Wednesday, February 4, 2004
Kafka and Camus
Kafka says in his notes that 'Only our concept of time leads us to call the Last Judegement by that name. In fact, it's a court in standing session.'
Idris Parry comments on this in his Introduction to the Penguin edition of 'The Castle' saying 'In other words, it's taking place now all the time. Kafka might also have said (but did not) that it is only our concept of time which makes us think of the expulsion of Paradise as a kind of 'first judgement'. It is another court in standing session, which his central character faces every day, waking into the strange country of dream, at the same time both familiar and foreign.
It was interesting to note that Camus also has something along these same lines to say in 'The Fall' where he writes 'Don't wait for the Last Judgement. It takes place everyday.'
I haven't been able to shake this connection from my mind this week.
Idris Parry comments on this in his Introduction to the Penguin edition of 'The Castle' saying 'In other words, it's taking place now all the time. Kafka might also have said (but did not) that it is only our concept of time which makes us think of the expulsion of Paradise as a kind of 'first judgement'. It is another court in standing session, which his central character faces every day, waking into the strange country of dream, at the same time both familiar and foreign.
It was interesting to note that Camus also has something along these same lines to say in 'The Fall' where he writes 'Don't wait for the Last Judgement. It takes place everyday.'
I haven't been able to shake this connection from my mind this week.
