In our afternoon reading: book recommendations from Roxane Gay, interviews with Raoul Peck and Robert Kloss, and more.
Afternoon Bites: Laia Jufresa Interviewed, Szilvia Molnar Nonfiction, Franz Kafka, Jenny Hval, and More
In our afternoon reading: Laia Jufresa interviewed by Valeria Luiselli, thoughts on new music by Jenny Hval, and much more.
Afternoon Bites: Flying Lotus Interviewed, New Teju Cole Writing, Sean H. Doyle, Claudia Rankine’s Latest, and More
Checking in with Flying Lotus, Lars Iyer, and Justin K. Broadrick; thoughts on new books from Kerry Howley, Claudia Rankine, and Jim Ruland; an excerpt from Sean H. Doyle’s forthcoming book, and more.
The Time Peter Capaldi Made a Short Film About Franz Kafka
If you’re familiar with Peter Capaldi, it’s probably through one of the iconic roles he’s played: the brilliantly profane Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It and In the Loop, perhaps, or his just-commenced run on Doctor Who. (Right about here is probably where I tip my hat in the direction of his work on Torchwood: Children of Earth.) I hadn’t been aware that Capaldi is also a filmmaker — an Oscar-winning one, in fact, for a 1993 short that he wrote and […]
Afternoon Bites: Alain de Botton Interviewed, “White Light/White Heat” Reissued, Anne Marie Wirth Cauchon, Kafka Translated, and More
The Metamorphosis gets a new translation, a look at a deluxe edition of White Light/White Heat, Alain de Botton is interviewed, a look at Anne Marie Wirth Cauchon’s latest, and more.
Weekend Bites: Bathroom Reading, “Wolf Hall” Miniseries, Nick Antosca Interviewed, Frank Hinton’s Next Novel, and More
Kafka & bathroom reading; Frank Hinton’s next novel is announced; Nick Antosca chats with The Rumpus; and more,
So You Just Trolled Franz Kafka…
Joseph Epstein at The Atlantic asks, “Is Franz Kafka Overrated?” He offers his own difficulty stomaching Kafka’s work while having his morning tea and toast, and then provides a number of other (by Walter Benjamin, Erich Heller, Isaac Bashevis Singer, etc.) thoughts on the writer, and then tries to sell us on his idea that”Kafka, in other words, is given a pass on criticism.” Also, “The argument is that he cannot finally be explained, but merely read, appreciated, and reread until his meaning, […]
Monuments To Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka died on this day from complications brought on by tuberculosis in 1924. Although he was unknown in his lifetime, he went on to become one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, spawned the term Kafkaesque, and had a few monuments built in his honor.