From the Publisher
Franzlations takes the parables and aphorisms of
Kafka as a starting point, and steps a few places to the left in
order to reinvent them. Sometimes this means walking off a cliff
and into the empty air. (Don't look down!) Sometimes this means
keeping the cage and replacing the bird. For of course, Kafka's
writing is a rich source of ideas, play, structure, and wit. It
looks like the real world, but in the way the bootstrap that one
pulls oneself up with looks like a real bootstrap.
It is said that if Kafka had not existed, Kafka would have had to
invent him. But since he did exist, Franzlations has invented an
imaginary Kafka so that he could help create the Kafka that was
already there. Perhaps it was that. Kafka who helped create these
imaginary parables.
This, itself, is a parable.
A man once said, "If you only followed the parables, you yourselves
would become parables and with that rid yourself of all your daily
cares." Another replied, "I bet that is also a parable." The first
said: "You have won." The second said: "But unfortunately only in
parable." The first said: "No, in reality: in parable you have
lost." --- Franz Kafka
About the Author
Gary Barwin is a writer, composer, and performer.
His publications include six poetry collections (including the
recent The Porcupinity of the Stars) and two
fiction collections, and a collaborative novel. He was the
co-winner of the 2010 bpNichol Chapbook Award, the 2011
Harbourfront Battle of the Bands, and the 1998 K.M. Hunter
Foundation Artist Award. His work has been commissioned and
broadcast by the CBC.
Hugh Thomas teaches mathematics at the University
of New Brunswick. A chapbook of his poetry, Heart badly buried by
five shovels, was recently published by paper kite press.
Craig Conley is the author of Magic Words:
A Dictionary (Weiser Books), One-Letter Words: A
Dictionary (HarperCollins), and dozens upon dozens of
other titles. His website is OneLetterWords.com.
Format: Trade Paperback
Published: October 15, 2011
Publisher: NEW STAR BOOKS
Language: English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 1554200628
ISBN - 13: 9781554200627