The Judgement - Franz Kafka - 184 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

About the author



Franz Kafka was born into a middle-class, German-speaking Jewish family on July 3, 1883 in Prague, Bohemia, now the Czech Republic. He would go on to have a very difficulty relationship with his father who was abusive and detrimental to Kafka’s literary future. All of this would eventually go into the writings of Kafka, his pain and disillusionment was clearly seen. He is known for his novellas and short stories such as The Metamorphosis and “The Trial”.

    
‘The Judgement’, written in 1912, was in many ways Franz Kafka’s breakthrough work. Very autobiographical in nature, the story reflects on Kafka’s turbulent relationship with his father, with his fiancé and anxiety prone review of his own literary ability.

The story was first published in 1912 as Das Urteil, in Arkadia (a literary journal) owned by his close friend Max Brod.

In this short story, a young man Georg Bendemann writes to his friend who is living in Russia. His letter reflects his anxieties of day to day living, his upcoming marriage, his family’s business state, and most importantly, his relationship with his aged father.


The ill father is groused by his helpless state and instead of being kind to his son who tends to him he lashes at him.

He questions whether the friend even exists. At the end of the story, the man’s father condemns his son to death by drowning, and the son goes and throws himself into the river.


“With weakening grip he was still holding on when he spied between the railings a motor-bus coming which would easily cover the noise of his fall, called in a low voice: ‘Dear parents, I have always loved you, all the same,’ and let himself drop”



A story of incredible sadness, I felt it also was unfair. Just like life. We see everyday similar situations where kindness is repaid or responded back with utter selfishness. This in turn leads to anxiety and stress for people.

Photo by Penguin Books UK 1965. Cover drawing by Yosl Bergner.

A Man by The Name of Ziegler - Herman Hesse - 183 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

About the author - Herman Hesse


The essence of the Swiss - German poet and writer Herman Hesse was that he was inspired and in turn, inspired others to live a more natural life in an increasingly technological and artificial world. Part of this hermit ingenuity came from a deep influence of theology after studying in the Maulbronn seminary in 1891. 

Additionally, an apprentice experience in the Calw tower-clock factory and later in a Tübingen bookstore left him with a dissidence towards the modern world. With wars looming round the corner of the century, Hesse again showed a personality of non violence and peace. Preferring to be in Switzerland, a country neutral at the time of the World War 1, Hesse wrote an article criticising militarism and nationalism, and became an editor of a journal for German war prisoners and internees. 

He was so enamored by the sangfroid culture of the Alpian natives, that he became a permanent Swiss resident in 1923. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. 

Hesse’s popular novels were Beneath the Wheel (1906), Peter Camenzind (1904), Gertrud (1910), Rosshalde (1914). A visit to India and the influence of Buddhism was reflected in Siddhartha (1922). Some other popular novels were Demian (1919), Steppenwolf (1927), Narcissus and Goldmund (1930) The Glass Bead Game (1943)

A Man by The Name of Ziegler

The story is from the collection Stories of Five Decades and is a surrealistic story about a man who can suddenly hear animals speak. So Dr.Dolittle was an idea conceived decades ago! A story based on fantasy and make-believe, it highlights on the many aspects of the man in a modern world. Some of them are - values and beliefs going astray and how we adapt to them and the ability to think for ourselves when put in a different situation.


Themes - 


Existential nature of humans


In the end of the story, Hesse describes the pitiful final of Ziegler’s life: “a crowd collected and the guards seized him, and he was taken away to an insane asylum” (Hesse 38). His spiritual state of dismay, misery and confusion show that after the transformation Ziegler experienced the state which the existentialists call “the dark night of the soul” – the state when a person’s feelings are weary, the spiritual state is depressed, and the person is extremely discouraged at life and its meaning. Hesse describes the state of Ziegler after his transformation as “dejected and wrenched out of all habits of thought” and “hopelessly ashamed of himself” (Hesse 38). The new experience and new knowledge turned the Weltanschauung of Ziegler upside down, and brought the “dark night of the soul” to Ziegler. As a result, he was put to an insane asylum, and, most likely, remained in an existential crisis towards the end of his life.

Hesse’s allegory can be extended to the whole of mankind: people who do not follow the rules and have viewpoints different from the conventional ones are considered insane, stigmatised and feared. Hesse points out that in the modern society there is little place for true authenticity and little place for freedom. At the same time, he shows that even the most typical individual whose values are shaped by the society can unintentionally enter a situation which changes his perception of the reality and of the self. For an unprepared person, such a situation will lead to the “dark night of the soul” and eventually to an existential crisis. Therefore, Hesse’s short story also warns humanity against the “collective” way of thinking, and concentrates on the importance of personal existential authenticity.


Herd driven conscience

Modern people are not ready to discover their own individuality and to be authentic; even if they make an attempt to be authentic, the pressure of the external world and their own lack of readiness to explore the world through the prism of their own individuality will force them back into the habitual way of living.

adapted from Essayworld