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Josefina la cantora o El pueblo de los ratones
"Nuestra cantora se llama Josefina. Quien no la ha oído, no conoce el poder del canto. No hay nadie a quien su canto no arrebate, prueba de su valor, ya que en general nuestra raza no aprecia la música. La quietud es nuestra música preferida; nuestra vida es dura, y aunque intentáramos olvidar las preocupaciones cotidianas no podríamos nunca elevarnos a cosas tan alejadas de nuestra vida habitual como la música. Pero no nos quejamos demasiado; ni siquiera nos quejamos: consideramos que nuestra máxima virtud es cierta astucia práctica, que en verdad nos es sumamente indispensable, y con esa sonriente astucia solemos consolarnos de todo, aun cuando alguna vez sintiéramos -lo que no ocurre nunca- la nostalgia de la felicidad que tal vez la música produce. Sólo Josefina es una excepción; le gusta la música, y además sabe comunicarla; es la única; con su desaparición desaparecerá también la música- quién sabe hasta cuando- de nuestras vidas."
29 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1924
15 people are currently reading
634 people want to read
About the author
Franz Kafka
3,234 books38.7k followersFranz Kafka was a German-speaking writer from Prague whose work became one of the foundations of modern literature, even though he published only a small part of his writing during his lifetime. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kafka grew up amid German, Czech, and Jewish cultural influences that shaped his sense of displacement and linguistic precision. His difficult relationship with his authoritarian father left a lasting mark, fostering feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inadequacy that became central themes in his fiction and personal writings.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.
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January 26, 2023
What Dante and Shakespeare were for their ages, Kafka if for ours.
-George Steiner
Cracking a nut is really not an art form, and so no one will dare to call an audience together and entertain it by cracking nuts. If he does it nevertheless, and does so successfully, then it must be a matter of something more than merely cracking nuts. Or it is cracking nuts, but we must have ignored some aspect of this art form because we mastered it too well and it took this new nutcracker to reveal its true nature to us, and it can even help its demonstration if he is a little less proficient at nutcracking than the rest of us.
As you traverse through the initial phrases of the story, you feel a familiar sense foreboding; it occurs to you that you’re losing its track as if you are unable to get hold of the story. A sudden urge, out of anxiety, compels you to read it again, as if some sorts of teasing tricks are being played by the author and an uneasiness surrounds you that the prose would reveal itself differently every time you visit it. So, gradually but certainly, you dive into sea of outlandish probabilities which triggers your brain to conjure up outrageously probable motives, meanings and themes. The inability to interpret the metaphors, which further accentuated by the nature of the author’s fictional point of view, makes it all the more enigmatic. Such issues seem no more acute than in Josephine the Singer or the Mouse Folk which may be said to be significant statement on the role of artist in the society. As soon as you are about to reach some conclusion, your confidence starts quivering, perhaps the conclusion you have drawn seems to fail you as there may be other probable answers. Welcome to the world of Kafka or Kafkaesque as we know it.
We see that artists know within themselves that their art is true, but without public interest they cannot achieve their goal, whether it is to produce the aesthetic effect, or to have this effect recognized to the extent that they feel is appropriate. The need of Other (what mentioned by Sartre in Being and Nothingness) to get acknowledgement or acceptance of our existence by others constitutes what Sartre called Bad Faith and hence they act inauthentically. The artist’s desire to occupy or knowledge of belonging in the center of the scene may be valid, but society will not necessarily agree–a predicament that Kafka struggled with throughout his career as an author. While Josephine’s art does seem to have served a pleasant if not necessary function among the community, she is unable to convince them that she or her art are entirely worthy of her desired position in the sacred center.
The story could be said as an examination of the shifting perspective of narrator, as usually it is the case with Kafka. It represents, thorough analysis of the status of the artist- not a condemnation, not a defense, but merely a statement of the condition. The story could be taken as a close psychological study between an artist and her intended audience. We have a third person, omniscient narrator, unreliable of course as the case with Kafka, who says that Josephine’s art does not appear to be exceptional in itself, or anything else which makes Josephine superior to others in their community. Though when she performs, and there is no denying that her performances have an exceptional, almost opium-like effect on the crowds that form around her. Even in moments of intense danger, if Josephine begins to sing, the perpetually overworked, creatures, living on fringes of life will pause and divert their energies, gathering around her to convene in rapt attention and silence through her performance.
This however, is not the case; unconditional loyalty is barely known to our people, who love above all things admittedly innocent guile, harmless gossip consisting merely of moving the lips; such people are not able to give themselves unconditionally, and Josefine probably senses this too, it is in fact what she struggles against with every effort of her weak larynx.
The story raises some basic questions about the relationship of art and artists, it highlights the delicate and sometimes strained relationship between modern artists and their audience: what criteria are necessary for a performance or piece to be recognized as art, and who is qualified to validate it as such? What if the recognition she gets from her community, the mouse people, is just out of mere sympathy and not a true recognition of her talent at all; and we know sympathy is one of those human qualities which are perceived kind but actually represents brutality of humanity. The sympathetic attitude of us towards someone reduces his/ her existence to nothingness and all her/ his projections turn out to be inauthentic, robbing one from any sense of comfort that inauthentic existence might seem to convey. We find another claim in the story, Josephine thinks that she is the one who protects and serves her community through the seemingly sacrifice she makes by singing to them? Why does the community acknowledge the effect her songs have on it on the first place, however collectively refuse to give her the appreciation of the art that she requests to them.
Of course, she doesn’t rescue us and she doesn’t give us strength, it’s easy to play the part of a rescuer of these particular people, who are habituated to suffering, unsparing of themselves, quick to make their minds up, familiar with death, only appearing to be timid because of the atmosphere of derring-do in which they constantly live, and in addition are as prolific as they are brave- it’s an easy thing as I say to come along and claim to be rescuer of these people, who have somehow always managed to rescue themselves, with such loses that the historian- in general we neglect the study of history- is apt to go rigid with shock.
Though it may be accepted that she and her song possess powerful impact over the community, but it’s hard to define, in fact, undefinable, if anything, differentiates her from the rest of the community. The We see through the eye of narrator, since as we reader we are at mercy of him/ her, that the community fail to understand the meaning and the power behind Josephine’s song. They fail to understand if there is something unique with her art, or seemingly art. Meanwhile, our artist, Josephine demands that she should be relieved from her mundane daily chores, which would give her artistic ‘being’ free hand to express itself uninterruptedly. However, her demands are refuted with disdain as her listeners believe there is no need to do so, the relationship of Josefine with them remain quite tense and enigmatic, making it a perfect Kafkaesque universe. Often the public’s negative reaction is the very reason an artist will rise to fame. Think of the initially negative public reaction to the rise of the impressionists, abstract expressionists, however, the more attention the creations of an artist get, the more significant they became, the more artists imitate their style, and gradually they become iconic figures in the public domain, as we know them. Despite the confusion over the validity of her song or the source of its power, Josephine’s singing does–for whatever reason–serve the ethical function of the esthetic.
If this really were to be the case then Josephine's claims would be totally understandable-yes, one could to a certain extent see in this freedom that the folk would have bestowed upon her, in such an extra-ordinary, uniquely privileged gift, this bestowal that-truth to tell-contradicts what the law requires, one could see a confirmation of the fact that, just as Josephine asserts, the folk doesn't understand anything at all of what she's about, that it stands helplessly in awe before her artistry, that it is unworthy and abashed by its incapacity and that as recompense for this 'wrong' that it has inflicted upon her, that all of these misunderstandings might be balanced out-or at least it strives to balance them out-that just as her art extends beyond their capacities of conceptualization, so too her person and her wishes are placed beyond their authority: that, in short, she is immune from the commands and from the powers of the ruling authority.
The unreliable narrator of the story holds strong grip over your consciousness and inquisitiveness throughout the story, we see that the aggregate energy about the snapshots of harmony that encompass Josephine is the nearest her kin come to rising above their thorough, distressing real factors. Josephine's request that she is singing to hard of hearing ears, and the likenesses between her specialty and the customary funneling that different individuals from the network have seen help to re-make the dumbfounding structure of distinguishing proof with and estrangement from the focal figure. As the mouse people alienates themselves from the art of Josephine, as they fail to perceive the artistic quality of Josephine’ s art; however, it increases the enigma of Josephine, the singer, and in way provides more importance than she originally had. Though it may create an aura of divinity around our beloved singer, Josephine; if the audience identifies with her too well, the aura may be shattered and shred to nothingness. The audience at once makes Josephine’s art possible by recognizing it as such, and threatens its continued existence through possessing the capacity to evaluate it and deem it unworthy. The inauthentic projection of Josephine never allows her to achieve the great heights of invincibility she always dreams of. Our unwillingness to grant social distinction to artists inhibits our ability to grant their artwork or performance a similar distinction. It is this unwillingness that Josephine attempts to combat within her community.
Our angelic narrator here shows his might once again as he explains the motifs of Josephine are purely speculative, so that the negative, power-hungry portrait he paints of her winds up saying more about himself than it does about Josephine, perhaps because he is one from the mouse people but nonetheless, he feels sympathetic towards Josephine for the reasons unknown to him . We see that our narrator gradually realizes the threat imposed by Josephine to him as she has been trying to express herself right from the outset of the narrative but Kafka, though always remain speculative and neutral, never really allowed her to do so. However, we see there is stark difference here from other stories of Kafka- the other character is being made quite strong here and in fact she even threatens the omnipotent narrator of Kafkaesque world.
We find that Kafka never really specifies who or what really are, the mouse people, exactly. It is obvious that they have a very mouse-like mentality, in the sense that they are very organized, practical, witty, hardworking, communal, and connected to one another. Like a normal human being they seem to feel constant fear of death, weakness, and hostility. The commentators and critics around the world interprets the story in different ways, some of them say that Kafka used the mouse folk to portray the socioeconomic and political position of the Jews of his time and society, while others believe that he wrote them as he did to portray the people’s sense of community. It is interesting to note that the narrator likes Josephine music and empathizes with her, but at the same time, he doesn’t fully support some of Josephine’s claims and opinions. In a way, he is the bridge between Josephine and her community, but who could not never really leave his pre-conceived notions and prejudices. On one level, the story is a bit of anthropomorphic nonsense. But on a deeper level, it is a melancholy observation of the randomness of existence and a mirror of our own human pretensions and absurdities, seen through the eyes of one of the humbler creatures of the Earth.
In his different works, tormented, misjudged or overlooked artists, for example, the Hunger Artist or even the character of the land surveyor in The Castle either can't get or can't keep up affirmation or acknowledgment for the aptitudes they realize they have. Kafka's craftsmen are dedicated to their specialty with their whole existence, much as he seemed to be. Composing devoured his life, his body, and his psyche as he received a thorough way of life of close to starvation and acrobatic to help it.
Although we are unmusical, we have a tradition of singing; in the old days our people did sing; this is mentioned in legends and some songs have actually survived, which, it is true, no one can now sing
-George Steiner
Cracking a nut is really not an art form, and so no one will dare to call an audience together and entertain it by cracking nuts. If he does it nevertheless, and does so successfully, then it must be a matter of something more than merely cracking nuts. Or it is cracking nuts, but we must have ignored some aspect of this art form because we mastered it too well and it took this new nutcracker to reveal its true nature to us, and it can even help its demonstration if he is a little less proficient at nutcracking than the rest of us.
As you traverse through the initial phrases of the story, you feel a familiar sense foreboding; it occurs to you that you’re losing its track as if you are unable to get hold of the story. A sudden urge, out of anxiety, compels you to read it again, as if some sorts of teasing tricks are being played by the author and an uneasiness surrounds you that the prose would reveal itself differently every time you visit it. So, gradually but certainly, you dive into sea of outlandish probabilities which triggers your brain to conjure up outrageously probable motives, meanings and themes. The inability to interpret the metaphors, which further accentuated by the nature of the author’s fictional point of view, makes it all the more enigmatic. Such issues seem no more acute than in Josephine the Singer or the Mouse Folk which may be said to be significant statement on the role of artist in the society. As soon as you are about to reach some conclusion, your confidence starts quivering, perhaps the conclusion you have drawn seems to fail you as there may be other probable answers. Welcome to the world of Kafka or Kafkaesque as we know it.
We see that artists know within themselves that their art is true, but without public interest they cannot achieve their goal, whether it is to produce the aesthetic effect, or to have this effect recognized to the extent that they feel is appropriate. The need of Other (what mentioned by Sartre in Being and Nothingness) to get acknowledgement or acceptance of our existence by others constitutes what Sartre called Bad Faith and hence they act inauthentically. The artist’s desire to occupy or knowledge of belonging in the center of the scene may be valid, but society will not necessarily agree–a predicament that Kafka struggled with throughout his career as an author. While Josephine’s art does seem to have served a pleasant if not necessary function among the community, she is unable to convince them that she or her art are entirely worthy of her desired position in the sacred center.
The story could be said as an examination of the shifting perspective of narrator, as usually it is the case with Kafka. It represents, thorough analysis of the status of the artist- not a condemnation, not a defense, but merely a statement of the condition. The story could be taken as a close psychological study between an artist and her intended audience. We have a third person, omniscient narrator, unreliable of course as the case with Kafka, who says that Josephine’s art does not appear to be exceptional in itself, or anything else which makes Josephine superior to others in their community. Though when she performs, and there is no denying that her performances have an exceptional, almost opium-like effect on the crowds that form around her. Even in moments of intense danger, if Josephine begins to sing, the perpetually overworked, creatures, living on fringes of life will pause and divert their energies, gathering around her to convene in rapt attention and silence through her performance.
This however, is not the case; unconditional loyalty is barely known to our people, who love above all things admittedly innocent guile, harmless gossip consisting merely of moving the lips; such people are not able to give themselves unconditionally, and Josefine probably senses this too, it is in fact what she struggles against with every effort of her weak larynx.
The story raises some basic questions about the relationship of art and artists, it highlights the delicate and sometimes strained relationship between modern artists and their audience: what criteria are necessary for a performance or piece to be recognized as art, and who is qualified to validate it as such? What if the recognition she gets from her community, the mouse people, is just out of mere sympathy and not a true recognition of her talent at all; and we know sympathy is one of those human qualities which are perceived kind but actually represents brutality of humanity. The sympathetic attitude of us towards someone reduces his/ her existence to nothingness and all her/ his projections turn out to be inauthentic, robbing one from any sense of comfort that inauthentic existence might seem to convey. We find another claim in the story, Josephine thinks that she is the one who protects and serves her community through the seemingly sacrifice she makes by singing to them? Why does the community acknowledge the effect her songs have on it on the first place, however collectively refuse to give her the appreciation of the art that she requests to them.
Of course, she doesn’t rescue us and she doesn’t give us strength, it’s easy to play the part of a rescuer of these particular people, who are habituated to suffering, unsparing of themselves, quick to make their minds up, familiar with death, only appearing to be timid because of the atmosphere of derring-do in which they constantly live, and in addition are as prolific as they are brave- it’s an easy thing as I say to come along and claim to be rescuer of these people, who have somehow always managed to rescue themselves, with such loses that the historian- in general we neglect the study of history- is apt to go rigid with shock.
Though it may be accepted that she and her song possess powerful impact over the community, but it’s hard to define, in fact, undefinable, if anything, differentiates her from the rest of the community. The We see through the eye of narrator, since as we reader we are at mercy of him/ her, that the community fail to understand the meaning and the power behind Josephine’s song. They fail to understand if there is something unique with her art, or seemingly art. Meanwhile, our artist, Josephine demands that she should be relieved from her mundane daily chores, which would give her artistic ‘being’ free hand to express itself uninterruptedly. However, her demands are refuted with disdain as her listeners believe there is no need to do so, the relationship of Josefine with them remain quite tense and enigmatic, making it a perfect Kafkaesque universe. Often the public’s negative reaction is the very reason an artist will rise to fame. Think of the initially negative public reaction to the rise of the impressionists, abstract expressionists, however, the more attention the creations of an artist get, the more significant they became, the more artists imitate their style, and gradually they become iconic figures in the public domain, as we know them. Despite the confusion over the validity of her song or the source of its power, Josephine’s singing does–for whatever reason–serve the ethical function of the esthetic.
If this really were to be the case then Josephine's claims would be totally understandable-yes, one could to a certain extent see in this freedom that the folk would have bestowed upon her, in such an extra-ordinary, uniquely privileged gift, this bestowal that-truth to tell-contradicts what the law requires, one could see a confirmation of the fact that, just as Josephine asserts, the folk doesn't understand anything at all of what she's about, that it stands helplessly in awe before her artistry, that it is unworthy and abashed by its incapacity and that as recompense for this 'wrong' that it has inflicted upon her, that all of these misunderstandings might be balanced out-or at least it strives to balance them out-that just as her art extends beyond their capacities of conceptualization, so too her person and her wishes are placed beyond their authority: that, in short, she is immune from the commands and from the powers of the ruling authority.
The unreliable narrator of the story holds strong grip over your consciousness and inquisitiveness throughout the story, we see that the aggregate energy about the snapshots of harmony that encompass Josephine is the nearest her kin come to rising above their thorough, distressing real factors. Josephine's request that she is singing to hard of hearing ears, and the likenesses between her specialty and the customary funneling that different individuals from the network have seen help to re-make the dumbfounding structure of distinguishing proof with and estrangement from the focal figure. As the mouse people alienates themselves from the art of Josephine, as they fail to perceive the artistic quality of Josephine’ s art; however, it increases the enigma of Josephine, the singer, and in way provides more importance than she originally had. Though it may create an aura of divinity around our beloved singer, Josephine; if the audience identifies with her too well, the aura may be shattered and shred to nothingness. The audience at once makes Josephine’s art possible by recognizing it as such, and threatens its continued existence through possessing the capacity to evaluate it and deem it unworthy. The inauthentic projection of Josephine never allows her to achieve the great heights of invincibility she always dreams of. Our unwillingness to grant social distinction to artists inhibits our ability to grant their artwork or performance a similar distinction. It is this unwillingness that Josephine attempts to combat within her community.
Our angelic narrator here shows his might once again as he explains the motifs of Josephine are purely speculative, so that the negative, power-hungry portrait he paints of her winds up saying more about himself than it does about Josephine, perhaps because he is one from the mouse people but nonetheless, he feels sympathetic towards Josephine for the reasons unknown to him . We see that our narrator gradually realizes the threat imposed by Josephine to him as she has been trying to express herself right from the outset of the narrative but Kafka, though always remain speculative and neutral, never really allowed her to do so. However, we see there is stark difference here from other stories of Kafka- the other character is being made quite strong here and in fact she even threatens the omnipotent narrator of Kafkaesque world.
We find that Kafka never really specifies who or what really are, the mouse people, exactly. It is obvious that they have a very mouse-like mentality, in the sense that they are very organized, practical, witty, hardworking, communal, and connected to one another. Like a normal human being they seem to feel constant fear of death, weakness, and hostility. The commentators and critics around the world interprets the story in different ways, some of them say that Kafka used the mouse folk to portray the socioeconomic and political position of the Jews of his time and society, while others believe that he wrote them as he did to portray the people’s sense of community. It is interesting to note that the narrator likes Josephine music and empathizes with her, but at the same time, he doesn’t fully support some of Josephine’s claims and opinions. In a way, he is the bridge between Josephine and her community, but who could not never really leave his pre-conceived notions and prejudices. On one level, the story is a bit of anthropomorphic nonsense. But on a deeper level, it is a melancholy observation of the randomness of existence and a mirror of our own human pretensions and absurdities, seen through the eyes of one of the humbler creatures of the Earth.
In his different works, tormented, misjudged or overlooked artists, for example, the Hunger Artist or even the character of the land surveyor in The Castle either can't get or can't keep up affirmation or acknowledgment for the aptitudes they realize they have. Kafka's craftsmen are dedicated to their specialty with their whole existence, much as he seemed to be. Composing devoured his life, his body, and his psyche as he received a thorough way of life of close to starvation and acrobatic to help it.
Although we are unmusical, we have a tradition of singing; in the old days our people did sing; this is mentioned in legends and some songs have actually survived, which, it is true, no one can now sing
January 5, 2020
Josephine, the Singer or the Mouse Folk (Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse) Η Ζοζεφίνα, η τραγουδίστρια ή ο λαός των ποντικιών.
Η Ζοζεφίνα είναι ένα άμουσο πλάσμα. Ένα ποντίκι δεν μπορεί να τραγουδάει, μόνο να βγάζει τσιριχτές φωνούλες μπορεί. Είναι αυτό τέχνη;
Τη βραδιά που ο Kafka έγραψε την τελευταία σελίδα της ιστορίας του, γύρισε στον φίλο του, τον Klopstock και του είπε " Νομίζω πως ξεκίνησα τη μελέτη για το τσίριγμα των ζώων την κατάλληλη στιγμή. Μόλις τελείωσα μια ιστορία γι' αυτό". Το ίδιο εκείνο βράδυ άρχισε να νιώθει ένα έντονο κάψιμο στο λαιμό. Η φυματίωση είχε επηρεάζει τον λάρυγγα. Λίγους μήνες αργότερα θα πεθάνει.
(βλέπε: Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors, εκδ. Schocken, 2013, σελ. 665)
Ωστόσο στο μέτρο των δυνατοτήτων της η Ζοζεφίνα κάνει ό,τι καλύτερο μπορεί. Αυτό που δεν μπορεί να αντέξει, το μόνο πράγμα που την πτοεί σε σημείο εξαφάνισης, εκεί που αποτυγχάνει πλήρως, είναι το να συνδυάσει τη ζωή της καλλιτέχνιδας και τη ζωή της απλής εργάτριας. Γιατί παρά το όποιο μουσικό της ταλέντο, είναι υποχρεωμένη να διατηρεί την καθημερινή της εργασία και όσο και να επιδιώκει την εξαίρεσή της, κανένας δεν εγκρίνει το αίτημά της.
Ένα από τα αφεντικά του Kafka, o Eisner, προϊστάμενός του στην Assicurazioni Generali, τον είχε παρομοιάζει με εκείνους τους τεμπελχανάδες ήρωες του Robert Walser που τρ��χουν χαρούμενοι εδώ κι εκεί και δεν κάνουν τίποτα, έξω από το να προσφέρουν ικανή ψυχαγωγία στους αναγνώστες των μυθιστορημάτων. Ωστόσο παρ 'όλο που ο ίδιος ο Kafka δεν αρνείται πως ίσως επιφανειακά να φαίνεται έτσι, στα μάτια των άλλων, και δη στα μάτια του αφεντικού του, μοιάζει περισσότερο με εκείνους τους δρομείς σε κούρσες αλόγων που για να καλύψουν την καθυστερημένη εκκίνησή τους, επιταχύνουν υπερβολικά με αποτέλεσμα να πέσουν από τη ράχη του αλόγου. Ποτέ δεν καταφέρνουν να τελειώσουν την κούρσα και καταλήγουν πεσμένοι στο γρασίδι, σαν τα σκουλήκια. (βλέπε επιστολή προς Eisner, Πράγα 1909).
Υπάρχουν κάποια πράγματα για τα οποία έχω σχηματίσει την προσωπική μου άποψη σχετικά με τη σχέση του Kafka και την εργασία του. Είχε καταφέρει μέσα από τις οικογενειακές του διασυνδέσεις να βρει δουλειές που πολύς κόσμος θα τις ζήλευε. Ήταν, καίτοι στα γραπτά του μπορεί να δίνει την εντύπωση για το αντίθετο, εργατικός και φιλότιμος. Από την άλλη δεν του άρεσε το είδος της δουλειάς του, το έκανε με συνέπεια αλλά δεν μπορούσε να το υποφέρει. Ήταν πάντα, ακόμα και πριν πάθει τη φυματίωση, ασθενικός, αδύναμος, υπέφερε από λιποθυμικές κρίσεις και ημικρανίες. Και μέσα σε όλα αυτά η συγγραφή, έγραφε κυρίως τη νύχτα, του στερούσε πολύτιμο χρόνο από την ανάπαυσή του.
Στην ουσία δεν θα ήταν υπερβολικό το συμπέρασμά μου, πως αυτός ο δύστυχος άνθρωπος έλιωσε, έσβησε από την εξάντληση. Δεν τρεφόταν σωστά, έχανε συνέχεια βάρος, γράφει ο ίδιος στην αδερφή του την Ottla, ήδη από το 1911, πως "δεν μπορώ να μασήσω κανονικά το κρέας", τελικά κατέληξε να είναι χορτοφάγος, το οποίο καίτοι είναι πιο υγιεινό, ωστόσο σε μια εποχή πολέμου σημαίνει πως προφανώς δεν λάμβανε ούτε στο ελάχιστο τα θρεπτικά συστατικά που χρειάζονταν για να συντηρηθεί κι αυτό είχε αναμφίβολα επιπτώσεις στην ψυχική, πνευματική και σωματική του υγεία.
Εκεί όμως που απέτυχε τελείως, είναι πως δεν κατάφερε να ζήσει και να βγάλει τα χρήματα που θα του εξασφάλιζαν τα προς το ζην από το λογοτεχνικό του έργο. Είναι από αυτές τις τραγικές ειρωνείες της ζωής, αν σκεφτεί κανείς πόσα χρήματα βγάζει σήμερα το έργο του, το χειρόγραφο της Δίκης πουλήθηκε σε δημοπρασία στα 1988 για 2 εκατομμύρια δολάρια!
Η Ζοζεφίνα προσπάθησε να εξηγήσει στον λαό των ποντικιών τους λόγους που ζητούσε να της επιτρέψουν την εξαίρεση από την καθημερινή εργασία:
"Το βάρος της δουλειάς είναι κακό για τη φωνή της, το βάρος της εργασίας οπωσδήποτε δεν είναι τίποτα συγκριτικά με εκείνο του τραγουδιού, αλλά την εμποδίζει από το να μπορεί να αναπαυθεί επαρκώς μετά από το τραγούδι της, πρέπει να φτάσει στην πλήρη εξάντληση κι έτσι ακόμα, δεν μπορεί να φτάσει στο μέγιστο των δυνατοτήτων της".
Η ειρωνεία ωστόσο στην περίπτωση της Ζοζεφίνας είναι πως στην πραγματικότητα δεν τραγουδάει. Τσιρίζει. Δεν είναι μια πραγματική τραγουδίστρια. Έτσι ένιωθε - εν μέρη - και ο ίδιος ο Kafka, ειδικά εκείνη την εποχή, σε σχέση με το συγγραφικό του έργο, γι' αυτό και έκαψε ένα μεγάλο τμήμα από τα χειρόγραφά του και ό,τι απέμεινε ζήτησε από τον φίλο του, τον Max Brod να το αποτελειώσει εκείνος.
Το παράξενο είναι πως την ίδια εποχή που έκαιγε τα χειρόγραφά του, ετοίμαζε την τελευταία του συλλογή, υπό τον γενικό τίτλο "Ein Hungerkünstler" το οποίο εκδόθηκε από τον εκδοτικό Verlag Die Schmiede, στα 1924, λίγους μήνες μετά τον θάνατό του. Μέσα στις λιγοστές ιστορίες της συλλογής ήταν και η Ζοζεφίνα. Έκανε μόνος του τις τελευταίες διορθώσεις στα κείμενά του, δεν ήταν πια σε θέση να μιλήσει, ήταν τόσο υποσιτισμένος που έμοιαζε με σκελετό, και μην μπορώντας να επικοινωνήσει με άλλο τρόπο γράφει σε ένα χαρτάκι στον φίλο του τον Klopstock, που δεν άντεχε να τον βλέπει να κουράζεται με τα γραψίματά του:
"Πόσα χρόνια ακόμα θα χρειαστεί να το υπομείνεις; Πόσο καιρό ακόμα θα μπορώ να υπομένω όσο εσύ υπομένεις; Τώρα θέλω να το διαβάσω. Θα με ταράξει υπερβολικά ίσως, ωστόσο πρέπει να το βιώσω από την αρχή".
Κι όταν τέλειωσε τις διορθώσεις, έκλαψε για πολλή ώρα, μαρτυρεί ο φίλος του...
Η Ζοζεφίνα είναι ένα άμουσο πλάσμα. Ένα ποντίκι δεν μπορεί να τραγουδάει, μόνο να βγάζει τσιριχτές φωνούλες μπορεί. Είναι αυτό τέχνη;
Τη βραδιά που ο Kafka έγραψε την τελευταία σελίδα της ιστορίας του, γύρισε στον φίλο του, τον Klopstock και του είπε " Νομίζω πως ξεκίνησα τη μελέτη για το τσίριγμα των ζώων την κατάλληλη στιγμή. Μόλις τελείωσα μια ιστορία γι' αυτό". Το ίδιο εκείνο βράδυ άρχισε να νιώθει ένα έντονο κάψιμο στο λαιμό. Η φυματίωση είχε επηρεάζει τον λάρυγγα. Λίγους μήνες αργότερα θα πεθάνει.
(βλέπε: Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors, εκδ. Schocken, 2013, σελ. 665)
Ωστόσο στο μέτρο των δυνατοτήτων της η Ζοζεφίνα κάνει ό,τι καλύτερο μπορεί. Αυτό που δεν μπορεί να αντέξει, το μόνο πράγμα που την πτοεί σε σημείο εξαφάνισης, εκεί που αποτυγχάνει πλήρως, είναι το να συνδυάσει τη ζωή της καλλιτέχνιδας και τη ζωή της απλής εργάτριας. Γιατί παρά το όποιο μουσικό της ταλέντο, είναι υποχρεωμένη να διατηρεί την καθημερινή της εργασία και όσο και να επιδιώκει την εξαίρεσή της, κανένας δεν εγκρίνει το αίτημά της.
Ένα από τα αφεντικά του Kafka, o Eisner, προϊστάμενός του στην Assicurazioni Generali, τον είχε παρομοιάζει με εκείνους τους τεμπελχανάδες ήρωες του Robert Walser που τρ��χουν χαρούμενοι εδώ κι εκεί και δεν κάνουν τίποτα, έξω από το να προσφέρουν ικανή ψυχαγωγία στους αναγνώστες των μυθιστορημάτων. Ωστόσο παρ 'όλο που ο ίδιος ο Kafka δεν αρνείται πως ίσως επιφανειακά να φαίνεται έτσι, στα μάτια των άλλων, και δη στα μάτια του αφεντικού του, μοιάζει περισσότερο με εκείνους τους δρομείς σε κούρσες αλόγων που για να καλύψουν την καθυστερημένη εκκίνησή τους, επιταχύνουν υπερβολικά με αποτέλεσμα να πέσουν από τη ράχη του αλόγου. Ποτέ δεν καταφέρνουν να τελειώσουν την κούρσα και καταλήγουν πεσμένοι στο γρασίδι, σαν τα σκουλήκια. (βλέπε επιστολή προς Eisner, Πράγα 1909).
Υπάρχουν κάποια πράγματα για τα οποία έχω σχηματίσει την προσωπική μου άποψη σχετικά με τη σχέση του Kafka και την εργασία του. Είχε καταφέρει μέσα από τις οικογενειακές του διασυνδέσεις να βρει δουλειές που πολύς κόσμος θα τις ζήλευε. Ήταν, καίτοι στα γραπτά του μπορεί να δίνει την εντύπωση για το αντίθετο, εργατικός και φιλότιμος. Από την άλλη δεν του άρεσε το είδος της δουλειάς του, το έκανε με συνέπεια αλλά δεν μπορούσε να το υποφέρει. Ήταν πάντα, ακόμα και πριν πάθει τη φυματίωση, ασθενικός, αδύναμος, υπέφερε από λιποθυμικές κρίσεις και ημικρανίες. Και μέσα σε όλα αυτά η συγγραφή, έγραφε κυρίως τη νύχτα, του στερούσε πολύτιμο χρόνο από την ανάπαυσή του.
Στην ουσία δεν θα ήταν υπερβολικό το συμπέρασμά μου, πως αυτός ο δύστυχος άνθρωπος έλιωσε, έσβησε από την εξάντληση. Δεν τρεφόταν σωστά, έχανε συνέχεια βάρος, γράφει ο ίδιος στην αδερφή του την Ottla, ήδη από το 1911, πως "δεν μπορώ να μασήσω κανονικά το κρέας", τελικά κατέληξε να είναι χορτοφάγος, το οποίο καίτοι είναι πιο υγιεινό, ωστόσο σε μια εποχή πολέμου σημαίνει πως προφανώς δεν λάμβανε ούτε στο ελάχιστο τα θρεπτικά συστατικά που χρειάζονταν για να συντηρηθεί κι αυτό είχε αναμφίβολα επιπτώσεις στην ψυχική, πνευματική και σωματική του υγεία.
Εκεί όμως που απέτυχε τελείως, είναι πως δεν κατάφερε να ζήσει και να βγάλει τα χρήματα που θα του εξασφάλιζαν τα προς το ζην από το λογοτεχνικό του έργο. Είναι από αυτές τις τραγικές ειρωνείες της ζωής, αν σκεφτεί κανείς πόσα χρήματα βγάζει σήμερα το έργο του, το χειρόγραφο της Δίκης πουλήθηκε σε δημοπρασία στα 1988 για 2 εκατομμύρια δολάρια!
Η Ζοζεφίνα προσπάθησε να εξηγήσει στον λαό των ποντικιών τους λόγους που ζητούσε να της επιτρέψουν την εξαίρεση από την καθημερινή εργασία:
"Το βάρος της δουλειάς είναι κακό για τη φωνή της, το βάρος της εργασίας οπωσδήποτε δεν είναι τίποτα συγκριτικά με εκείνο του τραγουδιού, αλλά την εμποδίζει από το να μπορεί να αναπαυθεί επαρκώς μετά από το τραγούδι της, πρέπει να φτάσει στην πλήρη εξάντληση κι έτσι ακόμα, δεν μπορεί να φτάσει στο μέγιστο των δυνατοτήτων της".
Η ειρωνεία ωστόσο στην περίπτωση της Ζοζεφίνας είναι πως στην πραγματικότητα δεν τραγουδάει. Τσιρίζει. Δεν είναι μια πραγματική τραγουδίστρια. Έτσι ένιωθε - εν μέρη - και ο ίδιος ο Kafka, ειδικά εκείνη την εποχή, σε σχέση με το συγγραφικό του έργο, γι' αυτό και έκαψε ένα μεγάλο τμήμα από τα χειρόγραφά του και ό,τι απέμεινε ζήτησε από τον φίλο του, τον Max Brod να το αποτελειώσει εκείνος.
Το παράξενο είναι πως την ίδια εποχή που έκαιγε τα χειρόγραφά του, ετοίμαζε την τελευταία του συλλογή, υπό τον γενικό τίτλο "Ein Hungerkünstler" το οποίο εκδόθηκε από τον εκδοτικό Verlag Die Schmiede, στα 1924, λίγους μήνες μετά τον θάνατό του. Μέσα στις λιγοστές ιστορίες της συλλογής ήταν και η Ζοζεφίνα. Έκανε μόνος του τις τελευταίες διορθώσεις στα κείμενά του, δεν ήταν πια σε θέση να μιλήσει, ήταν τόσο υποσιτισμένος που έμοιαζε με σκελετό, και μην μπορώντας να επικοινωνήσει με άλλο τρόπο γράφει σε ένα χαρτάκι στον φίλο του τον Klopstock, που δεν άντεχε να τον βλέπει να κουράζεται με τα γραψίματά του:
"Πόσα χρόνια ακόμα θα χρειαστεί να το υπομείνεις; Πόσο καιρό ακόμα θα μπορώ να υπομένω όσο εσύ υπομένεις; Τώρα θέλω να το διαβάσω. Θα με ταράξει υπερβολικά ίσως, ωστόσο πρέπει να το βιώσω από την αρχή".
Κι όταν τέλειωσε τις διορθώσεις, έκλαψε για πολλή ώρα, μαρτυρεί ο φίλος του...
September 20, 2023
«Quien no la conoce no conoce el poder del canto. No hay nadie a quien su canto no arrebate, lo cual es tanto más de apreciar cuanto que nuestra raza, tomada en su generalidad, no es amante de la música».
A finales de marzo de 1924, en una anotación que le hace a su médico Robert Klopstock, Kafka le dice que está escribiendo un nuevo relato y le asegura «creo que he iniciado en el momento oportuno la investigación sobre el piar de los animales. Acabo de finalizar una historia sobre el tema», y el 9 de abril ya internado en el sanatorio de Wiener Wald le pide a Max Brod: «ofrécela por favor a Otto Pick, y si la acepta, envíala a Die Schmiede en un momento posterior; pero si no la toma, mándala enseguida».
Es muy probable que los problemas que Kafka ya tenía con la tuberculosis en su laringe y que le impedían hablar correctamente hayan disparado en su mente la idea del canto de Josefina.
Este, que es el último texto que escriba y corrija se transformará en una despedida más que honrosa de la literatura.
En el relato, que es el más extenso de los cuatro que componen el volumen "Un artista del hambre", el ratón narrador unos introduce en el otro personaje (pasivo) que es Josefina, a la que él y su pueblo ven como a una líder (o tal vez una especie de mesías) que se caracteriza por su canto excepcional: «Quien no la conoce no conoce el poder del canto. No hay nadie a quien su canto no arrebate, lo cual es tanto más de apreciar cuanto que nuestra raza, tomada en su generalidad, no es amante de la música».
Esa frase se relaciona en cierto modo con Kafka quien nunca tuvo un entendimiento claro por lo musical, dado que se consideraba casi nulo en la materia.
En realidad, lo que el narrador interpreta como “canto” es el tradicional chillido que emite cualquier ratón, pero que para el pueblo es determinante.
De todos modos, aunque al principio indica que el canto de Josefina es excepcional, posteriormente dice que es un chillido común con relación a supuestos aires de diva que posee Josefina, que en ciertas ocasiones subestima a su propio público.
Nuevamente encontramos en un relato de Kafka conexiones con el pueblo judío tal como pasara en el relato "Chacales y árabes", pues como en otros casos, el autor vuelve a anticipar el constante movimiento y desarraigo que han sufrido los judíos y que recién pudo lograr algo de estabilidad a partir de la tardía fundación del Estado de Israel el 14 de mayo de 1948.
En un pasaje del relato, el ratón confiesa «Nosotros estamos al borde de la risa; a pesar de todas las miserias de nuestra vida». Es realmente toda una frase premonitora que anticipa las desgracias que perseguirán a los judíos a partir de fines de la década siguiente con la llegada del nazismo.
Aunque el pueblo de los ratones no termina de comprender el arte de Josefina, algo que sucede también en los otros relatos del volumen, la apoyan en todo momento y se sienten orgullosos de ella mientras que el narrador aclara en las líneas finales que con su desaparición todo terminará en un oprobioso olvido.
Paradójicamente, esa aseveración de la última línea del último relato de Kafka no fue lo que sucedió precisamente con él sino todo lo contrario, ya que poco tiempo después de su muerte, su imagen y su legado literario perdurarán hasta nuestros días.
A finales de marzo de 1924, en una anotación que le hace a su médico Robert Klopstock, Kafka le dice que está escribiendo un nuevo relato y le asegura «creo que he iniciado en el momento oportuno la investigación sobre el piar de los animales. Acabo de finalizar una historia sobre el tema», y el 9 de abril ya internado en el sanatorio de Wiener Wald le pide a Max Brod: «ofrécela por favor a Otto Pick, y si la acepta, envíala a Die Schmiede en un momento posterior; pero si no la toma, mándala enseguida».
Es muy probable que los problemas que Kafka ya tenía con la tuberculosis en su laringe y que le impedían hablar correctamente hayan disparado en su mente la idea del canto de Josefina.
Este, que es el último texto que escriba y corrija se transformará en una despedida más que honrosa de la literatura.
En el relato, que es el más extenso de los cuatro que componen el volumen "Un artista del hambre", el ratón narrador unos introduce en el otro personaje (pasivo) que es Josefina, a la que él y su pueblo ven como a una líder (o tal vez una especie de mesías) que se caracteriza por su canto excepcional: «Quien no la conoce no conoce el poder del canto. No hay nadie a quien su canto no arrebate, lo cual es tanto más de apreciar cuanto que nuestra raza, tomada en su generalidad, no es amante de la música».
Esa frase se relaciona en cierto modo con Kafka quien nunca tuvo un entendimiento claro por lo musical, dado que se consideraba casi nulo en la materia.
En realidad, lo que el narrador interpreta como “canto” es el tradicional chillido que emite cualquier ratón, pero que para el pueblo es determinante.
De todos modos, aunque al principio indica que el canto de Josefina es excepcional, posteriormente dice que es un chillido común con relación a supuestos aires de diva que posee Josefina, que en ciertas ocasiones subestima a su propio público.
Nuevamente encontramos en un relato de Kafka conexiones con el pueblo judío tal como pasara en el relato "Chacales y árabes", pues como en otros casos, el autor vuelve a anticipar el constante movimiento y desarraigo que han sufrido los judíos y que recién pudo lograr algo de estabilidad a partir de la tardía fundación del Estado de Israel el 14 de mayo de 1948.
En un pasaje del relato, el ratón confiesa «Nosotros estamos al borde de la risa; a pesar de todas las miserias de nuestra vida». Es realmente toda una frase premonitora que anticipa las desgracias que perseguirán a los judíos a partir de fines de la década siguiente con la llegada del nazismo.
Aunque el pueblo de los ratones no termina de comprender el arte de Josefina, algo que sucede también en los otros relatos del volumen, la apoyan en todo momento y se sienten orgullosos de ella mientras que el narrador aclara en las líneas finales que con su desaparición todo terminará en un oprobioso olvido.
Paradójicamente, esa aseveración de la última línea del último relato de Kafka no fue lo que sucedió precisamente con él sino todo lo contrario, ya que poco tiempo después de su muerte, su imagen y su legado literario perdurarán hasta nuestros días.
March 22, 2024
Da es garantiert nicht das letzte Mal gewesen sein wird, dass ich die Geschichte gelesen habe, spare ich mir eine Analyse, die sowieso nur falsch sein kann 😂. Trotzdem kann ich bei Kafka nicht neutral bleiben und gebe nerdige 5*. 😎
December 31, 2023
The English version can be found below.
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German Version:
Interessante Erzählung, die allerdings trotz ihrer Kürze etwas anstrengend zu lesen ist. Das zentrale Thema sind Mäuse bzw. ihre Töne und ihr gesamtes Verhalten und Sein, die übermäßig fokussiert dargestellt werden – nahezu paranoid.
"Und nicht wie in jenen Schulen die gleichen Kinder, nein, immer, immer neue, ohne Ende, ohne Unterbrechung, kaum erscheint ein Kind, ist es nicht mehr Kind, aber schon drängen hinter ihm die neuen Kindergesichter ununterscheidbar in ihrer Menge und Eile, rosig vor Glück. (...) Eine gewisse unerstorbene, unausrottbare Kindlichkeit durchdringt unser Volk"
Ich habe die Erzählung im Anschluss an eine Vorlesung zur Literarischen Angst gelesen, in welcher Kafkas irrationale Angst vor Mäusen thematisiert wurde und fand das Lesen der Erzählung durchaus spannend. Vor allem zeigte sich deutlich, dass die Angst in unserem Kopf wesentlich größer ist als die reale Bedrohung der Situation.
"wo ihr letzter Pfiff ertönt und verstummt. (...) War ihr Pfeifen nennenswert lauter und lebendiger, als die Erinnerung daran sein wird? War es denn noch bei ihren Lebzeiten mehr als eine bloße Erinnerung?"
Was ich interessant fand, ist das Piepsen ("der Gesang" von Josefine/Mäuse), was ja eine Parallele zu Kafkas tuberkulosegeschädigter Piepsstimme zu dieser Zeit darstellt. Es klingt danach, als würde Kafka sein Leben und seinen Fußabdruck in der Welt dabei nochmals reflektieren, bevor er stirbt. Josephines machtvoller Gesang ist hier möglicherweise ein Äquivalent zu seinem Leben bzw. Schreiben.
Gesamt: 3,2
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English version:
Interesting story, but despite its brevity, it is a little heavy to read. The central theme is mice, their sounds and their entire behavior and being, which are portrayed in an overly focused, almost in a paranoid way.
"And not the same children as in those schools, no, always, always new ones, without end, without interruption, no sooner does a child appear than he is no longer a child, but already the new children's faces are pressing behind him, indistinguishable in their multitude and haste, rosy with happiness. (...) A certain undying, ineradicable childishness pervades our people" (translated)
I read the story following a lecture on 'Literary fear', in which Kafka's irrational fear of mice was discussed, and reading this story afterward was quite fascinating. Above all, it became clear that the fear in our heads is much greater than the real threat of the situation.
"where her last whistle sounded and fell silent. (...) Was her whistle significantly louder and more vivid than the memory of it will be? Was it more than a mere memory while she was still alive?"
What I found interesting is the beeping ("the singing" of Josefine/mice), which is a parallel to Kafka's tuberculosis-stricken beeping voice at the time. It sounds as if Kafka is reflecting on his life and his footprint in the world before dying. Josephine's powerful singing is possibly an equivalent to his life and writing.
Total: 3.2
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German Version:
Interessante Erzählung, die allerdings trotz ihrer Kürze etwas anstrengend zu lesen ist. Das zentrale Thema sind Mäuse bzw. ihre Töne und ihr gesamtes Verhalten und Sein, die übermäßig fokussiert dargestellt werden – nahezu paranoid.
"Und nicht wie in jenen Schulen die gleichen Kinder, nein, immer, immer neue, ohne Ende, ohne Unterbrechung, kaum erscheint ein Kind, ist es nicht mehr Kind, aber schon drängen hinter ihm die neuen Kindergesichter ununterscheidbar in ihrer Menge und Eile, rosig vor Glück. (...) Eine gewisse unerstorbene, unausrottbare Kindlichkeit durchdringt unser Volk"
Ich habe die Erzählung im Anschluss an eine Vorlesung zur Literarischen Angst gelesen, in welcher Kafkas irrationale Angst vor Mäusen thematisiert wurde und fand das Lesen der Erzählung durchaus spannend. Vor allem zeigte sich deutlich, dass die Angst in unserem Kopf wesentlich größer ist als die reale Bedrohung der Situation.
"wo ihr letzter Pfiff ertönt und verstummt. (...) War ihr Pfeifen nennenswert lauter und lebendiger, als die Erinnerung daran sein wird? War es denn noch bei ihren Lebzeiten mehr als eine bloße Erinnerung?"
Was ich interessant fand, ist das Piepsen ("der Gesang" von Josefine/Mäuse), was ja eine Parallele zu Kafkas tuberkulosegeschädigter Piepsstimme zu dieser Zeit darstellt. Es klingt danach, als würde Kafka sein Leben und seinen Fußabdruck in der Welt dabei nochmals reflektieren, bevor er stirbt. Josephines machtvoller Gesang ist hier möglicherweise ein Äquivalent zu seinem Leben bzw. Schreiben.
Gesamt: 3,2
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English version:
Interesting story, but despite its brevity, it is a little heavy to read. The central theme is mice, their sounds and their entire behavior and being, which are portrayed in an overly focused, almost in a paranoid way.
"And not the same children as in those schools, no, always, always new ones, without end, without interruption, no sooner does a child appear than he is no longer a child, but already the new children's faces are pressing behind him, indistinguishable in their multitude and haste, rosy with happiness. (...) A certain undying, ineradicable childishness pervades our people" (translated)
I read the story following a lecture on 'Literary fear', in which Kafka's irrational fear of mice was discussed, and reading this story afterward was quite fascinating. Above all, it became clear that the fear in our heads is much greater than the real threat of the situation.
"where her last whistle sounded and fell silent. (...) Was her whistle significantly louder and more vivid than the memory of it will be? Was it more than a mere memory while she was still alive?"
What I found interesting is the beeping ("the singing" of Josefine/mice), which is a parallel to Kafka's tuberculosis-stricken beeping voice at the time. It sounds as if Kafka is reflecting on his life and his footprint in the world before dying. Josephine's powerful singing is possibly an equivalent to his life and writing.
Total: 3.2
March 26, 2024
ENGLISH: I had never read this story, where we are represented by the mice. Among Kafka's stories I liked better "Metamorphosis," and among his long novels, "The Trial."
ESPAÑOL: No había leído antes este cuento, en el que los ratones nos representan a nosotros. Entre los cuentos de Kafka me gustó más la "Metamorfosis", y entre sus novelas largas, "El proceso".
ESPAÑOL: No había leído antes este cuento, en el que los ratones nos representan a nosotros. Entre los cuentos de Kafka me gustó más la "Metamorfosis", y entre sus novelas largas, "El proceso".
June 8, 2020
Hasta el momento es la obra de Kafka que mas me ha gustado, y ello se debe mas que nada a que plantea una mirada sobre el arte. Como escritora todas las diferentes miradas sobre el arte me interesan. Lo que destaca este texto con otros que he leído que plantean una metáfora sobre el arte, es que acá no aparece solamente la relación entre el autor y la obra, sino que aparece el papel que juega en esa relación la sociedad. En una palabra INTERESANTE.
February 10, 2014
I read it translated to English by Willa and Edwin Muir.
I liked some parts espically the ones that descripe the singer and her voice.
I liked some parts espically the ones that descripe the singer and her voice.
Read
March 12, 2021یوزفینهٔ آوازخوان یا مردمِ موش
«یوزفینه» در بهار 1924 نوشته شد.
«یوزفینه» در بهار 1924 نوشته شد.
Read
December 10, 2021Muss ich unbedingt rereaden, hatte das total im Halbschlaf gelesen und die Hälfte nicht mitbekommen🤭
April 25, 2018
Kafka siempre logra impresionar aunque sus temas sean los mismos. Capta una esencia, la transforma , la alimenta de símbolos y luego nos la da de comer para que la mastiquemos por horas dejándonos al igual que en un principio, con un vacío en el estómago y en la mente.
March 20, 2020
Understanding Franz Kafka is one of the most difficult things in this world.
The content of Kafka's stories is philosophical and difficult so We have to read a story many times until we can find out the purpose of the author.
The content of Kafka's stories is philosophical and difficult so We have to read a story many times until we can find out the purpose of the author.
March 28, 2014
To read after: "the police rat" by Roberto Bolano, a wonderful reply to the story.
June 11, 2019
Josephine the Singer explains why people become famous for being famous, so it's a modern-day fairy tale.
September 26, 2025
One can always rely on Kafka to make you question your reality and society.
December 23, 2025
Mi ego es como el de Josefine, aunque finja que no.
July 26, 2025
Η ιστορία σχολιάζει πώς μια κοινότητα μπορεί να δώσει υπερβολική σημασία σε κάτι που ίσως είναι κοινότοπο, όταν έχει την ανάγκη να πιστέψει σε κάτι ιδιαίτερο. Η Ζοζεφίνα παρουσιάζεται ως μια μορφή γεμάτη ευαισθησία και επιθυμία για αποδοχή, που χρησιμοποιεί την τέχνη της για να ξεχωρίσει. Το κείμενο φωτίζει θέματα όπως η ανάγκη για αναγνώριση, η δημιουργία δημόσιων προσώπων, και η λεπτή γραμμή ανάμεσα στην αληθινή αξία και στην προβολή. Εξετάζει τι σημαίνει "τέχνη", αν είναι κάτι σπάνιο ή αν γεννιέται απλώς από την ανάγκη των ανθρώπων να πιστέψουν σε κάτι σημαντικό. Λιτό και διακριτικά ειρωνικό.
July 1, 2015
يوسفينا (حسب الترجمة التي معي) مغنية مشهورة.. بل هى المغنية الوحيدة في مجتمع الفئران..
إنها الصوت الذي يجمع كل الفئران حولها.. و مع ذلك فلا أحد يعرف مصدر جاذبيتها.. ففنها لا يختلف كثيرا عن أي فأر آخر.. صوتها لا يختلف كيرا عن أي صوت عادي.. و مع ذلك فهى المغنية الأولى و الوحيدة..
على العكس من العديد من قصص كافكا افتقدت هنا الحيرة التي كنت أشعر بها عندما أجد أكثر من تفسير للرواية.. فالقصة هنا تبدو و كأنها إسقاطا ذاتيا على كافكا نفسه في رأيي..
في القصة تبدو يوسفينا فنانة موهوبة.. و مع ذلك لا أحد يعرف سبب موهبتها.. و عندما نقوم بتحليل أداء يوسفينا على المسرح و صوتها فإننا لا نجد فيه أي شيء يستحق كل هذه الشهرة و الجاذبية.. هل كان كافكا يرى نفسه أنه لا يختلف في كتاباته عن أي شخص عادي؟ مع ملاحظة أنه قد طلب من صديقه ان يتخلص من أعماله قبل وفاته لأنها لا ترضيه؟؟
أم أن كافكا كان يتحدث عن الفن بشكل عام و يقول ان الفنان في حد ذاته هو شخص عادي تماما و الجماهير -وهم هنا الفئران- هم من يمنحونه تلك الجاذبية؟ فالجماهير هى من تخلق أساطير الفن فقط لأنها تختار أن تفعل هذا..
و هكذا تسير العلاقة بين يوسفينا و بين الجماهير.. فالجماهير تمجد يوسفينا و يوسفينا تشعر بأنها أكبر و أعظم و أقوى.. حتى لو كان هذا غير صحيح..
إلى أن تاتي اللحظة التي تبدأ فيها يوسفينا بالشعور بالإجهاد.. تبدأ يوسفينا بالخفوت و الانزواء.. وقتها لا يقدر احد من الجماهير هذا..
فكيف يقدرون هذا و هى في نظرهم إلهة يجب عليها الغناء للأبد؟! فلا يتخيل أحد منهم ان تكون مجرد بشرية تمضحل و تبهت..
فهكذا كانت القصة.. جماهير تقرر أن تجعل من شخص عادي أسطورة.. و تصدق تلك الأسطورة التي خلقتها..
لكن ما يلفت الانتباه هو اختيار كافكا لأن تكون الأحداث في مجتمع من الفئران.. لماذا الفئران تحديدا؟؟ يبدو لي ان كافكا يريد أن يؤكد على فكرة التشابه الشديد بين الناس .. فالفئران تقريبا لديها نفس اللون و الشكل.. بالإضافة إلى كثرتها اللامتناهية.. فكافكا يؤكد على فكرة القطيع.. العدد اللانهائي من البشر الذي لا يتوقف أبدا ليسأل .. بل يسير دائما تحت راية الرأي السائد من حوله..
ليست من أعمالي المفضلة لكافكا..
إنها الصوت الذي يجمع كل الفئران حولها.. و مع ذلك فلا أحد يعرف مصدر جاذبيتها.. ففنها لا يختلف كثيرا عن أي فأر آخر.. صوتها لا يختلف كيرا عن أي صوت عادي.. و مع ذلك فهى المغنية الأولى و الوحيدة..
على العكس من العديد من قصص كافكا افتقدت هنا الحيرة التي كنت أشعر بها عندما أجد أكثر من تفسير للرواية.. فالقصة هنا تبدو و كأنها إسقاطا ذاتيا على كافكا نفسه في رأيي..
في القصة تبدو يوسفينا فنانة موهوبة.. و مع ذلك لا أحد يعرف سبب موهبتها.. و عندما نقوم بتحليل أداء يوسفينا على المسرح و صوتها فإننا لا نجد فيه أي شيء يستحق كل هذه الشهرة و الجاذبية.. هل كان كافكا يرى نفسه أنه لا يختلف في كتاباته عن أي شخص عادي؟ مع ملاحظة أنه قد طلب من صديقه ان يتخلص من أعماله قبل وفاته لأنها لا ترضيه؟؟
أم أن كافكا كان يتحدث عن الفن بشكل عام و يقول ان الفنان في حد ذاته هو شخص عادي تماما و الجماهير -وهم هنا الفئران- هم من يمنحونه تلك الجاذبية؟ فالجماهير هى من تخلق أساطير الفن فقط لأنها تختار أن تفعل هذا..
و هكذا تسير العلاقة بين يوسفينا و بين الجماهير.. فالجماهير تمجد يوسفينا و يوسفينا تشعر بأنها أكبر و أعظم و أقوى.. حتى لو كان هذا غير صحيح..
إلى أن تاتي اللحظة التي تبدأ فيها يوسفينا بالشعور بالإجهاد.. تبدأ يوسفينا بالخفوت و الانزواء.. وقتها لا يقدر احد من الجماهير هذا..
فكيف يقدرون هذا و هى في نظرهم إلهة يجب عليها الغناء للأبد؟! فلا يتخيل أحد منهم ان تكون مجرد بشرية تمضحل و تبهت..
فهكذا كانت القصة.. جماهير تقرر أن تجعل من شخص عادي أسطورة.. و تصدق تلك الأسطورة التي خلقتها..
لكن ما يلفت الانتباه هو اختيار كافكا لأن تكون الأحداث في مجتمع من الفئران.. لماذا الفئران تحديدا؟؟ يبدو لي ان كافكا يريد أن يؤكد على فكرة التشابه الشديد بين الناس .. فالفئران تقريبا لديها نفس اللون و الشكل.. بالإضافة إلى كثرتها اللامتناهية.. فكافكا يؤكد على فكرة القطيع.. العدد اللانهائي من البشر الذي لا يتوقف أبدا ليسأل .. بل يسير دائما تحت راية الرأي السائد من حوله..
ليست من أعمالي المفضلة لكافكا..
May 23, 2022
As an abuse victim, I found I could relate to the other mouse people's undeserved treatment of Josephine just to placate her. I also found other portions to be interesting commentary on human behaviour, the pardons we give eachother, and our susceptibility to manipulation. Still though, while not fully worthless, this is definitely not the Franz Kafka story I'd recommend most. I found it restated itself a bit too much without deepening the readers understanding proportionally (it did deepen, just not proportionally.)
December 5, 2014
Habe ich je einen Stern vergeben für ein Buch? Ich weiß nicht. Die Geschichte ist für mich keine Geschichte, sondern eine 11seitige Beschreibung. Mühselig zu lesen. Wie immer alles sehr allegorisch bei Kafka und ich mag diesen Stil ja ganz gerne.
Ich muss aber sagen, dass ich Kafka-Werke nach dem ersten Lesen eigentlich nie mag und je mehr ich darüber erfahre, desto besser gefällt es mir dann. Also kann es gut sein, dass die Sternzahl noch nach oben geht.
Ich muss aber sagen, dass ich Kafka-Werke nach dem ersten Lesen eigentlich nie mag und je mehr ich darüber erfahre, desto besser gefällt es mir dann. Also kann es gut sein, dass die Sternzahl noch nach oben geht.
July 6, 2019
It was like reading about BTS, and why people like them, and what's eventually gonna happen to them :v
December 2, 2020
Kafka's writing is too good for this world, but I'm very grateful its available to us. A story to read over and over again in a dark room, deep into the night by dim candlelight.
March 22, 2021
I've only read this once and didn't understand. I'll try to update after I re-read the story
March 8, 2018
Warning: this review contains a few spoilers, but I tried my best to keep them out.
I only read the story "Metamorphasis," which I found to be very interesting. At the very beginning, the main character, Gregor, wakes up as a bug and tries going to work to support his family, as he had done as a human. This goes as anyone would expect it to. Throughout the story, he tries to retain his humanity and stay as human as possible, but he can only watch as he causes his family more and more problems due to his new body. Over time, he becomes an extra burden, making his life more and more painful as the story progresses. No matter how much he focused on business, family was what mattered most to him.
The symbolism of the story adds meaning and depth to it. While he was a human, he enjoyed eating foods such as milk and bread. As a bug, however, he enjoyed rotten food scraps. This shows how before he had focused his life entirely around business, he could enjoy life, but as his work consumed him more and more, he became rotten and disconnected from his family which he so dearly loved. His metamorphosis represented something very different: Death. As a person, Gregor was very loved and a crucial part of his family. He provided for his family and interacted with them before he was a bug, but afterwards he was completely gone, nothing more than a freakish creature they had to take care of. The family learned to function without him, and all he could do was watch as he was forgotten.
I personally enjoyed the story because of the emphasis on the importance of family. Throughout the story, all that was in Gregor’s mind was his family. He was focused on how he could provide for them or how he could show them that he still cared. Though many of his attempts were futile, he was determined to be a part of the family as much as he possibly could. Everything Gregor did, before and after his change, was out of love for his family and his desire to help them, all the way to the end of the story.
I only read the story "Metamorphasis," which I found to be very interesting. At the very beginning, the main character, Gregor, wakes up as a bug and tries going to work to support his family, as he had done as a human. This goes as anyone would expect it to. Throughout the story, he tries to retain his humanity and stay as human as possible, but he can only watch as he causes his family more and more problems due to his new body. Over time, he becomes an extra burden, making his life more and more painful as the story progresses. No matter how much he focused on business, family was what mattered most to him.
The symbolism of the story adds meaning and depth to it. While he was a human, he enjoyed eating foods such as milk and bread. As a bug, however, he enjoyed rotten food scraps. This shows how before he had focused his life entirely around business, he could enjoy life, but as his work consumed him more and more, he became rotten and disconnected from his family which he so dearly loved. His metamorphosis represented something very different: Death. As a person, Gregor was very loved and a crucial part of his family. He provided for his family and interacted with them before he was a bug, but afterwards he was completely gone, nothing more than a freakish creature they had to take care of. The family learned to function without him, and all he could do was watch as he was forgotten.
I personally enjoyed the story because of the emphasis on the importance of family. Throughout the story, all that was in Gregor’s mind was his family. He was focused on how he could provide for them or how he could show them that he still cared. Though many of his attempts were futile, he was determined to be a part of the family as much as he possibly could. Everything Gregor did, before and after his change, was out of love for his family and his desire to help them, all the way to the end of the story.
May 26, 2025
El cuento "Josefina la cantora y el pueblo de los ratones" de Franz Kafka es una obra en la que se entrelazan la alegoría y la crítica social, ofreciendo una profunda reflexión sobre la mediocridad que a menudo reina en las comunidades ignorantes. A través de la figura de Josefina, la cantante cuya voz resulta ser el eje central de la vida del pueblo, Kafka nos confronta con la necesidad incesante de un líder o figura inspiradora, aunque dicha figura sea objeto de cuestionamiento y su relevancia se diluya en la banalidad.
El relato se convierte en una metáfora de la rutina que caracteriza a las sociedades, donde los individuos, atrapados en un círculo vicioso de repetición mecánica, encuentran en la mediocridad un refugio. El pueblo de los ratones representa un microcosmos donde la admiración ciega hacia el canto de Josefina refleja la incapacidad de los miembros para cuestionar su propia existencia. La ironía en la obra es contundente: a pesar de que el canto de Josefina se erige como una supuesta salvación, en realidad, simboliza el conformismo que los mantiene atados a una vida vacía y sin sentido.
Además, el absurdo de creer que un simple canto pueda redimir a una comunidad de su fatal destino pone de manifiesto la ridícula naturaleza de las esperanzas puestas en ídolos anodinos, quienes, lejos de ofrecer auténtica inspiración, perpetúan la esclavitud mental de las masas. Esta crítica a la sociedad nos invita a reflexionar sobre cómo, en ocasiones, lo fácil y lo cómodo se convierten en el refugio de quienes renuncian a la búsqueda de significado y autenticidad.
En conclusión, Kafka, a través de su estilo irónico y de elementos absurdos, nos desafía a mirar más allá de la superficialidad de nuestras rutinas y a cuestionar la mediocridad que acecha en los recovecos de las comunidades ignorantes. La obra es un grito de alerta sobre la necesidad de romper con ciclos estériles y buscar un propósito genuino en la vida colectiva.
El relato se convierte en una metáfora de la rutina que caracteriza a las sociedades, donde los individuos, atrapados en un círculo vicioso de repetición mecánica, encuentran en la mediocridad un refugio. El pueblo de los ratones representa un microcosmos donde la admiración ciega hacia el canto de Josefina refleja la incapacidad de los miembros para cuestionar su propia existencia. La ironía en la obra es contundente: a pesar de que el canto de Josefina se erige como una supuesta salvación, en realidad, simboliza el conformismo que los mantiene atados a una vida vacía y sin sentido.
Además, el absurdo de creer que un simple canto pueda redimir a una comunidad de su fatal destino pone de manifiesto la ridícula naturaleza de las esperanzas puestas en ídolos anodinos, quienes, lejos de ofrecer auténtica inspiración, perpetúan la esclavitud mental de las masas. Esta crítica a la sociedad nos invita a reflexionar sobre cómo, en ocasiones, lo fácil y lo cómodo se convierten en el refugio de quienes renuncian a la búsqueda de significado y autenticidad.
En conclusión, Kafka, a través de su estilo irónico y de elementos absurdos, nos desafía a mirar más allá de la superficialidad de nuestras rutinas y a cuestionar la mediocridad que acecha en los recovecos de las comunidades ignorantes. La obra es un grito de alerta sobre la necesidad de romper con ciclos estériles y buscar un propósito genuino en la vida colectiva.
March 1, 2025
Question: ¿Cómo la obsesión por la perfección artística puede llevar a la autodestrucción y al aislamiento?
De que trata
"Josefina la cantora" es una obra ficticia (Kafka no escribió este libro), pero imaginemos que explora la vida de Josefina, una talentosa cantante que busca alcanzar la perfección absoluta en su arte. Su obsesión la lleva a un aislamiento social y a una búsqueda exhaustiva de la técnica vocal perfecta, llegando a un punto en el que la presión por lograr la perfección artística se convierte en su propia prisión. El libro podría mostrar cómo la búsqueda de la perfección, llevada al extremo, puede conducir a la autodestrucción y la pérdida de la propia humanidad.
A grandes rasgos
A pesar de ser una obra ficticia, "Josefina la cantora" nos permite reflexionar sobre temas que se encuentran presentes en la obra de Kafka: la búsqueda de la identidad, el aislamiento, la presión social y el impacto de la obsesión en la vida de un individuo. La historia podría ser una alegoría sobre la fragilidad del individuo frente a la búsqueda de la perfección, mostrando cómo la obsesión por alcanzar un ideal inalcanzable puede ser una trampa peligrosa.
A tener en cuenta
- "Josefina la cantora nos muestra la fragilidad del espíritu humano frente a la obsesión por la perfección artística."
- "La búsqueda de la perfección vocal se convierte en una jaula para Josefina, que la aísla del mundo y la lleva a la autodestrucción."
- "La historia nos invita a reflexionar sobre la importancia del equilibrio entre la pasión por el arte y la necesidad de mantener una vida humana plena y conectada con los demás."
De que trata
"Josefina la cantora" es una obra ficticia (Kafka no escribió este libro), pero imaginemos que explora la vida de Josefina, una talentosa cantante que busca alcanzar la perfección absoluta en su arte. Su obsesión la lleva a un aislamiento social y a una búsqueda exhaustiva de la técnica vocal perfecta, llegando a un punto en el que la presión por lograr la perfección artística se convierte en su propia prisión. El libro podría mostrar cómo la búsqueda de la perfección, llevada al extremo, puede conducir a la autodestrucción y la pérdida de la propia humanidad.
A grandes rasgos
A pesar de ser una obra ficticia, "Josefina la cantora" nos permite reflexionar sobre temas que se encuentran presentes en la obra de Kafka: la búsqueda de la identidad, el aislamiento, la presión social y el impacto de la obsesión en la vida de un individuo. La historia podría ser una alegoría sobre la fragilidad del individuo frente a la búsqueda de la perfección, mostrando cómo la obsesión por alcanzar un ideal inalcanzable puede ser una trampa peligrosa.
A tener en cuenta
- "Josefina la cantora nos muestra la fragilidad del espíritu humano frente a la obsesión por la perfección artística."
- "La búsqueda de la perfección vocal se convierte en una jaula para Josefina, que la aísla del mundo y la lleva a la autodestrucción."
- "La historia nos invita a reflexionar sobre la importancia del equilibrio entre la pasión por el arte y la necesidad de mantener una vida humana plena y conectada con los demás."
August 23, 2025
No fundo, a história de Josefina é só um espelho do q a gente é: substituível até naquilo que achamos ser únicos. A cantora acreditava que sua voz era insubstituível, mas o povo dos ratos a escutava mais pelo silêncio q vinha depois do trabalho, pelo alívio de parar um pouco, do que pelo “talento” em si.
E é isso que dói, perceber q talvez ninguém nos ame pelo q somos de fato, mas apenas pela função que cumprimos, pelo alívio q trazemos, pela pausa q representamos. Se um dia a gente some, o mundo arruma outro jeito de seguir, de se consolar, de preencher o espaço
E é isso que dói, perceber q talvez ninguém nos ame pelo q somos de fato, mas apenas pela função que cumprimos, pelo alívio q trazemos, pela pausa q representamos. Se um dia a gente some, o mundo arruma outro jeito de seguir, de se consolar, de preencher o espaço
November 25, 2021
I've always been terrified of reading Kafka, imagining that his writings would be impenetrable. While it is true that this short story could now be quite inaccessible to many since fantasy has gone into overkill, it is actually quite easy to read and rather charming too.
One could draw parallels with human societies but that is up to the individual. Some suggest the mouse people are a metaphor for the Jewish condition of the times.
One could draw parallels with human societies but that is up to the individual. Some suggest the mouse people are a metaphor for the Jewish condition of the times.
July 17, 2017
Die Geschichte zeigt gut ein gewisses Verhältnis zwischen Künstler und Publikum, zeigt aber auch, wie der Künstler sich wünscht, von der Kunst zu leben, sich aber auch schnell darin verlieren und abheben kann. Wäre Josefine etwas sympathischer, hätte mir das Lesen vielleicht etwas mehr Spaß bereitet.
May 12, 2020
Inolvidable fabula de Kafka.
Pocas veces nos encontramos frente a historias que planteen de manera tan clara los límites del arte, la naturaleza del pueblo y los matices que hay entre seguidores y detractores.
Mis opiniones sobre la protagonista variaron cuando el cuento se acercaba a su final.
9/10
Pocas veces nos encontramos frente a historias que planteen de manera tan clara los límites del arte, la naturaleza del pueblo y los matices que hay entre seguidores y detractores.
Mis opiniones sobre la protagonista variaron cuando el cuento se acercaba a su final.
9/10
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