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A review by blairmahoney
Amerika: The Man Who Disappeared by Franz Kafka
4.0
So I read the translation by Michael Hofmann from 1996, about which New Directions says, "the translator returned to the manuscript version of the book, restoring matters of substance and detail: material appears which has never before been presented in English and the original ending is also reinstated." Hofmann's introduction is good, and he counters Muir's claim that it is a story of innocence by saying, "I think the opening sentence establishes Karl's guilt beyond all doubt. He may feel and sound and act innocent, and think of himself as innocent, but when was that ever any defence in Kafka, in whom, here as elsewhere, guilt is assumed at the outset?"
I really liked the novel, and even though there is much commentary on how different it is from the other novels I could see clear connections. Karl's bewilderment and indignant railing against the situations he finds himself in, right from the opening chapter, "The Stoker" seem absolutely typical Kafka to me. There's also the way he meekly accedes to the confined and oppressive situations he finds himself in, whether his uncle's apartment, the country house, the hotel and Brunelda's apartment. Hofmann observes the patterns of wandering, adoption and expulsion that repeat through the existing chapters that give a hint of the overall structure he had in mind. I think my favourite parts are the country house with its missing walls and labyrinthine structure swathed in darkness where he wrestles with Miss Klara in a highly sexual way that he seems oblivious to, and the Theatre of Oklahama. That last chapter put me strongly in mind of Gerald Murnane for some reason. I can't remember if Murnane mentions Kafka in [b]A History of Books[/b], but this work of all Kafka's I think would have been the strongest influence on him.
I really liked the novel, and even though there is much commentary on how different it is from the other novels I could see clear connections. Karl's bewilderment and indignant railing against the situations he finds himself in, right from the opening chapter, "The Stoker" seem absolutely typical Kafka to me. There's also the way he meekly accedes to the confined and oppressive situations he finds himself in, whether his uncle's apartment, the country house, the hotel and Brunelda's apartment. Hofmann observes the patterns of wandering, adoption and expulsion that repeat through the existing chapters that give a hint of the overall structure he had in mind. I think my favourite parts are the country house with its missing walls and labyrinthine structure swathed in darkness where he wrestles with Miss Klara in a highly sexual way that he seems oblivious to, and the Theatre of Oklahama. That last chapter put me strongly in mind of Gerald Murnane for some reason. I can't remember if Murnane mentions Kafka in [b]A History of Books[/b], but this work of all Kafka's I think would have been the strongest influence on him.