-Kafka, Letter to Oskar Pollak, January 27, 1904

[mylittlepwnie]

"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us... We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us."

Comments

i need to read more of those books.

[regiomontanus]

Congo, while not a very good movie, does have one redeeming exchange.

On their trek across the border, the intrepid adventurers are detained by very serious and intimidating border guards. They're a ragtag bunch of pseudo-scientists and their actions are in violation of basically everything. So one giant soldier is screaming at them and the nerdy bookworm guy pipes up mournfully

"This is so Kafka!"

which brings round Gigantor Man's attention and cruel, shaking, screaming face to utter:

"WHO IS KAFKA?!?! YOU WILL TELL ME!"

fin.

Re: i need to read more of those books.

[mylittlepwnie]

I want to see that movie now, if only for those lines. :)

gorilla lover.

[regiomontanus]

I was incredibly tickled by it; the thought still makes me chuckle. And there are people who like it. And there are giant gorillas. So if you're into that sort of thing, it's right up your alley.