When most people think of Kafka, The Metamorphosis is the story that comes to mind, or The Trial. However, Kafka wrote much more. My personal favorites consist of his flash fiction, most no more than 250 words.“Give it up!” is a great example of his short-short style. It is brief, but it is a fully developed scene, there is something at stake, and there is a resolution. In his case, the resolution is that the main character is still lost. The reader is also left with the sense that the cop is also lost, not that the cop needs directions to get around town, but lost in a more ethereal sense of the word.
I’ve always admired Kafka’s work. He is dark without being sinister.
Read it on line here, Give it up!, it will take less than a minute.
Kafka, Franz. “Give it up!” The Complete Stories. Ed. Nahum N. Glatzer. Tran. Tania & James Stern. New York: Schocken Books, 1983. p. 456
2 comments:
Thank you for reminding me that Kafka wrote flash fiction. I love Kafka and I'm currently trying to read and write flash fiction but forgot that about him, only reading contemporary work. I'm going to go back and check him out again. Thanks!
I'm glad that I could turn you on to his flash fiction.
Enjoy.
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