Tuesday, October 17, 2006

See what happens when you don't teach literature in school?

This dude has obviously never read Kafka's "A Hunger Artist:"
A bearded and hollow-cheeked Agasi Vartanyan finished what he said was his 50th day without food, climbing out of plastic cube on the banks of the Neva River outside of St Petersburg - and promptly berating reporters.

"I feel offended because my efforts did not attract much attention,' the 46-year-old said. 'Only local media wrote about it." (IOL: Skinny man claims new world record)

Soon they will find his cage seemingly empty, and bury him straw and all. Everyone has forgotten the hunger artist. They will replace him with a leopard which "furnished almost to the bursting point with all that it needed, seemed to carry freedom around with it too; somewhere in his jaws it seemed to lurk; and the joy of life streamed with such ardent passion from his throat that for the onlookers it was not easy to stand the shock of it" (Kafka, "A Hunger Artist"). They will stand it and never want to move away.

(Spotted on BoingBoing.)

6 comments:

  1. Next Weekly World News will be reportingg that a man has turned into a "monstrous vermin."

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  2. Speaking of monstrous vermin, I might be going to Prague to do a movie on Kafka writing the metamorphosis, something potentially cool that very likely will be awful.

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  3. Dr.W: indeed, and perhaps he will have a picture of a woman in which her hole arm disappears into her muffler.

    E: Wasn't there that Jeremy Iron's movie from way back when just called Kafka that did that?

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  4. Yes, you are correct, sir. But then, this is a world where they spend $200 million to bring a toy from the 80s (Transformers) to the screen, so all bets are off!

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  5. They are more than meets the eye, after all. Does this age seem more decadent to you?

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  6. I don't know if it's decadence but hopelessness.

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