Kafka is boring.

[Something completely different]

It is Franz Kafkas 130th birthday today. I guess alot of you will know who he was. He is considered to be one of the greatest german writers of all time. Maybe you heared of him during breaking bad.

Kafka's writing has inspired the term "Kafkaesque", used to describe concepts and situations reminiscent of his work, particularly Der Process and "Die Verwandlung". Examples include instances in which people are overpowered by bureaucracies, often in a surreal, nightmarish milieu which evokes feelings of senselessness, disorientation, and helplessness. Characters in a Kafkaesque setting often lack a clear course of action to escape the situation. Kafkaesque elements often appear in existential works, but the term has transcended the literary realm to apply to real-life occurrences and situations that are incomprehensibly complex, bizarre, or illogical.[38][211][212][213]

Numerous films and television works have been described as Kafkaesque, and the style is particularly prominent in dystopian science fiction. Works in this genre that have been thus described include Terry Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil and the 1998 science fiction film noir, Dark City. Films from other genres which have been similarly described include The Tenant (1976) and Barton Fink (1991).[214] The television series The Prisoner is also frequently described as Kafkaesque.

For more information I will simply leave the wiki link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka

The releationship I and most other people have to him here is probably compareable to the releationship most americans have with Steinbeck - as in that every american was forced to read "The Grapes of Wrath" in highschool. Whilest here everyone is forced to read "Die Verwandlung" or "Der Prozess".

I really enjoyed "Der Prozess" but have to confess that I found "Die Verwandlung" rather boring and believe it to be either writen in such a way or to be out of date. It gives good insights into a personality but nothing else to me.

[Foxaèr]

In college, we had to read Die Verwandlung, The Metamorphosis. To be honest, though, classic literature does bore me. I much prefer modern fiction.

[Something completely different]

In college, we had to read Die Verwandlung, The Metamorphosis.

I really dont like it.

I think it is simply very hard to describe emotions and feelings with the overcomplex german language in a compelling and artistic way. Only few writers manage this and produce masterpieces giving a wonderfull portreit of a character whilest concaying a message.

"Frost" and "Wittgensteins Neffe" by Thomas Bernhard and "Die Klavierspielerin" by Elfriede Jellinek are such great works.

[JesusHChrist]

I enjoyed both The Trial and Metamorphosis.

I read The Castle but is was a bit of a tougher read. Can't quite say what he was driving at, but I was a young pup.

[CleanShavenJesus]

You're right, I only first started reading Kafka after watching an episode of Breaking Bad titled "Kafkaesque" (something I found to be genius, credit to Vince Gilligan for that). I have read The Metamorphosis, and I have to say, I liked it. The idea that we're in this cold, cruel world with absolutely no explanation for any of the cruel things that happen to us. I find it far from boring.

[Rev. Rye]

Read Nathanael West. After reading his collected works, Kafka will seem like a whiny bitch.