Saturday, December 16, 2006

Wriggling Through By Subtle Manoeuvres

Franz Kafka on finding time to write:

My mode of life is devised solely for writing, and if there are any changes, then only for the sake of perhaps fitting in better with my writing; for time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres. The satisfaction gained by manoeuvring one’s timetable successfully cannot be compared to the permanent misery of knowing that fatigue of any kind shows itself better and more clearly in writing than anything one is really trying to say.

From Franz Kafka,”Letter to His Father”; cited in Ruth V. Gross, “Kafka’s Short Fiction” in Julian Preece, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Kafka (2002).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

more coffee more wine more coffee more wine less sleep more coffee more wine more coffee power nap more wine more wine more wine (not so subtle...but effective)

Anonymous said...

I wonder how he'd put it if he had six children and a job! Still, I love how clear he is about his desire to write.

Anonymous said...

if kafka had six children and a job he would've moved to nashville and become the coal miner's daughter.

Anonymous said...

That's kind of how I feel about reading, only it isn't always so easy.