Aphorisms (The Schocken Kafka Library) by Franz Kafka (EPUB)

Description

The aphorism eludes definition: it can appear to be a random jotting or a more polished observation. Whether arbitrary fragment or crystalline shard, an aphorism captures the inception of a thought. Franz Kafka composed aphorisms during two periods in his life. A series of 109 was written between September 1917 and April 1918, in Zürau, West Bohemia, while Kafka was on a visit to his sister Ottla, hoping for a brief respite following the diagnosis of the tuberculosis virus that would eventually claim his life. They were originally published in 1931, seven years after his death by his friend and literary executor Max Brod, under the title Betrachtungen über Sünde, Hoffnung, Leid, und den wahren Wag (Reflections on Sin, Hope, Suffering, and the True Way). The second sequence of aphorisms, numbering 41, originally appeared as entries in Kafka’s diary from January 6 to February 29, 1920. They, too, were published posthumously, under the title “Er”: Aufzeichnungen aus dem Jahr 1920 (“He”: Reflections from the Year 1920). Kafka’s aphorisms are fascinating glimpses into the lure and the enigma of the form itself.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐How can such a prestigious publishing house as Schocken put out such a horrible edition? I could write a long essay enumerating all the mistakes and omissions but I will limit myself to a few of them not to waste my and your time and to convince you to stay away from this edition. Obviously we are not going to be speaking about the wonders of Kafka, rather about the foreword and translation. Let’s start at the beginning. I guess when you want to sound smart you will throw in Greek except when you make mistakes. So immediately in the first line of the foreword a wrong Greek declination for the infinitive coupled with wrong Greek letters. Next the etymology of οριζειυ (another grammatical mistake) is certainly dubious. But then on page XII again Greek and again wrong twice misspelled a simple word ηθοσ ανρωπωι without θ and in the second instance a wrong grammatical ending. It should be ήθος ανθρώπω δαίμων (And ανρώπω again without a θ). So I guess Mr. Frank is not too much of a classical guy. But then comes a big surprise on page XI, paragraph V you read Kafka’s aphorism “The world is only ever a constructed world.” Aphorism (54) and then again quoted (62) “The fact that the only world is a constructed world takes away hope and gives us certainty” So Kafka was into construction business, I guess? Well then you go and check what it really says: Es gibt nichts anderes als eine geistige Welt (54) and later the same Die Tatsache, daß es nichts anderes gibt als eine geistige Welt, nimmt uns die Hoffnung und gibt uns die Gewißheit.” GEISTIGE! is spiritual! So now you go and take a look who translated such nonsense! And you read Willa and Edwin Muir and by Michael Hofmann. Mr. Hofmann, aren’t you at least a little bit ashamed of such “translation”? Willa and Edwin Muir translated correctly Geistige as spiritual, as anyone can check in their translation. So here we have Mr. Hofmann who wasn’t even in the world when Muir’s did their translation correcting them without any sign that this is what he is doing. horrible simply put. as Kafka would say “dumm und fantastisch” Many more mistakes are unfortunately in this edition. But as well many editing omissions for example aphorism 7 was crossed out by Kafka but in this edition this is not indicated etc. etc. etc. Stay away. Schocken Kafka deserves better!

⭐Kafka was grasping at straws on a few of these aphorisms. This was clearly something he wrote as a pastime and it was published posthumously for a reason. I agree with some of the other reviews that Kafka’s better at storytelling, and that far-superior philosophical works exist out there. (I do like the cover though, so that’s a plus!)

⭐A bit on the light side, not amusing, nor memorial. The novels are much better.

⭐My favorite collection of prose by Franz Kafka.

⭐As important as anything Kafka wrote.

⭐Great

⭐Nice book but the content is pretty dull for the most part.

⭐Great quotes, some of them very deep.

⭐Great book and I love this edition.

⭐Great book – fab cover

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