Kafka's diary, December 18, 1910:
If it were not certain that my reason for leaving letters unopened for days (even those with presumably unimportant contents, such as this one now) is mere weakness and cowardice, which hesitate to open a letter as much as they would hesitate to open the door of a room in which a man was waiting for me, possibly with great impatience, then this laying aside of letters could be explained much better as thoroughness. That is, assuming that I am a thorough person, I must try to prolong everything that possibly concerns the letter, thus to open it very slowly, read it slowly and repeatedly, consider it long, prepare a fair copy with many drafts and finally hesistate with the reply. All this lies in my power, it is only the sudden receiving of letters that cannot be avoided. Now I slow down even this in an artificial way, for a long time I do not open it, it lies before me at the door, it continually offers itself to me, I continually receive it, but I do not take it.
Posted by Bobby Farouk at November 7, 2005 07:53 AMReading this makes me think of how similar Kafka and Thomas Bernhard are. He's like a very manic version of Kafka. Though he tends to speak a bit more plainly and his humor is maybe slightly goofier.
Posted by: Alan Hogue at November 7, 2005 03:35 PMWot, Kafka's not goofy enough for you?
Posted by: Martha Bridegam at November 7, 2005 10:48 PM