Wednesday 02-07 - Kafka

I had a really good sleep in. I only got down to breakfast at 12. Luckily breakfast at the Clown and Bard goes to 1pm. I wrote some blog drafts while drinking tea.

Today we went to the Kafka museum. It was across Charles Bridge, near the Lennon wall.





Out side the museum was a large K. It was a good indication of what was inside. The museum itself was in part museum of he life and works of Franz Kafka and in part a modern art gallery. All through the gallery there were background sounds. Sometimes water in a creek, sometimes klezmer music.

Glass displays the talked about the writer. They used words I haven´t heard since english literature class in high school. They talked in abstract terms and were far more eloquent than most museums I´ve been to. The exhibitions were similarly unorthodox.

The photos of his old neighbourhood were not just hanging from a wall. They were submerged on black rocks in foot high glass tanks spanning the length of the room. The light and ripples created an interesting distortion of the pictures.

When they talked about the circles of his life, there were circular exhibits, each exploring aspects that same his work. a lot of mention was made of his father, who had a significant effect on his life. He was fascinating. Others passed us as we stood there, taking care to absorb everything. I hadn't realised that he died of TB. His end sounded unpleasant.

There was a section talking about his well known works and giving brief explanations of their meanings and the history of their writing. Most of this was through a winding black hallway. Black because the walls were lined with giant black filing cabinet draws. Random wall telephones played a foreign voice through the receiver (maybe Kafka´s?). There was a white room panelled with mirrors. A black shape was projected onto the white wall amid unnerving sounds.

We left the museum in a daze. Looking at Josh´s watch, I was shocked to find we had been in there for 2 hours. It felt like maybe 30 minutes. The museum shop was full of things I wanted to buy. I could have bought almost everything in the shop; the posters, badges, note pads and shirts. I settled on a nice hard cover version of The Metamorphosis.

Back to the hostel.