Express press service
KOCHI: Last weekend, our Kochi office hosted former Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac as part of the Express Dialogues series. He is a politician who is always in his element and has a fun way of speaking. Asked about the ED’s view of him being asked about KIIFB irregularities, he called it a “Kafka moment”.
“If you’ve read The Trial of Franz Kafka, you’ll understand that,” he said. “In this document, someone makes a false accusation against Josef K and he is arrested without an explanation given. The current situation is such that you can be arrested without being told why. Having read Kafka, I am prepared for many such eventualities.
It made me reread Kafka. Thanks Thomas. Similar to Kafka’s 1915 classic Metamorphosis, the story of Josef K, also a bank clerk, is intriguing and may frustrate someone looking for answers.
The Czech writer wanted the 1914-15 manuscript of The Trial burned. But after Kafka’s death in 1924, Israeli writer Max Brod chose to go against his friend’s wishes. He published the book in 1925.
Since then, The Trial has been the subject of various studies and analyses. However, there are few concrete conclusions. “The main question is: who is accusing me? Which authorities are responsible for the procedure? Josef asks the police in the book. There are no answers. The burden of anguish is passed on to the reader.
Similar were the results of attempts to decode the book. In a brilliant analysis for Scientific American, Swiss neuroscientist and author Sebastian Dieguez notes that The Trial is “often described as a descent into the delusions of a paranoid mind.”
“Beyond the psychological interpretation, there is the existential (K. is simply guilty of existing); the theological (it is original sin that is judged) and the political (Kafka predicts the arbitrariness of totalitarian regimes). The story, at once ambiguous, vague, abstract and bizarre, allows for a certain number of approaches,” he adds.
In a later passage, Sebastian sums it up succinctly: “The Trial, like Kafka’s other works, suggests that the paradoxes and bottlenecks characteristic of faceless bureaucratic systems that make people’s lives impossible are not always inherent in systems. themselves. Rather in Kafka’s books, these “Kafkaesque” attributes exist in the minds of its protagonists. It is the human brain that makes a situation seem Kafkaesque.
By the way, Thomas, the CPM’s star economist, valiantly reassured that there was nothing Kafkaesque about the economy from Kerala to Sri Lanka, and that there was no reason to be paranoid. . “Kerala is part of India…”, he recalled.
Likewise, “Kafkaesque” has become an integral part of the English lexicon. It is, in fact, overused.
“In the nearly 70 years since his death, we have promoted Franz Kafka from merely a great writer to a boilerplate adjective, and that Kafkaesque word is now thrown around with cavalier imprecision, applied to everything, from a boring encounter with a petty bureaucrat to the genocidal horrors of the Third Reich,” noted a Globe and Mail column in 1992.
According to Merriam-Webster, however, searches for “Kafkaesque” “increased dramatically on May 17 after the Man Booker Prize for 2016 was awarded to Han Kang’s novel The Vegetarian.” “This work, translated from Korean into English by Debbie Smith, has been described by its UK publishers (and by a number of critics) as Kafka-esque,” he added.
Alright, let’s give Kafka a break and move on to some random picks of eponyms that might give some food for thought. Machiavellian: “Suggesting the principles of conduct established by Machiavelli; marked by trickery, duplicity or bad faith” Shakespearian: “Relating to the plays and poems written by William Shakespeare”. Shakespearian tragedy/comedy is often used to describe real-life books, movies, and screenplays.
Miltonic: “Of or related to John Milton or his writings. As an adjective, as the style of Milton, esp. by being solemn, lofty, majestic, etc. Dickensian: “Pertaining to or similar to anything described in the books of Charles Dickens, especially living or working conditions which are below an acceptable standard.”
Byronic: “Possessing the characteristics of [Lord] Byron or his poetry, especially the romanticism, melancholy and melodramatic energy. Mainly used to describe men as “attractive, mysterious, and brooding.”
Orwellian: “Relating to, or suggestive of, George Orwell or his writings; in particular: relating to or evocative of the dystopian reality portrayed in the novel 1984.” Poesque: “Of, relating to or reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe or his work; macabre, gothic. Proustian: “Of, relating to or resembling Marcel Proust, his writings, or the bourgeois and aristocratic worlds he described, also, “relating to or evoking the recall of a forgotten memory.”
Tolstoy: popularized by the “Tolstoy movement…a social movement based on the philosophical and religious views of the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy”. A Tolstoyan is seen as someone “who advocates and practices manual labor, simplicity of life, non-resistance, etc., holds that possession of wealth and ownership of property are sins”.
Plathian: Honorable mention, because my editor at home is a big fan of Sylvia Plath. The word is described as “of or relating to Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), American poet and novelist, or her works”. In modern usage, some associate it with “feminine rage”. Finally, although not a literary eponym per se, I will sign with Freudian: “Relating to or influenced by Sigmund Freud and his methods of psychoanalysis, especially in reference to the importance of sexuality in the human behavior “. The most commonly used, the Freudian slip: “A slip motivated by and revealing an unconscious aspect of the mind.”
KOCHI: Last weekend, our Kochi office hosted former Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac as part of the Express Dialogues series. He is a politician who is always in his element and has a fun way of speaking. Asked about the ED’s view of him being asked about KIIFB irregularities, he called it a “Kafka moment”. “If you’ve read The Trial of Franz Kafka, you’ll understand that,” he said. “In this document, someone makes a false accusation against Josef K and he is arrested without an explanation given. The current situation is such that you can be arrested without being told why. Having read Kafka, I am prepared for many such eventualities. It made me re-read Kafka. Thanks Thomas. Similar to Kafka’s 1915 classic The Metamorphosis, the story of Josef K, also a bank clerk, is intriguing and may frustrate someone looking for answers The Czech writer wanted the 1914-15 manuscript of The Trial burned, but after Kafka’s death in 1924, Israeli writer Max Brod chose to go against his friend’s wishes and published the book in 1925 Since then, The Trial has been the subject of various studies and analyses. However, there are few concrete conclusions. “The main question is: who accuses me? Who are the authorities in charge of the procedure? Josef asks the police in the book. There are no answers. The burden of the angst is transmitted to the reader. Similar were the results of attempts to decode the book. In a brilliant analysis for Scientific American, Swiss neuroscientist and author Sebastian Dieguez notes that The Trial is “often described as a descent into the delusions of a paranoid mind.” “Beyond the psychological interpretation, there is the existential (K. is simply guilty of existing); the theological (it is original sin that is judged) and the political (Kafka predicts the arbitrariness of totalitarian regimes). The story, at once ambiguous, vague, abstract and bizarre, allows for a certain number of approaches,” he adds. In a later passage, Sebastian sums it up succinctly: “The Trial, like Kafka’s other works, suggests that the paradoxes and bottlenecks characteristic of faceless bureaucratic systems that make people’s lives impossible are not always inherent in systems. themselves. Rather in Kafka’s books, these “Kafkaesque” attributes exist in the minds of its protagonists. It is the human brain that makes a situation seem Kafkaesque. By the way, Thomas, the CPM’s star economist, valiantly reassured that there was nothing Kafkaesque about the economy from Kerala to Sri Lanka, and that there was no reason to be paranoid. . “Kerala is part of India…”, he recalled. Likewise, “Kafkaesque” has become an integral part of the English lexicon. It is, in fact, overused. “In the nearly 70 years since his death, we have promoted Franz Kafka from merely a great writer to a boilerplate adjective, and that Kafkaesque word is now thrown around with cavalier imprecision, applied to everything, from a boring encounter with a petty bureaucrat to the genocidal horrors of the Third Reich,” noted a Globe and Mail column in 1992. According to Merriam-Webster, however, searches for “Kafkaesque” “soared on May 17 after that the Man Booker Prize for 2016 was awarded to Han Kang’s novel The Vegetarian”. “This work, translated from Korean into English by Debbie Smith, has been described by its UK publishers (and by a number of reviewers) like Kafka-esque,” he added. Alright, let’s give Kafka a break and move on to some random picks of eponyms that might give some food for thought. Machiavellian: “Suggesting principles of conduct established by Machiavelli; marked by trickery, duplicity é or bad faith” Shakespearian: “Relating to the plays and poems written by William Shakespeare”. Shakespearian tragedy/comedy is often used to describe real-life books, movies, and screenplays. Miltonic: “Of or related to John Milton or his writings. As an adjective, as the style of Milton, esp. by being solemn, lofty, majestic, etc. Dickensian: “Pertaining to or similar to anything described in the books of Charles Dickens, especially living or working conditions which are below an acceptable standard.” Byronic: “Possessing the characteristics of [Lord] Byron or his poetry, especially the romanticism, melancholy and melodramatic energy. Mainly used to describe men as “attractive, mysterious, and brooding.” Orwellian: “Relating to, or suggestive of, George Orwell or his writings; in particular: relating to or evocative of the dystopian reality portrayed in the novel 1984.” Poesque: “Of, relating to or reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe or his work; macabre, gothic. Proustian: “Of, relating to or resembling Marcel Proust, his writings, or the bourgeois and aristocratic worlds he described. Also, “pertaining to or evoking the recall of a forgotten memory”. Tolstoyan: popularized by the “Tolstoyan movement…a social movement based on views philosophical and religious works of the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy”. A Tolstoyan is considered to be someone “who advocates and practices manual labor, simplicity of life, non-resistance, etc., maintains that the possession of wealth and ownership of property are sins”. Plathian: Honorable mention, as my editor at home is a huge fan of Sylvia Plath. The word is described as “of or relating to Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), poet and American novelist, or her works”. In modern usage, some associate it with “feminine rage”. Finally, although not a literary eponym per se, I will sign with Freudian: “Relating to or influenced by Sigmund Freud and his methods of psychoanalysis, especially in reference to the importance of sexuality in the human behavior “. The most commonly used, the Freudian slip: “A slip motivated by and revealing an unconscious aspect of the mind.”
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