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

[Chris]

Ha, ha! This blog is a great idea!

[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.

[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.

[mersenne]

I concur with Chris, such a great blog idea!

[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?!

[Poor Lucky Me]

It's official- Kafka is my favorite.

[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.

[Ana Costa]

Kafka's daily routine, according to himself: «From 8 am to 2 or 2:30 pm the office, lunch until 3 or 3:30 pm, from then on sleeping in bed... until 8:30 pm, then 10 minutes of exercise, naked at an open window, then one hour of walking alone or with Max or another friend, then supper with my family... then at 10:30 pm (but often even at 11:30) sitting down to write and remaining at it according to my strength, desire, and luck until 1, 2, 3 o'clock, once even until 6 A:M.»
He had a job schedule that left him plenty of time to write without having to stay awake until dawn. He was in office about 6 hours/day. He lived about a 12 minutes walk from his job. He said he had lunch until 3 or 3 pm. No need to waste 5 hours sleeping in the afternoon until 8:30 pm. A 30 minutes nap would do. At 4:00 pm he could take a walk and do some reading or writing until dinner time. Supposing he had dinner at 8:00 pm, from 9:00 pm until say 12:00 am at the most, he could write again. Maybe he had to wake up at 7:00 or 7:30 a.m. to go to work. At least he had to sleep 7 or 8 hours per night. What he did year after year, staying awake most of the night was complete suicide, sleeping much less than 7-8 hours/night. No wonder he died of tuberculosis...