Sunday, November 16, 2008

Franz Kafka and classical music

I've been reading a lot of Kafka lately, some short stories and The Metamorphosis, and have come to the conclusion that he had to have had a blast writing the way he did. His style leaves the reader not just unsure of what they've read, but often completely baffled. Was there an underlying theme? Was one deliberately omitted? Is the message that there is no message? Shit, I guess I'll have to read it again. Even my mind isn't made up. Sometimes I think he's insightful; other times I'm pretty pissed that I don't have a clue about what I just read. Any way you take it, I can just see him sitting down and chuckling himself, knowing that people the world over will think this hard about the bullshit he's putting down on paper.


On another note, one of my friends is taking a class called "Music and Architecture." He has to listen to samples each week, and I often do so with him. As a result I've been listening to classical music more often, including going to the symphony yesterday, and would just like to say two things:

- 90 percent of my knowledge of classical music has come from elementary school music class. The other 10 percent can be attributed to watching Jeopardy. I really did learn a ton, and I feel like I need to give a shout out to our teacher, Dick McNutt (that was seriously the name he went by.)

- Fantasia is spectacular. It's amazing that an animated film featuring nothing but basically cartoon ballet can be so entertaining for kids and adults alike. It has exposed millions to the delights of classical music, something rarely seen in a culture whose intelligence is being retarded by CSI and Paris Hilton. Mass props to Walt.

1 comment:

Katy said...

Weirdly enough, I used to watch Fantasia all the time--and got made fun of a lot for it! I love classical music because it's the only type of music for me that can be just as energizing as it is calming. Mostly I love opera, for it's emotional content (especially Verdi)--I don't know much about it, but I appreciate it all the same. On another note, have you ever read The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov? If you haven't, you should check it out--I have the feeling you might be interested in it, based on what I know about your reading tastes.