Tag Archives: Franz Kafka

A Book

“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? So that it will make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. That is my belief.” -Franz Kafka

I illustrate with one of the incredible worlds of Vladimir Kush.

Engleza de joi/ Solitary

Solitary =  living or being by one’s self; having no companion present; alone; lonely.

“You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”
Franz Kafka

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art by Kinuko Y. Craft.

Engleza de joi/ Axe

  1. Axe = a tool that has a heavy metal blade and a long handle and that is used for chopping wood.
  2. The axe = the situation in which someone loses their job.

“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? So that it will make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. That is my belief.” -Franz Kafka

I illustrate with one of the incredible worlds of Vladimir Kush.

Vladimir Kush 3