Reviews for Conversations with Kafka

The average rating for Conversations with Kafka based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-10-20 00:00:00 Douglas Kennedy ‭Gesprache mit kafka = Conversations with Kafka, Gustav Janouch Gustav Janouch met Franz Kafka, the celebrated author of, as a seventeen-year-old fledgling poet. Kafka tells Janouch, 'Life is infinitely great and profound as the immensity of the stars above us. One can only look at it through the narrow keyhole of one's personal experience. But through it one perceives more than one can see. So above all one must keep the keyhole clean.' تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیستم ماه اکتبر سال 1974میلادی عنوان: گفتگو با کافکا؛ نویسنده: گوستاو یانوش؛ مترجم: فرامرز بهزاد؛ تهران، خوارزمی، 1352؛ در 271ص؛ چاپ سوم 1386؛ شابک 9789644870778؛ موضوع سرگذشتنامه فرانتس کافکا از سال 1883میلادی تا سال 1924میلادی - سده 20م نویسنده ی کتاب: «گفتگو با کافکا»؛ «گوستاو یانوش»، به هنگام آشنایی خود با «فرانتس کافکا»، که در سال 1920میلادی رخ میدهد، جوان هفده ساله ای است شیفته ی کتاب، و ادبیات، که داستان مینویسد و شعر میسراید، و گاهی هم آنها را در روزنامه ها، و مجلات ادبی «پراگ»، منتشر میکند؛ همصحبتش نویسنده ای است، که با انتشار داستانها، و مجموعه داستانهایی همچون: «مسخ»، «گروه محکومین»، و «پزشک دهکده»، در محافل ادبی «پراگ»، کسب شهرت کرده است؛ برخورد نخست دانش آموز هفده ساله، و نویسنده ی سی و هفت ساله را، پدر «یانوش»، که دوست اداری «دکتر کافکای حقوقدان» است، ترتیب میدهد؛ تا «یانوش» نظر «کافکا» را، درباره ی اشعار خود بشنود، و راهنمایی شود؛ ولی این برخورد، ملاقاتهای دیگری را، در پی دارد، که «کافکا» نیز از آنها رویگردان نیست؛ «یانوش»، تقریباً هر روز، حدود نیم ساعت مانده به پایان وقت اداری، به دیدن «کافکا» میرود، و از هر دری سخن به میان میآورد؛ او جوانی است تشنه ی درک حقیقت زندگی، و واقعیات جهان (و به گفته ی خود «کافکا» کتابها و مجلات را میبلعد)، و یک دفتر خاطرات، و دفترهایی هم برای کوششهای ادبی خود دارد تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 09/10/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ا. شربیانی

Review # 2 was written on 2012-05-21 00:00:00 Dillon Shelton This is an interesting work of non-fiction that on the whole is a biographical tale from the perspective of Gustav Janouch. I believe that one could almost call it a classic of the biographical art. However since I have read very few biographical works that are forty to fifty years old I hold my judgement until I have examined works others consider to be classic biographies. Conversations With Kafka is a series of different conversations between Janouch and his mentor Franz Kafka (who could have guessed?). It was an insightful piece of work into the life of Kafka who is regarded as one of the greatest literary thinkers of the 20th Century if not all time. And what I saw here in this work is who Kafka was when not analysed by critics in the thousands of other works available. He was a brilliant mind who lived and breathed and was in every way human. Kafka was also precognitive as he recognised that eventually the Jewish people would be segregated and attacked by an increase in anti-Semitism. He could read the warning signs of another war that would arise years after his death (although he saw it perhaps as happening in his time). In many ways it showed me that Kafka could see World War 2 happening and in some extent the Holocaust (he was a Czech Jew). What I also learned is that Kafka felt like he carried prison bars within his soul. He felt burdened by his life, entrapped by the society around him. And as such this was a highly useful text to read in order to look at The Metamorphosis through the lens of understanding Kafka. But perhaps the most important thing and the greatest reason for reading this is summed up by Janouch. While thousands of books have been written about Kafka and many theories made about his works very few writers have known the man in the same intimacy as Janouch. Kafka was a living man, a figure who existed in full essence of life and this book reveals an insight into that man while he was still alive.