Absurdity in Kafka and Beckett

In Sartre's An Explication of The Stranger, he identifies the similarities in style between Camus and Kafka. It's not a comparison I've read a lot about, however there is certainly a similarity between the sentiment of Beckett and Camus, and in turn, a similarity in nonsense between Beckett and Kafka. Beckett's Endgame and Waiting for Godot are fairly similar. One is presented characters who seem determined to get-to-doing something, but never quite make a start. We are forced to follow, along with them, their absurd logic, and wonder why they bother doing anything at all when there seem to be no logical consequences for any of their actions. In Waiting for Godot especially, it seems obvious that they will be waiting forever, and yet we understand why they feel they must continue to wait. The similarity to Kafka in this respect is quite clear, although I think Kafka does a better job at detailing worlds, while Beckett presents us with a small fragment of a world which quite possibly has nothing beyond it.

The Castle is not finished, and not edited, so overall it is not very satisfying. The first scene, however is perfect. K. (his name changes, but let's call all of Kafka's characters K.) arrives at a village within the province of a castle, where he has been invited as a land prospector. After arriving, he is woken during the night and told that he cannot stay within the castle's realm without appropriate papers, and they seem quite unwilling to help him acquire these papers. I get the feeling that some of the side-episodes of Kafka stories relate to a specific life event, however I do love his style.

Similarly, I could read Beckett plays all day. There is something that seems to resonate true, that I find amusing and also feels justifies my own existence. The last line of Godot, "Let's get on with it" is a reference to the same line that closes Sartre's In Camera.

After Dark, after Japan

After Dark was the first Murakami book I read after visiting Japan. I had the quiet delight of being able to recognise the restaurant spoken of in the opening paragraphs and understanding very well the concept of the Love Hotel. This is one of Murakami's shorter books, and follows the events of Mari over the course of a single night.

The characters are all as we would expect from Murakami, and it is one of those semi-unconscious fantasy stories. One of the things I liked about it (which others mightn't) was its reasonably unresolved ending. Some things are never explained, so we can just focus on the images and feelings that come through. I think, as long as this is done well, leaving out details is a nice way to keep a novel tidy. It avoids sections that would be reminiscent of Plan Nine from Outerspace "Funny how the humans, who can think, are so afraid of those who cannot: they are the dead. Luckily our positron emitting guns enable us to control them, otherwise we too might be attacked" or something like that.