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[swinehund]

Kafka is my very personal deity.  Sometimes I speak to him late at night.  I wish I were joking.

I don't know if Salman Rushdie's gotten much play here, but the feel of his writing is somewhat similar. It does make a bit more sense generally, but takes the same kind of literal-absurdist angle. I particularly liked Grimus, which is not the critics' favourite but feels a bit more sci-fi than his later stuff.

[Mite]

I saw Dostoevsky up above. Has anyone read Crime and Punishment? I am expecting a resounding YES, and I would like to hear your opinions on it.

Yup. It's real good. Skip the epilogue; you'll feel much better. Though I liked The Brothers Karamazov better. If only he could write believable women, they'd be perfect.

[AlohaDawg]

Yup. It's real good. Skip the epilogue; you'll feel much better. Though I liked The Brothers Karamazov better. If only he could write believable women, they'd be perfect.

I haven't even MET that many believable women.

[miles]

I don't know if Salman Rushdie's gotten much play here, but the feel of his writing is somewhat similar. It does make a bit more sense generally, but takes the same kind of literal-absurdist angle. I particularly liked Grimus, which is not the critics' favourite but feels a bit more sci-fi than his later stuff.

Really?  I've read a good portion of Midnight's Children, and I don't see it at all.  It felt more like Garcia Marquez to me.

Second the love for Dostoevsky and Joyce.  Kafka, well...  I started out college (and ended high school) as a fan.  In fact, he's why I studied German in the first place.  But now, meh.  I still have yet to finish any of his novels, though some of his shorter fiction is among my favorite.

I loved Crime and Punishment and the Brothers Karamazov, but probably the latter better.  Demons is also excellent, even though I haven't finished it.

As far as Joyce goes, I never got very far into Ulysses, and have only read passages from Finnegan's Wake.  But the first chapter of A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man is one of my favorite works of fiction ever (the rest of the book is amazing too).  Dubliners is also great.

[misterqueue]

For the record I think the short Kafka stories are okay, but by far pale in comparison to The Trial.  Ulysses is something I read every year without fail.  (It has gotten a lot easier now that I do not need to read as many annotations to get some of the underlying stuff.)

Also concur on the first chapter of Portrait..  dammit people.. I'm trying to finish Catch 22 here... you are all tempting me.

[swinehund]

Really?  I've read a good portion of Midnight's Children, and I don't see it at all.  It felt more like Garcia Marquez to me.

That's one I haven't read. I think it comes across more in Grimus (particularly), The Satanic Verses, possibly Shame.

[pmcd9]

I love Kafka.  I've read everything he's written.

Also, the Trial is a damn good movie.

~Paul

[FlipConstantine]

Also, the Trial is a damn good movie.

Second that, anyone who hasn't seen it needs to.  One of Orson Wells' better works.

[jough]

Well, I'm a Joyce scholar from way back.  I too read U every year. 

I was introduced to Kafka by Frank Zappa, who suggested listening to a song of his (on Lumpy Gravy?) while reading "In a Penal Colony."

HOWEVER

With Kafka, I can only read the English translation by the husband and wife team.  Muir?  Other translations just seem WRONG to me.

Also, of course, if you're going to read Ulysses, you have to read Gabler's edition.  The others are just... uncivilised.

And if you're interested in Joyce, there's a web site that you may find interesting.  Yes, I know it hasn't been updated since 2002, but the books haven't been updated in longer than that, so it's all good.

[Roger]

Speaking of Kafka, any of you know Bruno Schulz? Jewish writer from Poland, shot dead by a Gestapo officer in the Drohobycz ghetto in 1942. My favorite author forever and ever. I don't usually go for those "x meets y" kind of definitions, but in this case the "Proust meets Kafka" tag that's usually attached to him makes sense. At least based on the little Proust and Kafka that I know...