If you're sailing a sea of amber and garnet in the tourist shops, don't forget your amber boat! 
The modesty of the Czechs!
Woodwork on the Charles Bridge - feeling inspired Dad?
Me, on the Charles Bridge.On Friday afternoon I visited the newish Kafka Museum in the shadow of the Charles Bridge. It is a very long exhibition and I took a long time looking at everything and was there until closing (18.00) b/c I didn't realise how big it was.
It was mostly in Deutsch and English and a little bit in Cz, but of course quotes from his texts were all auf Deutsch. Explanatory notes to the articles eg books were in English, so I was well placed for it but you would definitely not get as much out of it if you didn't know both these languages - really a lot of German content.
An intro to FK
Franz Kafka was a Czech Jew who wrote in German but of course also knew the Czech language. He studied law at the German University in Prague and some of his better known works include the Trial (Prozess), the Castle (Schloss), the Judgement, the Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung), In the penal colony (In der Strafkolonie) (this was the only work he ever gave a public reading of, causing ladies to faint and generally not well received at the time), and of course many others. He asked his friend Max Brod to destroy his work, which if course Max did not, so there is quite a body of work to be enjoyed.
He had 4 serious relationships with women but never married and died at an early age due to ill heath, following a forced early retirement. He became very disenchanted with his work at the Italian Insurance bureau as it severely limited the time he could devote to his writing. I include here a quote in German from "Briefe an Felice" (Letter to Felice (one of his fiancees)), apologies to non deutschsprechenden.
It was mostly in Deutsch and English and a little bit in Cz, but of course quotes from his texts were all auf Deutsch. Explanatory notes to the articles eg books were in English, so I was well placed for it but you would definitely not get as much out of it if you didn't know both these languages - really a lot of German content.
An intro to FK
Franz Kafka was a Czech Jew who wrote in German but of course also knew the Czech language. He studied law at the German University in Prague and some of his better known works include the Trial (Prozess), the Castle (Schloss), the Judgement, the Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung), In the penal colony (In der Strafkolonie) (this was the only work he ever gave a public reading of, causing ladies to faint and generally not well received at the time), and of course many others. He asked his friend Max Brod to destroy his work, which if course Max did not, so there is quite a body of work to be enjoyed.
He had 4 serious relationships with women but never married and died at an early age due to ill heath, following a forced early retirement. He became very disenchanted with his work at the Italian Insurance bureau as it severely limited the time he could devote to his writing. I include here a quote in German from "Briefe an Felice" (Letter to Felice (one of his fiancees)), apologies to non deutschsprechenden.
Das Bureau? Dass ich es einmal aufgeben kann, ist ueberhaupt ausgeschlossen. Ob ich es aber nicht einmal aufgeben muss, weil ich nicht mehr weiter kann, das ist durchaus nicht so ausgeschlossen. Meine innere Unsicherheit und Unruhe ist in dieser Hinsicht schrecklich, und ich hier ist das Schreiben der einzige und eigentliche Grund... Schreiben und Bureau schliessen einander aus, denn Schreiben hat das Schwergewicht in der Tiefe, waehrend das Bureau oben in Leben ist. So geht es auf und ab und man muss davon zerrissen werden.
So the rough idea is that he says giving up the office is out of the question. But that he might one day have to give it up because he can't continue is not totally out of the question. His internal unsureness and unrest is from this perspective terrible because his raison d'ete is writing. Writing and the office cut each other out and while writing is deeply important (maybe in the soul?), the office has the most important/highest place in life.
It was good to finally read some Kafka here in Prague, in German. I will read more in the next few weeks I hope. I have with me my dual language volume and you can easily obtain more here.
