Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The "Franz Kafka of the UFO World"




"We are as forlorn as children lost in the wood.  When you stand in front of me and look at me, what do you know of the grief's that are in me and what do I know of yours.  And if I were to cast myself down before you and tell you, what more would you know about me than you know about Hell when someone tells you it is hot and dreadful?  For that reason alone we human beings ought to stand before one another as reverently, as reflectively, as lovingly, as we would before the entrance to Hell."


Just for the, uh, hell of it, last night I did a search on Mac's blog for posts mentioning Franz Kafka. I came up with a whole page full of them. He told me once he felt like the reincarnation of Kafka and would someday make a pilgrimage to Prague, Kafka's city. The surreal story, "Metamorphosis" was one of his favorites... text of which can be found here, and in the Kafka link above.

The beetle-clock pictured is one of a series of amazing insect time-pieces by Michael Libby that Mac would've gone ga-ga over. Others can be found here.


3 comments:

  1. I think I showed Mac those clockwork insects earlier this summer! The comparison to Kafka is very apt but I'm happy to opine that Mac had very much found his own voice as a writer and a speaker, even in his juvenile short story collection.

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  2. Ya know Kate, it really shocks and disturbs me to know that Mac had a collection of children's stories... I swear but he never mentioned it to me... even when we were talking about collaborating on one a couple of years ago and even when I started my own children's book a few months ago.
    Are any examples online anywhere?
    BTW, I've added your sonnet-to-Mac in my earlier link post. I'll should establish a better area for memorial links but I'm new to blogging and it's taking me a while to suss out the ropes.

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  3. Sorry, Kate... It just occurred to me that you were referring to fiction Mac wrote *in* his youth as opposed to fiction *for* youths. In which case, I agree completely.
    (please excuse the brain glitch... blame it on the rain.)

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