a message itself that is Kafka's aim.
Karen Leeder is a prize winning translator and Professor of Modern German Literature at New College, Oxford.
Producer, Polly Thomas
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 3.
BBC's Radio 3 fourth Essay on Franz Kafka:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05tq3rj
Description:
Franz Kafka means many things to many people. Five leading writers explore the breadth of his thinking, his world and how his work still resonates for them as contemporary writers.
Part of In the Shadow of Kafka, Radio 3's current season, highlighting the work and influence of Franz Kafka.
4. Kafka's Castle - April De Angelis
Is Kafka funny? Is he a feminist? Kafka was reported to frequently laugh uproariously at his own work, yet for many, his writing tips from comic to nihilistic and back with ease. De Angelis unpicks the comic elements of The Castle, one of his three full length novels, and argues an unusual case, for Kafka the feminist.
April de Angelis is an award-winning playwright for stage, radio, opera and film. Her play Jumpy was in the West End in 2014.
Producer, Polly Thomas
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 3.
BBC Radio 3's final In The Shadow of Kafka Essay aired yesterday.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05tq3rl
Franz Kafka means many things to many people. Five essayists explore the breadth of his thinking, his world and how his work still resonates for them as contemporary writers.
Part of In the Shadow of Kafka, Radio 3's current season, highlighting the work and influence of Franz Kafka.
5. Transformer - Jeff Young
Jeff first encountered Kafka as a surly teenager in the 1970s, when a kipper tie wearing art teacher put A Love Supreme by John Coltrane on the turntable during an art lesson and read aloud from The Metamorphosis. The magic and mystery of Kafka's writing was made even powerful by the fact that it had been translated. Over time, Jeff collected and compared every new edition. His essay looks at the nature of translation, how it sits between the writer and the words and how that magical space allows the reader to discover his or her own version of the author and his intention.
Jeff Young is a playwright, for radio stage and screen. He has written about 30 radio plays, radio essays and drama documentaries. In 2014 his play 'Bright Phoenix' marked the 50th anniversary of Liverpool Everyman theatre.
Producer, Polly Thomas
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 3.
Yesterday, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a Kafka-inspired drama.Between the Ears
Mr Rainbow
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05vgxvr
Description:
Gregory has a decent job and a sort-of girlfriend, but he lives at home with his Dad. When an alarming physical condition leaves him incapacitated he takes advice from a series of self-help experts: a life coach, a GP, a healer and a dating expert.
Mr Rainbow fuses elements of drama with real voices and is inspired by The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Part of Radio 3's series "In the Shadow of Kafka" exploring the enduring power of the writer's work.
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Gregory ..... Tom Bennett
.
Producer/director, Joby Waldman
Executive producer, Polly Thomas
A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 3
Kafka's manuscripts to go to Tel Aviv libraryhttp://www.dw.com/en/kafkas-manuscrip...
Franz Kafka wanted his manuscripts destroyed. By a twist of fate, they've been spared. And now a court in Tel Aviv has decided they should go to Israel's National Library.
Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "Franz Kafka wanted his manuscripts destroyed. By a twist of fate, they've been spared."Yes... and no.
He told his best friend and literary executor, Max Brod, that he wanted his works destroyed, but Max told him he wouldn't obey, and Kafka didn't change his literary executor. At some level, I think he wanted them preserved.
So far in my 14 years of life I haven't read any of Kafka's works!Could you please help me by suggesting me that one book that will make a great start?
If you want a novel, The Trial is the classic, though I prefer The Castle (though it's so unfinished, it stops mid-sentence). Don't be tempted by Amerika.However, you may be better off with short stories. The Metamorphosis is his best known and usually published alongside others, but most are available free, online. Three other good ones are here (the reviews I'm linking to include links to online versions):
In the Penal Colony:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Judgement:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Before the Law:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thank you very much for your help and especially for taking the time and putting the links!Again,thanks!
Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
Books mentioned in this topic
The Trial (other topics)The Castle (other topics)
Amerika (other topics)
The Metamorphosis (other topics)
The Metamorphosis (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Franz Kafka (other topics)Sebastian Baczkiewicz (other topics)
Franz Kafka (other topics)
Franz Kafka (other topics)
April De Angelis (other topics)
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05tbh5k
Description:
Gregor Samsa, as we all now know, woke up one morning to find himself transformed into an insect. But what kind of insect precisely?
Franz Kafka does not give much help to readers of The Metamorphosis (100 years old in 2015). In German Samsa finds himself transformed into an "Ungezeifer" - "monstrous vermin." Early translations identify Samsa as an insect (and the fact that he crawls over the ceiling of the Samsa family home make it easy to imagine him as a kind of man sized cockroach) but literary critics have persisted in seeing Gregor's transformation as symbolic of his alienation.
The reader though registers Samsa as very corporeal, and that body is leathery and insectoid.
The hunt is deadly serious: much of the vertiginous pleasure of reading The Metamorphoses comes from the naturalistic, physical description of the creature which Samsa becomes. We are told on the first page that his carapace is hard, convex on both sides, and that his stomach is divided into rigid banded segments. But what kind of insect this denotes has concerned Kafka scholars since the book was published.
David Baddiel travels to Prague to meet the experts at the world's largest insect fair, on the trail of the insect Gregor. Will he be able to pin the insect form down?