During 1911-1912, Kafka and his good friend Max Brod undertook two European tours. The first was to Southern Europe (Switzerland, Italy and France), and the latter was to Weimar, Germany. Brod is known as "the man behind Kafka" - without Brod, Kafka may not have been able to meet the important publishers in Leipzig and Berlin in time before becoming famous; without Brod, Kafka's large number of manuscripts may have been "burned" by others according to the author's wishes; in addition, Brod is also the author of the most authoritative "Kafka Biography".
When the two of them traveled together, Kafka's famous work was still in the drafting stage, while Bodreau was already a well-known writer and was Kafka's "big brother in life" and "literary guide." Kafka proposed two European trips, and proposed to record their respective experiences, treating the trip as a literary test. Therefore, in the diary during this period, we can clearly see Kafka's meticulous and interesting observation and description of characters, as well as some impromptu and fun complaints and complaints. These contents are included in the book "Kafka in Those Years" (August 2016 edition by Shanghai Joint Publishing Bookstore), from which we are fortunate to see how Kafka observed and recorded and wrote "Weibo" while traveling around the mountains and rivers and visiting brothels.
1. I have to stay up all night writing because there are so many things coming to my heart, but these are just impure things. What a power this thing had acquired over me, whereas before, as far as I recall, I had been able to escape it with a phrase, a little phrase, a little phrase which in itself pleased me.
2. On the way back from Raspenau to Friedland, the man sitting next to me was as dull as a dead man, with a beard hanging from his open mouth. When I asked him the name of a station, he turned to me in a friendly manner and gave me the most enthusiastic reply.
3. Reichenberg: We simply cannot figure out the true intentions of people who want to take a quick walk in a small city at night. If they live on the outskirts of the city, they have to take the tram because it's too far. If they lived in the area, the distance wouldn't be that long and there would be no reason to go quickly.Take a quick walk. The inhabitants cross their legs with this circular square, which is not very large for a village and is made even smaller by the excessive size of its town hall (which covers the square with its shadow). People do not want to really believe this small square from the size of the city hall, but want to use the narrowness of the square to indicate the first impression of its size.
4. Zurich Baths: Only men’s baths. One next to the other. Swiss language. German cast in lead. There are no changing rooms in some places, and the republican freedom of taking off one's clothes in front of a clothes hook is also the freedom of the swimming instructor to empty the full sunbathing pool with a tap. This empty and meaningless approach is not without reason compared with the incomprehensibility of language. Diver: He jumps onto the springboard with his feet splayed on the railing to increase the power of his jump. - The establishment of a bathhouse can only be evaluated over a long period of time. There are no swimming lessons. Any naturopath with long hair is lonely. Low lake shore.
5. (September 20, 1911) Elderly women socialized very friendly in the carriage. There are stories about elderly women who were run over by cars. Their methods on the journey: never eat sauces and condiments, take out meat, close your eyes while the car is driving, but talk at this time, eat fruits and bread, not hard beef, ask men to lead you across the street when crossing the street, cherries are the most unpalatable fruit, save the elderly women.
6. All French people are trying hard to contact people, at least at this moment, trying to correct their poor French.
7. The misunderstanding in Paris begins. Max came up to my hotel room and got very angry because I wasn't ready yet and was washing my face, even though I had said we could just wash up a little and get out right away. Because I thought that washing a little excluded washing the whole body, but what it meant was just washing the face. I had not finished washing at this time. I did not understand his accusation and continued to wash my face, even if not as carefully as before. It was at this time that Max sat on my bed waiting in his clothes that were very dirty from driving at night. He had a habit, and it showed now, of making a false and constricted mouth, and of course his whole face, when he was accusing me, as if on the one hand he could facilitate the understanding of his accusation, and on the other hand he wanted to show that only the false face he had just made prevented him from slapping me. In the hypocrisy of my forcing him to act contrary to his nature, there was also a strange accusation, which he seemed to have directed against me, if he remained silent,And face his face in the opposite direction, recover from the falsehood, that is to say, let go from the expression of the mouth, and then relax from the tension in all aspects, so that the effect will naturally be much stronger than the original face. I understand this - even in Paris - because of fatigue I fell back into myself, the influence of that face was not connected to me at all, why I was able to express myself so powerfully in my pain, frankly, it was due to the most complete and complete indifference, so that I could apologize without guilt in his presence. This was comforting to him in Paris at the time, or so it seemed, so he stepped out onto the balcony with me and talked about the view beyond, first of all, how Parisian it was. In fact, I just saw how spirited Max was, and how well he must fit into any shape of Paris, which I didn't realize at the time, just as he now stepped out of his dark back room and stepped onto a Paris balcony in the sunshine for the first time in a year, and found it very valuable. Unfortunately, I felt noticeably more tired when I stepped onto the balcony for the first time a split second before Max. The fatigue I felt in Paris could not be eliminated by getting enough sleep, but only by leaving. Sometimes I even think of it as a Parisian trait.
Actually, I write this without any disgust, but it stalks me in every word.
8. Buying a book in front of a store requires much more effort in making a decision than buying a book in the store, because this kind of selection is originally just a free thinking when facing many books on display by chance.
Sitting on two chairs back to back on the Champs Elysées. Many children who had stayed outside for a long time were still playing in the hazy sky at dusk. The lines they drew in the sand at dusk were no longer visible.
9. A person who has never written a diary will have a wrong view when facing a diary. For example, when this person is reading Goethe's diary, Goethe was busy at home all day long on various organizing tasks on January 11, 1797. From this person's perspective, he has never done so little.
10. The Duval Restaurant on the Sebastopol Boulevard is shrouded in a hazy atmosphere of dusk. Three guests were sitting scattered in the tavern. The waitresses spoke softly to each other. The cash box is still empty. I asked for a glass of kefir, and then another. A waitress brought it quietly, the dim light of the tavern adding to the tranquil atmosphere, and quietly removed the dinnerware from my place so as not to interfere with my drink. I felt very comfortable that such a quiet woman could anticipate my pain and be tolerant and understanding.
11. I rested from one bench to another in the Louvre. If you miss a break, you will feel pain.
The Carré showroom was very crowded and full of excitement, with people standing in groups as if the Mona Lisa had just been stolen.
Looking at Max's favorite paintings with him was mentally stressful because I was so tired to even bother looking at them. Looking up with great admiration.
12. A well-organized brothel. Clean roll-up blinds drooped on the large windows throughout the house. In the caretaker's house there are not men but well-dressed women, and such women may be found everywhere in the house. When I was in Prague I had briefly noticed the masculine character of the women in the brothels. This situation is even more obvious here. The female concierge turned on the electric signal device and took us into her room, because she was told that there were guests coming down the stairs, and there were two respectable women above (why two?). These two people received us and turned on the light in the next room. In this room, there were several idle girls in the dark. Sitting in the dark or in the semi-darkness, forming a three-quarter circle (our arrival filled it up to a full circle), in which they stood around us in upright postures that always wanted to highlight their advantages, the chosen girl stepped forward and invited me with a ladylike gesture... I felt myself being pulled to the exit. It was so quick, like I was on the street, it was unimaginable to me. It was difficult to get a closer look at the girls there, because there were so many of them, and they winked, mostly because they were standing too close. One may have to keep one's eyes open, and one has to practice for that. In my memory, I originally only wanted the girl who happened to be standing in front of me. She had a set of defective teeth, stretched her body, tightly grasped her clothes with the hand covering her lower abdomen, and immediately opened and quickly closed her big eyes and mouth. Her golden hair seemed to be torn. She is very thin. There was some fear on this occasion, but I did not forget to take off my hat. One must remove one's hands from the brim of the hat. The lonely, long, meaningless journey home.
The book excerpt comes from "Kafka in Those Years" (written by Kafka, translated by Sun Kunrong, Shanghai Joint Publishing Company, August 2016 edition), and is published with the authorization of the publishing house.
