A confession: I’ve been loath to podcast Kafka, only because I wouldn’t know which one would be podcastable, which is to say Kafkaesque enough to be delivered storyhour-style, but not so Kafkaesque as to leave listeners beating themselves with the oars used to row the macabre waters of their own tears. You know, that sort of thing. Don’t get me wrong, I love that sort of thing. I mean, sometimes I am that sort of thing. But that doesn’t mean you should have to be… so you see the problem. It’s not a small one.
Fortunately, I discovered an easy way to take care of this problem. Thank you for the request. Request granted, problem solved. (Whew) Now who’s next?
I just subscribed to your show – I gotta say I love it!
You seem to choose great authors and you have such a great voice and an unbelievable accent.
I just wanted to let you know all this – so you can maybe smile and know that your work is appreciated : ).
Ricky
ps. what type of dog do you have?
hurrah for kafka.
Yes, very nice pick, as far as the capriciousness of Kafka stories… came off without a hitch.
Ricky, hi, welcome, glad you like it. I have a loud type of dog, the type who occasionally likes to interrupt podcasts to alert me to strangers on the stairs or the fact that she absolutely needs my attention Right This Second.
(She’s also this type: http://www.englishshepherd.org/sagefield.jpg )
quite amazing how a different reading can influence. i read this as an unbearably dark and difficult story — excellent for those qualities — but your reading seemed so much lighter…again demonstrating the wonder of the oral version.
ps. noticed that the nylon worked…
Great looking dog,
I have a half poodle half cockerspanial (looks like a mini-bear) named wrigley – after the field.
And as for a request – perhaps some O’Connor, Eudora Welty or Ray Bradbury?
The nylon did more than work– perhaps it was the experience of reading into freshly stretched nylon that made the Kafka go down a little lighter. How do people manage that with a straight face free of fantasy? The last time I’d had my mouth that close to nylon… never mind.
And yea, my problem selecting a Kafka for myself seemed to stem from an inability to loosen my hold on the stories I knew well, to approach it cold, which might allow me to pounce on it from an angle I otherwise wouldn’t. This is another reason the librivox recordings are so fascinating as a listener– as you progress from chapter to chapter (and reader to reader), you’re not only dealt the story, but the variety of voice, interpretation, style. Incidentally, I’ve always wanted those I know with audiolit projects to select the same piece and read it on the same date for this very reason– how interesting might it have been had you read the same Kafka without hearing my take on it? Let that roll around in your head a while…
Ricky, I’ve long been planning O’Connor, but I’ve encountered the exact same problem as with Kafka– those I know too well (and thus -want- to read) I don’t think I can! I do have a fresh collection of Welty that I’ve been hoping to crack… perhaps this could be our lucky weekend!
hmm I was thinking about that for yet another non-paying volunteer project…having a website that asks many people to read the same text – an important one of some kind. magna carta, or US dec of independence etc…
but no time now, maybe a librivox xmas special!
Great reading, keep up the great posts.
Peace, JiggaDigga