The wisdom of Franz Kafka

"A book must be the ax for the frozen sea inside us."
Franz Kafka (1883-1924)

I couldn't begin to offer an informed comment about Kafka and his work. Maybe, like me, you've at least tried to read The Metamorphosis or The Trial or some other of Kafka's numerous works (many of them unfinished at the time of his death). Reading Kafka no doubt is easier than reading Joyce, but…..We all sort of know what "Kafka-esque" means, and for me to try to say more about this author might be, well, you know, Kafka-esque…

Anyway, his rather brutalized endorsement of books is worth a second thought, in a quiet moment…we may admit that we have a frozen sea inside us in some sense, or in some frames of mind, for good or for ill, from time to time….I welcome the thought that book reading gives a bounty of insight that we can apply to enhance our enjoyment of life, or to sharpen the ax as needed…..