Franz Kafka

Begley is particularly astute on the bizarre organization of Kafka's writing day. At the Assicurazioni Generali, Kafka despaired of his twelve-hour shifts that left no time for writing; two years later, promoted to the position of chief clerk at the Workers' Accident Insurance Institute, he was now on the one-shift system, 8:30 AM until 2:30 PM. And then what? Lunch until 3:30, then sleep until 7:30, then exercises, then a family dinner. After which he started work around 11 PM (as Begley points out, the letter- and diary-writing took up at least an hour a day, and more usually two), and then "depending on my strength, inclination, and luck, until one, two, or three o'clock, once even till six in the morning." Then "every imaginable effort to go to sleep," as he fitfully rested before leaving to go to the office once more. This routine left him permanently on the verge of collapse. Yet

when Felice wrote to him...arguing that a more rational organization of his day might be possible, he bristled.... "The present way is the only possible one; if I can't bear it, so much the worse; but I will bear it somehow."

It was [Max] Brod's opinion that Kafka's parents should gift him a lump sum "so that he could leave the office, go off to some cheap little place on the Riviera to create those works that God, using Franz's brain, wishes the world to have." Begley, leaving God out of it, politely disagrees, finding Brod's wish

probably misguided. Kafka's failure to make even an attempt to break out of the twin prisons of the Institute and his room at the family apartment may have been nothing less than the choice of the way of life that paradoxically best suited him.

It is rare that writers of fiction sit behind their desks, actually writing, for more than a few hours a day. Had Kafka been able to use his time efficiently, the work schedule at the Institute would have left him with enough free time for writing. As he recognized, the truth was that he wasted time.

The truth was that he wasted time! The writer's equivalent of the dater's revelation: He's just not that into you. "Having the Institute and the conditions at his parents' apartment to blame for the long fallow periods when he couldn't write gave Kafka cover: it enabled him to preserve some of his self-esteem."

Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books, July 17, 2008 (reviewing The Tremendous World I Have Inside My Head: Franz Kafka: A Biographical Essay by Louis Begley)

Comments

[Nyxie]

'The truth was that he wasted time'?!

Ugh, how judgmental. Perhaps he was better able to access his creativity at night, when the day world is silent and the unconscious, the hidden, seems closer to the surface...this is certainly the case with me. I can relate to his situation.

I think we eccentric night owls are unfairly discriminated against by so called 'normal' people.

[Poor Lucky Me]

It's official- Kafka is my favorite.

[JS]

Agreed,this is a great blog. Also,this was apparently recently discovered:

Kafka's Daily Schedule:
1. Wake up
2. Realize that I am some kind of hideous bug
3. Oh man
4. Question whether or not I am, perhaps, still dreaming.
5. Not dreaming
6. Well, fuck
7. What is that, an apple? Hey!
8. Sulk about the apple in my back
9. Seriously, what is going on here?!

[mersenne]

I concur with Chris, such a great blog idea!

[Bri]

Great idea for a blog. Am adding it to my blog roll. Now re: the writing routine idea, many well-published authors have felt pretty good about sharing their rather regimented writing schedule. After all, without discipline, there cannot be much valuable productivity.

[Fantomas]

I disagree with this "wasted time" assertion. Writing has been an excruciating process for many of the great writers, and from what I've heard this was true of Kafka as well.

When he says that this routine was "all he could bear," I totally get it.

[Chris]

Ha, ha! This blog is a great idea!