I just read my second Kafka story.
I’m doing a reading challenge through the Potterhead Running Club (PHRC.) There are fifteen books to read per house, and each book has to match a category based on a character, creature, place, symbol, or object. For each book read, I receive a virtual badge. There are sixty unique badges, and of course, I’m earning them all.
One of the places on the Slytherin list was Durstang, Viktor Krum’s school from The Goblet of Fire. To earn this badge, I had to read a book by an eastern European author. My Google search found a lot of really long books, which I have no time for. I had read Metamorphasis by Franz Kafka and loved it, so I hunted for another story by him that wouldn’t take me ten years to finish.
The short story, In the Penal Colony, was ideal. I would have slogged through it to earn the badge, but I was hooked on page one. It’s slightly gruesome and inhumane, but the ending was unexpected. It reminded me of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe.
Most of us don’t have to read eastern European authors too often, but if you want to broaden your horizons, I recommend Franz Kafka’s books. His stories are not happy, but he knows how to grab the reader, which is refreshing.