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Book Description
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Karl Rossman has been banished by his parents to America, following a family scandal. There, with unquenchable optimism, he throws himself into the strange experiences that lie before him as he slowly makes his way into the interior of the great continent.
Although Kafka's first novel (begun in 1911 and never finished), can be read as a menacing allegory of modern life, it is also infused with a quite un-Kafkaesque blitheness and sunniness, brought to life in this lyrical translation that returns to the original manuscript of the book.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Here, his concern is in the recreation and depiction of events seen through the eyes of a naive idealist. His construction of America itself is the view of an outsider, by an outsider... Kafka had never set foot in America in the entirety of his life, and therefore creates the burgeoning metropolis from his imagination. Through this, we end up with a work that could almost be described as science fiction, though with a strong underlining sense of social-realism and of course, Hollywood melodrama. The images that were conjured in my mind whilst reading the book were like some bizarre juxtaposition of varying cinematic styles, with elements of Fritz Lang’s masterpiece Metropolis (a film visually inspired by the city-scapes of New York city) by way of John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath, shot through with the kind of visual pretension seen in Lars von Trier’s underrated Europa.
There was also a touch of Fellini’s surrealist musical ...And the Ship Sails On with the opening chapter set within the small, claustrophobic cabin of an ocean-liner. Here Kafka’s words practically trip over themselves, as he layers various descriptions that each contradict the nature of the story, to instead, create a visual narrative that will run concurrently alongside the plot. Much of this book relies upon the readers to inject their own imagination into the proceedings, or otherwise, Kafka’s writing becomes almost mechanical in its descriptive delivery. Admittedly, the book is somewhat harder than most in terms of grasping that thread that will lead us into the narrative and allow us to develop that all important connection, but if you are a long-time fan of Kafka (who has already experienced the Trial, the Castle and his celebrated short stories) then I’m sure you’ll find this work worth the extra strain.
The continually dark and noirish atmosphere coupled with the recreation of this surreal and mysterious landscape developed deep within my imagination was the principal factor that I held on to when I first attempted to delve into this book. It finally got me through, as I was desperate to find out whether or not Kafka could keep up this hypnotic use of language throughout... he does. However, the ending is an anti ending due to the fact that Kafka never actually finished the book before he died (another factor that marks out Amerika as a problematic document), but if you are committed to this writer then you shouldn’t let this fact put you off. Half the fun of this book is to continually re-read the work and each time create an ending that you find suitable, and creatively valid (I told you imagination played a big part). Amerika will never be as essential as either the Trial or the Castle (both landmarks of literature) though it is certainly worth a look for those who think they may be up to the challenge.
Basically, it follows the journey through America of a clueless twit into a variety of catastrophic misadventures, from getting a maid pregnant without even understanding he was committing a sexual act to losing job after job in New York and environs. While it does have some of the bizarre atmospherics that Kafka later perfected, the themes in it are not of the timeless horror and angst that later marked Kafka as a peculiar genius.
Skip it and go on to The Trial or The Castle. If you don't know Kafka, start with Metamorphosis.
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