That was exactly what happened to me after I read the novel "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka. The novel relates the story of Gregor Samsa who wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a huge insect and has to struggle to adjust to this new condition. He became unable to work and was confined to only his room. His appetite changed, feeding by choice only on rotten leftovers from his family. The remainder of the story tells how he and his family try to cope with the change, which directly affecting their living conditions, psychology and family relationship.
The story itself is melancholically dark, sad and downright kind of absurd. It took me several attempts to finally finish the novel due to its psychological impact on me. But please don't get me wrong, I am still glad I finished reading the book and I would still recommend it to others.
Aside from the story from Franz Kafka. It reminded me of a somewhat similar story by Chuang Tzu (Chinese philosopher during the Warring States period, 4th century BC), which he dreamed he was a butterfly, fluttering happily in the air. When he woke up, he was not sure if he dreamed that he became a butterfly, or rather, the butterfly dreamed that it became Chuang Tzu!
Anyway, let me share a cool sculpture of Franz Kafka when we were in Prague.
你是否有过一个很糟糕的梦,梦里你是一只蟑螂,在黑暗的地方爬行寻找食物?过后突然惊醒,冒着冷汗,随着松了一口气,意识到这只是一个几乎可笑的恶梦?
这正是我在阅读卡夫卡的小说“变形记”后所发生的事。这部小说讲述了格雷戈尔萨姆萨的故事,他在一天早晨醒来发现自己变成了一只巨大的昆虫,不得不努力来适应这种新的情况。他无法工作,只被限制在他的房间里。他的食欲改变了,只能选择性的吃着家里腐烂的剩菜。故事的其余部分讲述了他和家人如何应对变化,直接影响他们的生活,心理和家庭的关系。
这个故事的题材感觉就是黑暗,悲伤和彻头彻尾的荒谬。由于心理的负担,我花了不少时间才终于读完这部小说。但请不要误会,虽然读的过程很沉重,我仍然很高兴我读完了这本书,而且还会很愿意地推荐给别人看。
除了卡夫卡的故事。它不禁让我想起了庄子(战国时期的中国哲学家,公元前4世纪)类似的故事 - 庄周梦蝶 ,他梦见他是一只蝴蝶,在空中愉快地飞扬。当他醒来时,他不确定自己是否梦见自己变成了一只蝴蝶,或者更确切地说,蝴蝶梦见它变成了庄子!
无论如何,我想在这里分享在布拉格时拍的一个很酷的卡夫卡雕塑。
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