Die Sorge des Hausvaters

by Franz Kafka

Die Sorge des Hausvaters ist eine kurze Erzählung von Franz Kafka, die 1920 im Band Ein Landarzt erschien.

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, German Literature

4 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1917

About the author

Prague-born writer Franz Kafka wrote in German, and his stories, such as " The Metamorphosis " (1916), and posthumously published novels, including The Trial (1925), concern troubled individuals in a nightmarishly impersonal world.

Jewish middle-class family of this major fiction writer of the 20th century spoke German. People consider his unique body of much incomplete writing, mainly published posthumously, among the most influential in European literature.

His stories include "The Metamorphosis" (1912) and " In the Penal Colony " (1914), whereas his posthumous novels include The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927).

Despite first language, Kafka also spoke fluent Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of the French language and culture from Flaubert, one of his favorite authors.

Kafka first studied chemistry at the Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague but after two weeks switched to law. This study offered a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father, and required a longer course of study that gave Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history. At the university, he joined a student club, named Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten, which organized literary events, readings, and other activities. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max Brod, a close friend of his throughout his life, together with the journalist Felix Weltsch, who also studied law. Kafka obtained the degree of doctor of law on 18 June 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts.

Writing of Kafka attracted little attention before his death. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories and never finished any of his novels except the very short "The Metamorphosis." Kafka wrote to Max Brod, his friend and literary executor: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread." Brod told Kafka that he intended not to honor these wishes, but Kafka, so knowing, nevertheless consequently gave these directions specifically to Brod, who, so reasoning, overrode these wishes. Brod in fact oversaw the publication of most of work of Kafka in his possession; these works quickly began to attract attention and high critical regard.

Max Brod encountered significant difficulty in compiling notebooks of Kafka into any chronological order as Kafka started writing in the middle of notebooks, from the last towards the first, et cetera.

Kafka wrote all his published works in German except several letters in Czech to Milena Jesenská.

Reviews

[Jesica Sabrina Canto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es interesante, genera curiosidad, lo entiendo como una metáfora del sentimiento de inquietud que a veces está presente sin que sepamos el motivo.

[Mateo R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuento corto críptico y atmosférico. Leído para poder entender el capítulo final de Nadie muere del todo en Praga de Susana Tampieri. Ahora tengo curiosidad por conocer la versión borgeana en El libro de los seres imaginarios.

[Jenny B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Die Angst, etwas ohne erkennbaren Sinn könnte etwas Sinnhaftes überdauern, was widerum die Sinnhaftigkeit des Sinnhaften in Frage stellt. Wie Wertigkeit und Dauerhaftigkeit in Verbindung stehen, wird nicht plausibel gemacht.

Aber der Name "Odradek" ist ein echter Banger.

[Emi · Rating 4 out of 5]

what. the. hell.

[Nicté Reyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mmmm, pareciera que es sobre la cosificación... para cosificar algo antes tuvo que tener la cualidad de ser vivo y cierta relevancia, por eso siento que es sobre "algo" que ya no la tiene del todo, no sé! Pero Kafka.... Uf! tan pocas lineas e imaginarse uno tanto! Qué lujo!

[Johanna Encke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eine kurze Geschichte, die wie ein blitzartiger Albtraum wirkt.

Odradek: rätselhafte und dingartige Figur mit Charakter eines kleinen Jungen (aus dem Prosatext die Sorge des Hausvaters)
Aussehen: sternartige Zwirnspule
Die Figur hat keinen Zweck, sie ist sinnlos, aber in sich abgeschlossen.
Sie hält sich im Dachboden, in Fluren, in Treppenhäusern auf.
Eine Unterhaltung mit ihm ist wie eine Unterhaltung mit einem Kind. Er lacht ein raschelhaftes Lachen.
Kafka fragt sich: kann die Figur sterben? Alles was stirbt, hat vorher eine Tätigkeit gehabt, Odradek nicht. Wird er noch anwesend sein bei seinen Kindern und seinen Kindeskindern?
Schmerzliche Vorstellung, dass Odradek Kafka überleben wird.

Meine Interpretation: Man versucht ein Leben mit Sinn zu führen, damit es sich gelohnt hat zu leben und man beispielsweise durch seine Kunst weiterlebt. Man ist darüber frustriert, wenn etwas ohne Zweck schafft zu überleben, wenn man selber daran scheitert.

[Marta · Rating 3 out of 5]

"En vano me pregunto qué será de él. ¿Acaso puede morir? Todo lo que muere debe haber tenido alguna razón de ser, alguna clase de actividad que lo ha desgastado. Y éste no es el caso de Odradek. ¿Acaso rodará algún día por la escalera, arrastrando unos hilos ante los pies de mis hijos y de los hijos de mis hijos? No parece que haga mal a nadie; pero casi me resulta dolorosa la idea de que me pueda sobrevivir."

[dary10 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Describe a Odradek como algo incomprensible, ilógico, que no encaja en ninguna categoría conocida. Refleja la angustia humana ante lo absurdo, ante lo que no podemos controlar o entender, pero que sigue existiendo.

[Mohammed Algarawi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is legitimately terrifying.

[Mikah · Rating 5 out of 5]

cant even articulate myself properly on how i feel about this

[Elif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kafka spielt hier interessant mit den Leser*innen

[Juana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Y once hijos

[Sofía Casal · Rating 3 out of 5]

no entendí la mitad pero estuvo lindo. tuve que buscar una imagen del Odradek porque me costó imaginarme lo que describía; ya con eso en mente le ví otro sentido y me gustó más.

[Slambus · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.4/5

[Pedro Ovejero · Rating 4 out of 5]

kafka será un gran amigo

[oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

love that guy

[Fernanda M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Las preocupaciones que a veces alguien siente sin razón alguna.

[Absrobust · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most impressive short story of Franz Kafka. The haunting thought of the "thing" Odradek to outlive a human being is reflecting our deepest fears...

[Fer Merced · Rating 2 out of 5]

"La idea de que me sobreviva, casi me resulta dolorosa"

[Lennart Albrecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

beste kafka jemals