What is Kafkaesque?

          According to Dictionary.com Kafkaesque is: pertaining to, characteristic of, or resembling the literary work of Franz Kafka. It is also defined as: marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity. Like my History teacher once told me, don’t trust dictionaries for it is written by men smoking cigars and pondering upon what sentence would sound the ‘smartest’. So, I decided to get an accurate definition through someone who has done an in-depth analysis on Kafka’s life. “Frederick R. Karl, author of an exhaustive critical biography of Franz Kafka, believe that the word is as misused as it is used?... ‘What's Kafkaesque,’ he said in an interview in his Manhattan apartment, "is when you enter a surreal world in which all your control patterns, all your plans, the whole way in which you have configured your own behaviour, begins to fall to pieces, when you find yourself against a force that does not lend itself to the way you perceive the world.” (http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/29/nyregion/the-essence-of-kafkaesque.html) Upon being enlightened by Frederick R. Karl I can immediately appreciate how Kafkaesque relates to Kafka (the movie) and The Metamorphosis.

            Karl says Kafkaesque is when you enter a surreal world in which you have no control and understanding; this is literally what happens in both the film and the novel. In The Metamorphosis the protagonist wakes up one day and realizes that he has transformed into a bug. Everything is altered: how high he can see, the speed at which he can walk, his method of communicating, his weight, and even his vision. All of a sudden the protagonist wakes up in a different world and has to adapt to a lifestyle he doesn’t comprehend or want. Even though Gregor may see the world in the same fashion as before, the rest of world will change their perception of him instantly. Unfortunately for him, he cannot make his family understand what happened for he himself doesn’t understand it. His life has fallen to pieces and he has no means to repair it. This new world he lives in is absurd and beyond his understanding. Furthermore, one can further appreciate Karl’s definition of Kafkaesque upon watching Kafka. In the movie, Kafka learns that there are a group of scientist that alter brain activity and thoughts of people in order to keep them from protesting. Again, this world that he has unveiled is bizarre and relatively complex. Upon encountering crazy people, side effects due to the experiments, he recognizes the fact that not only are the experiments wrong but they are also harmful to the public. Kafka wants to stop the experiments but he finds himself in a world that he doesn’t fully understand and has no control over. The current situation isn’t parallel with Kafka’s perception of the world so he decides to fight back on his own. Miraculously, he is successful and destroys all the instruments that were allowing the scientists to brainwash the people. After this accomplishment Kafka recognizes that he is part of this world and will no longer fight it. However, that is when he coughs blood and the audience realizes that he is dying; he finds himself against a force that does not lend itself in the way he perceives the world.

            Thanks to Frederick R. Karl I was better able to understand what Kafkaesque is and how it relates to Kafa’s life as well as his writing. One can also perceive the numerous similarities between Kafka’s life and his characters. Having said that, to me Kafka still remains a bit of a mystery; it turns out to the rest of the world as well. “ ‘It's impossible to pin Kafka down,’ he said. ‘The only way to approach him is by surrounding him with everything he was surrounded with in his lifetime. He played one role to his family, another to his friends, another role in his insurance office.’ ” (http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/29/nyregion/the-essence-of-kafkaesque.html?pagewanted=5&src=pm)