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Rating: There was a discussion about ideas in another review, and here is the brilliant idea conceived by David Zane Mairowitz, a prolific author of radio scripts for the BBC and Robert Crumb, one of the founding fathers of American underground comics: to narrate the life and work of Franz Kafka in comic form, one of the key figures of 20th-century European, if not world, literary and cultural history.
An original way to describe, in a succinct and fresh manner, the existential universe that underlies the work of the Jewish writer, nihilistic and paranoid, assailed by innumerable obsessions that marked both his greatness and his limits. A truly singular man, outwardly insignificant and elusive, smiling and courteous, withdrawn and reserved, whom friends described as someone who seemed to live inside a glass bell. Yet, a profoundly complex man with a very vivid and simultaneously cruel inner world. A subtle and refined cruelty, born of paradoxical situations and nightmares that, for the first time in literature, described his own manic/depressive states in the guise of stories, dreams, nightmares, and novels that themselves became classics of timeless literature.
It would be impossible to discuss in depth the author's Yiddish spirit, tinged with the macabre humor of certain of his stories, or to dwell on the psychoanalytic metaphors of his conflicted (and unresolved) relationship with the father figure. An authoritarian father who became a tormentor but, at the same time, a source of inspiration for many of his writings.
Similarly, a few lines would not suffice to delve into the alienating worlds meticulously and manically created in his two novels "The Trial" and "The Castle" (the third, "America," was never completed), as books abound regarding Kafka that attempt to deepen his themes or the psychological aspects of an author who has coined a true adjective with his surname (Kafkaesque), now rightfully a part of common language.
Hence, the work of the two authors of "KAFKA for Beginners" (Ediz. Universale Economica Feltrinelli - 1995) stands apart from any previous in-depth essay, offering us, through the splendid illustrations of Crumb - dark, oppressive, and skillfully embroidered like late 19th-century engravings (two examples here and here) - a quick summary of the life and works of the brilliant Prague writer.
Thus, the life is described and, chronologically, the most significant stories related to the historical passages experienced by the author. Therefore, in fleeting appearance, the stories "The Metamorphosis", "The Golem", "The Judgment", "The Burrow", "In the Penal Colony", "A Hunger Artist", and a brief overview of the novels "The Trial" and "The Castle" are treated quickly and, mostly, approximately.
But on the other hand, to narrate them exhaustively, would have been almost impossible.
I wondered whether it is right or wrong to treat certain authors in this manner, who, in themselves, would not have much in common with the dry and "lightweight" language of comics. But it is equally true that discussing them innovatively and unconventionally may represent a good way to "engage" with books and authors that might provoke some intimidation (and I refer to many young people who probably have never heard of Kafka... not even at school!).
Thus, let these strange "hybrids" come forth (neither book nor comic), which do not aim to be exhaustive out of necessity but which help to "form an idea" and to understand in broad terms what a particular author says and wants to convey to us.
Recommended therefore to those who have never read a book, to 13-year-olds and to those who have never heard of Kafka except perhaps fleetingly while standing in line, in front of the counter of a municipal land registry office. And those who know Kafka's universe know what I refer to...Loading comments slowly
