Franz Kafka contracted tuberculosis in September of
1917 and spent 8 months convalescing at his sister's
house in the village of Zurau, 60 miles from Prague in
the Bohemian countryside. There he wrote what would
later be called the Zurau Aphorisms which were not
published until 1958, over 30 years after Kafka's
death. Following are 3 of the over 100 aphorisms in
the Shocken Books 2006 edition translated from the
German by Michael Hofmann.
5.
From a certain point on there is no more turning back.
That is the point that must be reached.
13.
A first indication of glimmering understanding is the
desire to die. This life seems unendurable, another
unreachable. One no longer feels ashamed of wanting
to die; one petitions to be moved from one's old
cell, which one hates, into a new one, which one will
come to hate. A last vestige of belief is involved
here, too, for during the move might not the prison
governor by chance walk down the passage, see the
prisoner, and say: "Don't lock this man up again.
He's coming with me."
50.
A man cannot live without a steady faith in something
indestructible within him, though both the faith and
the indestructible thing may remain permanently
concealed from him. One of the forms of this
concealment is the belief in a personal god.
Complete Site Index
Home
larrydill@newhopejournal.com
www.newhopejournal.com
copyright 2008 by Larry L. Dill