Talking about Kafka and the Kafkaesque on “The Book Show”

Now I’ve done radio. Specifically, ABC Radio Australia’s “The Book Show,” with the indomitable Ramona Koval. Flailing and attempting to recover, repeatedly:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2505953.htm

Kafkaesque and Kafkology: the mythology of Franz Kafka

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Where does the myth about Franz Kafka’s life meet up with the reality?

The term Kafkaesque refers to perplexing, frustrating, almost absurd experience of bureaucracy and Kafkology has contributed to what some describe as the Kafka industry.

He’s remembered as an emotionally tortured writer whose father was a brute, but his diaries reveal he was prone to exaggeration about his personal misery.

What does any of this have to do with the appreciation of his writing?

Guests

Alexander Provan
Founding editor of US online magazine, Triple Canopy.

Further Information

An Alienation Artist: Franz Kafka and his critics
For The Nation magazine, American writer Alexander Provan explores the line between Franz Kafka’s fiction and his life.