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savaging's review against another edition
5.0
"Your will is free means: it was free when it wanted the desert, it is free since it can choose the path that leads to crossing the desert, it is free since it can choose the pace, but it is also unfree since you must go through the desert, unfree since every path in labyrinthine manner touches every foot of the desert’s surface."
Kafka at his most fragmented and immediate. The blue octavo notebooks were the equivalent of those salt-and-pepper student composition books, meant for scribblings and first drafts. What Kafka created there is a list of irreverent and troubling Zen koans. This book solidifies for me Kafka's position as one of the most complex and interesting spiritual theorists in the West. (though as for that word "theorist," as Kafka says here: "From outside one will always triumphantly impress theories upon the world and then fall straight into the ditch one has dug, but only from inside will one keep oneself and the world quiet and true.")
Kafka at his most fragmented and immediate. The blue octavo notebooks were the equivalent of those salt-and-pepper student composition books, meant for scribblings and first drafts. What Kafka created there is a list of irreverent and troubling Zen koans. This book solidifies for me Kafka's position as one of the most complex and interesting spiritual theorists in the West. (though as for that word "theorist," as Kafka says here: "From outside one will always triumphantly impress theories upon the world and then fall straight into the ditch one has dug, but only from inside will one keep oneself and the world quiet and true.")
tungstenmouse's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
I am unable to give this a star rating. As someone who loves Kafka's works, I felt it was important to read this. The average reader may not feel the same. This is a collection of ideas, writings, and stories that often don't continue or have middles or endings. I personally enjoyed this but it would easily lose the average reader who isn't invested in Kafka.
shiprim's review
4.0
"Çalılık, eskilerden bir settir, ilerleyebilmek için çalılığı ateşe vermek gerekir."
"Avarelik tüm kötülüklerin anası, tüm erdemlerin tacıdır."
"Ödevimizin yaşamımız kadar büyük oluşu, onu sonsuzmuş gibi gösteriyor."
"Kendini öldüren kişi , hapishanenin avlusunda kurulan darağacını gören, bunun onun için kurulduğunu sanan, gece hücresinden kaçıp kendini asan bir mahkumdur."
"İradenin özgürlüğü denen şey şudur: Kendini çöle vurmakta, çölü geçeceğin yolu seçmekte, nasıl yürüyeceğini belirlemekte özgürdür; fakat aynı zamanda, çölü geçmek zorunda olduğu için özgür değildir, seçeceği her yolun labirent misali çölün her noktasına uğraması zorunlu olduğu için özgür değildir."
...Çünkü haşereyi üreten boşluktur!
"Avarelik tüm kötülüklerin anası, tüm erdemlerin tacıdır."
"Ödevimizin yaşamımız kadar büyük oluşu, onu sonsuzmuş gibi gösteriyor."
"Kendini öldüren kişi , hapishanenin avlusunda kurulan darağacını gören, bunun onun için kurulduğunu sanan, gece hücresinden kaçıp kendini asan bir mahkumdur."
"İradenin özgürlüğü denen şey şudur: Kendini çöle vurmakta, çölü geçeceğin yolu seçmekte, nasıl yürüyeceğini belirlemekte özgürdür; fakat aynı zamanda, çölü geçmek zorunda olduğu için özgür değildir, seçeceği her yolun labirent misali çölün her noktasına uğraması zorunlu olduğu için özgür değildir."
...Çünkü haşereyi üreten boşluktur!
apollonium's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
jarcher's review against another edition
1.0
I read this because Tommy Orange recommended it at a book talk. Either Tommy is a bigger Kafka fan than I (probably) or knows something I don’t (definitely).
psychprofreads's review against another edition
5.0
Oh, if only I could conjure the magic to revive Kafka so that he may finish some of these tales! What an excruciating tease this collection of notebooks is! and yet what a gift, too, to see how the mind of the author was always creating; always envisioning characters and circumstances. I may now forever feel something missing in my life never knowing if Anton's unabashed egotism will ever be justifiably crushed:
"'I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart that you have been pining for me. I have often looked with genuine sadness at your careworn face, when you were standing in the courtyard, gazing up at my window. Well, I am not unfavorably inclined to you, and though you may not yet have won my heart, you have a good chance at doing so.'"
"'I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart that you have been pining for me. I have often looked with genuine sadness at your careworn face, when you were standing in the courtyard, gazing up at my window. Well, I am not unfavorably inclined to you, and though you may not yet have won my heart, you have a good chance at doing so.'"
davidtasselhoff's review against another edition
5.0
kafka's last notebooks of fragments, ideas, and burning nights. kafka in a sheaf of notes is much more intelligible than in his tightly constructed pieces - here you can see the burdens hammering in his chest. the lines are so precious and unfamiliar in their origin - they've stayed rattling in my head like strange pets