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Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays
by Zadie Smith

Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays
by Zadie Smith

Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays
by Zadie Smith

58

F. Kafka, Everyman

4
terms
2
notes

lovely essay about Kafka. contrasts two biographies about him: one by his friend Max Brod, and one by a Louis Begley (that Smith seems to find superior). covers Kafka's apparent misogyny, as evidenced through his work (comparable to Larkin's); his struggle with his Jewish identity; his struggles with writing and success.

Smith, Z. (2009). F. Kafka, Everyman. In Smith, Z. Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays. The Penguin Press HC, pp. 58-71

hagiography (en)

relating to the writing of the lives of saints; (derogatory) adulatory writing about another person

61

The truly hagiographic text is Gustav Janouch's Conversations with Kafka.

—p.61 by Zadie Smith
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago

The truly hagiographic text is Gustav Janouch's Conversations with Kafka.

—p.61 by Zadie Smith
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago

encomium (en)

a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly (plural: encomia). as the adjective encomiastic, means bestowing praise, eulogistic, laudatory

63

The prospect of living with her inspires pages of encomia on solitude

about Kafka's attitude towards his betrothed

—p.63 by Zadie Smith
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago

The prospect of living with her inspires pages of encomia on solitude

about Kafka's attitude towards his betrothed

—p.63 by Zadie Smith
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago

the personal failures of writers

project/kill-your-heroes
64

Kafka's mind was like that; it went wondrous fast--still, when it came to women, it went no faster than the times allowed. Those who find the personal failures of writers personally offensive will turn from Kafka here, as readers turn from Philip Larkin for similar reasons [...]

—p.64 by Zadie Smith 6 years, 11 months ago

Kafka's mind was like that; it went wondrous fast--still, when it came to women, it went no faster than the times allowed. Those who find the personal failures of writers personally offensive will turn from Kafka here, as readers turn from Philip Larkin for similar reasons [...]

—p.64 by Zadie Smith 6 years, 11 months ago

shtetl (en)

small towns with large Jewish populations, which existed in Central and Eastern Europe before the Holocaust

68

both enamored of and horrified by an Eastern shtetl life he never knew

of Kafka

—p.68 by Zadie Smith
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago

both enamored of and horrified by an Eastern shtetl life he never knew

of Kafka

—p.68 by Zadie Smith
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago

I have hardly anything in common with myself

69

What have I in common with Jews? I have hardly anything in common with myself, and should stand very quietly in a corner, content than I can breathe.

—p.69 by Franz Kafka 6 years, 11 months ago

What have I in common with Jews? I have hardly anything in common with myself, and should stand very quietly in a corner, content than I can breathe.

—p.69 by Franz Kafka 6 years, 11 months ago

massif (en)

(from French for "massive") large mountain mass

71

over boundless massifs of vapor

quoted from Netherland by Joseph O'Neill

—p.71 by Zadie Smith
strange
6 years, 11 months ago

over boundless massifs of vapor

quoted from Netherland by Joseph O'Neill

—p.71 by Zadie Smith
strange
6 years, 11 months ago