Kafka's world isn't pleasant. It feels in many ways like a nightmare, and yet it's a place where many of us will, even if only for a time, in the dark periods of our lives, end up.

卡夫卡的世界並不令人愉快。在許多方面，它給人的感覺就像一場噩夢，然而，我們中的許多人，哪怕只是在人生的黑暗時期，都會在那裡度過一段時間。

We're in the world defined by Kafka when we feel powerless in front of authority, judges, aristocrats, industrialists, politicians, and most of all, fathers.

當我們在權威、法官、貴族、實業家、政客，尤其是父親面前感到無能為力時，我們就處在卡夫卡定義的世界裡。

When we feel that our destiny is out of our control, when we're bullied, humiliated, and mocked by society, and especially by our own families. We're in Kafka's orbit when we're ashamed of our bodies, of our sexual urges, and feel that the best thing for us might be to be killed or squashed without mercy, as if we were an inconvenient and rather disgusting bedbug.

當我們覺得自己的命運無法掌控時，當我們被社會，尤其是自己的家人欺凌、羞辱和嘲笑時。當我們為自己的身體和性衝動感到羞恥，覺得自己最好的歸宿可能就是被毫不留情地殺死或壓扁，就好像我們是一隻既不方便又噁心的臭蟲時，我們就進入了卡夫卡的軌道。

Franz Kafka was born in Prague in 1883, the eldest child of a terrifyingly psychologically abusive father, and a mother who was too weak and in awe of her husband to protect her boy as she should have done. Kafka grew up timid, bookish, meek, and full of self-hatred.

弗朗茨-卡夫卡於1883年出生在布拉格，他是家中的長子，父親對他施以可怕的精神虐待，母親則過於懦弱，對丈夫敬畏有加，沒有盡到保護孩子的責任。卡夫卡從小膽小、愛看書、溫順、充滿自責。

He wanted to become a writer, but it was out of the question in his father's eyes.

他想成為一名作家，但在父親眼裡這是不可能的。

So one of the greatest German literary geniuses since Goethe was forced to spend his brief life on earth working in a series of jobs utterly beneath him, in a law office and then an insurance company. He had a number of unsuccessful relationships with women, he couldn't marry or raise a family, and was tormented by the strength of his sex drive, which made him constantly turn to brothels and pornography. Kafka published very little in his lifetime, just three collections of short stories, including his best-known work, The Metamorphosis, and he was entirely obscure and unnoticed. His gigantic posthumous reputation is based on three novels, The Trial, The Castle, and America, which were all unfinished because Kafka was so dissatisfied with them. He gave orders that they be destroyed after his death. Fortunately for humanity, these were disobeyed. It shouldn't sound prurient or reductive to suggest that one of the major keys to understanding Kafka is to fathom the nature of his relationship with his father. Kafka never wrote directly about this man in any of his works, but the psychology of the novels is directly related to the dynamics he endured as the very unfortunate son of Hermann

是以，歌德之後最偉大的德國文學天才之一被迫在他短暫的生命中從事一系列完全不如他的工作，先後在律師事務所和保險公司工作。他曾多次與女性發生不成功的關係，無法結婚或組建家庭，性慾的強烈讓他備受煎熬，經常流連於妓院和色情場所。卡夫卡一生髮表的作品很少，只有三本短篇小說集，其中包括他最著名的作品《變形記》，他完全是默默無聞，無人問津。他在死後的巨大聲譽是建立在三部長篇小說《審判》、《城堡》和《美國》的基礎上的，這三部長篇小說都沒有完成，因為卡夫卡對它們非常不滿意。他下令在死後銷燬這些作品。對人類來說，幸運的是，這

Kafka. Any boy who was ever felt inadequate in front of or unloved by a powerful father will at once relate to what Kafka went through in his childhood. In November 1919, at the age of 36, five years before his death, Kafka wrote a 47-page letter to Hermann, in which he tried to explain how his childhood had deformed him. Like many victims of abuse, Kafka never stopped hoping for some kind of forgiveness from the person who had so wronged him.

卡夫卡任何一個在強勢父親面前感到自卑或得不到愛的男孩，都會對卡夫卡的童年經歷感同身受。1919 年 11 月，36 歲的卡夫卡在去世前 5 年寫了一封長達 47 頁的信給赫爾曼，信中他試圖解釋童年是如何使他變形的。像許多受虐待的人一樣，卡夫卡從未停止過希望得到曾經傷害過他的人的某種原諒。

Dearest Father, went the letter. You asked me recently why I maintain that I am so afraid of you. As usual, I was unable to think of any answer to your question, partly for the very reason that

最親愛的父親，來信了。您最近問我，為什麼我一直這麼害怕您。和往常一樣，我想不出任何答案，部分原因是

I am afraid of you, and partly because an explanation of the grounds for this fear would mean going into far more details than I could ever keep in mind while talking. The grown Kafka abased himself before this father. What I would have needed was a little encouragement, a little friendliness, but I wasn't fit for that. What was always incomprehensible to me was your total lack of feeling for the suffering and shame you could inflict on me with your words and judgements.

我害怕你，部分原因是要解釋這種恐懼的原因，就意味著要談更多的細節，而我在談話時根本無法記住這些細節。長大成人的卡夫卡在這位父親面前卑躬屈膝。我需要的是一點鼓勵，一點友善，但我不適合這樣做。我一直無法理解的是，你對你的言語和評判可能給我帶來的痛苦和恥辱完全沒有感覺。

It was as though you had no notion of your power. Kafka complained of one particularly traumatic incident when, as a young boy, he called out for a glass of water and his irritable father pulled the boy out of his bed, carried him out onto the balcony and left him there to freeze in nothing but his nightshirt. Kafka writes, I was quite obedient after that period, but it did me so much incalculable inner harm. Even years afterwards, I suffered from the tormenting fancy that the huge man, my father, the ultimate authority would come almost for no reason at all and take me out of bed in the night and carry me out onto the balcony and that meant I was a mere nothing for him.

就好像你根本不知道自己的力量。卡夫卡抱怨過一件特別痛苦的事情：他還是個孩子的時候，喊了一聲要喝水，暴躁的父親就把他從床上拉起來，抱到陽臺上，讓他只穿著睡衣在那裡挨凍。卡夫卡寫道："從那以後，我變得相當聽話，但這對我的內心造成了難以估量的傷害。甚至在多年以後，我還在痛苦地幻想著，我的父親，這個巨大的男人，這個終極權威，會幾乎毫無理由地在夜裡把我從床上抱起來，抱到陽臺上，而這意味著我對他來說只是個無足輕重的人。

Boys need their father's permission to become men and Hermann Kafka didn't give France a chance.

男孩需要得到父親的允許才能成為男人，而赫爾曼-卡夫卡沒有給法國這樣的機會。

At a very early stage, you forbade me to speak. Your threat, not a word of contradiction, and the raised hand that accompanied it have been with me ever since. France's sense of inadequacy was total.

在很早的時候，您就禁止我說話。從那時起，您的威脅，一句反駁的話都沒有，還有那舉起的手，一直伴隨著我。法國感到自己完全不夠格。

I was weighed down by your mere physical presence. I remember, for instance, how often we undressed in the same bathing hut. There was I, skinny, weakly, slight. You, strong, tall, broad. I felt a miserable specimen. When we stepped out, you holding me by my hand, a little skeleton, unsteady, frightened of the water, incapable of copying your swimming strokes. I was frantic with desperation. It could hardly have been worse, except it was. Kafka finished the letter, gave it to his mother Julie to pass to Hermann, but, typical of her weakness and cowardice, she didn't. She held onto it for a few days, then returned it to France and advised that it would be better if her busy, hard-working husband never had to read such a thing. The poor son lacked the courage ever to try again.

你的存在讓我倍感沉重。例如，我記得我們經常在同一個浴池裡脫衣服。我，瘦弱，羸弱，微胖。而你，強壯，高大，寬闊。我覺得自己是個可憐的標本我們下水時，你牽著我的手，我就像個小骷髏，站不穩，怕水，無法模仿你的泳姿。我絕望得發狂。事情幾乎沒有比這更糟的了，但事實就是如此。卡夫卡寫完信，把它交給母親朱莉，讓她轉交給赫爾曼。她把信保存了幾天，然後把信寄回了法國，並建議她那忙碌而辛勤工作的丈夫最好永遠不要讀到這樣的信。可憐的兒子再也沒有勇氣嘗試了。

In The Judgment, Kafka's great short story, written in 1912, a young businessman, Georg, is engaged to be married and lives in a flat with his widowed father. He's about to get away from home. The father is old and frail. Georg tucks him up in bed. But then the father mysteriously regains his strength, springs upright, towers over Georg and denounces him for betraying everyone, his friends, his father and the memory of his mother. Georg can make only feeble protests.

在卡夫卡於 1912 年創作的偉大短篇小說《審判》中，年輕的商人格奧爾格已經訂婚，與寡居的父親住在一套公寓裡。他即將離家出走。父親年邁體弱。格奧爾格把他掖在床上。然而，父親卻神祕地恢復了體力，直起腰來，高高地俯視著格奧爾格，譴責他背叛了所有人、朋友、父親和對母親的思念。格奧爾格只能發出微弱的抗議。

Eventually, the father condemns Georg to death by drowning, and Georg obediently rushes out and plunges into the nearby river. After passing sentence, the father cries out,

最後，父親判處格奧爾格溺水而死，格奧爾格順從地衝了出去，跳進了附近的河裡。宣判後，父親大哭起來、

You were an innocent child, really, but at heart you were a diabolical human being.

你是一個天真無邪的孩子，但在內心深處，你是一個邪惡的人。

The idea of horrific, arbitrary judgment was to be a constant in Kafka's fiction.

在卡夫卡的小說中，駭人聽聞的武斷判斷是一個永恆的主題。

It reappears in the unfinished novel The Trial, written two years later. But now Kafka had developed it away from a father to a vast legal apparatus with judges, lawyers, guards and extensive bureaucratic procedures. When Joseph K. is arrested on the morning of his 30th birthday, he isn't told what he is charged with. He barely makes any attempt to find out. He feels so guilty inside, he just knows that he deserves punishment. He does try to declare in court that he's innocent, still without knowing what the charge is, and hires a lawyer. But the court gradually grinds him down. He becomes unable to think of anything. Words fail him. He can no longer do his job properly and is defeated in the game of office politics. Finally, a year after his arrest, two grotesque-looking officials come to Joseph K.'s flat. They lead him to a quarry outside the city and execute him by plunging a knife into his heart. Between the judgment and the trial,

兩年後，它再次出現在未完成的小說《審判》中。但現在，卡夫卡把它從一位父親發展成了一個龐大的法律機構，其中有法官、律師、警衛和大量的官僚程序。當約瑟夫-K.在他 30 歲生日的早晨被捕時，他沒有被告知他被指控的罪名是什麼。他幾乎沒有試圖去了解。他內心非常內疚，只知道自己罪有應得。在還不知道罪名是什麼的情況下，他試圖在法庭上聲明自己是無辜的，並聘請了一名律師。但法庭逐漸讓他崩潰。他變得什麼也想不起來。他無法言語。他再也無法正常工作，在辦公室政治遊戲中敗下陣來。最後，在他被捕一年後，兩名長相怪異的官員來到約瑟夫

Kafka wrote The Metamorphosis, a short story in which a travelling salesman,

卡夫卡寫了《變形記》，這是一篇短篇小說，講述了一個旅行推銷員的故事、

Gregor Samsa, wakes up one morning transformed into an insect akin to a beetle or a bedbug.

格雷戈爾-薩姆沙（Gregor Samsa）有一天早上醒來時變成了一隻類似甲蟲或臭蟲的昆蟲。

It's a story of self-disgust, about the treachery of family and, like The Trial, about terrifying arbitrary power. When Gregor crawls across the floor, he is in danger of being stamped on by his own father. Gregor's family find they manage quite well without him. They confine him to his room and chuck rubbish at him. The family hold a council and decide that the insect in the bedroom can't really be Gregor. They start to refer to the insect as It instead of Him. They decide that somehow the insect has to go. Gregor, listening, agrees and dies quietly. After Gregor's death, the family are slightly ashamed of their behaviour. But only slightly.

這是一個關於自我厭惡的故事，一個關於家庭背叛的故事，與《審判》一樣，也是一個關於可怕的專斷權力的故事。當格里高爾爬過地板時，他面臨著被親生父親踩踏的危險。格里高爾的家人發現，沒有他他們也能應付自如。他們把他關在房間裡，向他扔垃圾。家人召開了一次會議，決定臥室裡的昆蟲不可能真的是格里高爾。他們開始稱這隻昆蟲為 "它"，而不是 "他"。他們決定以某種方式讓這隻昆蟲離開。格里高爾聽後同意了，並安靜地死去。格里高爾死後，一家人對自己的行為略感羞愧。但也只是一點點。

Kafka suffered from ill health for a lot of his life. In 1924, when he was 41, he developed laryngeal tuberculosis, which prevented him from eating almost anything without huge pain. He wrote a short story, his last, called The Hunger Artist. It tells the story of a public performer who makes his living undertaking fasts for the pleasure of the public.

卡夫卡一生飽受疾病折磨。1924 年，在他 41 歲時，他患上了喉結核，這使他幾乎無法進食任何東西而不會感到劇烈疼痛。他寫了一篇短篇小說，也是他最後一篇短篇小說，名為《飢餓藝術家》。故事講述了一個公眾表演者為了取悅公眾而禁食謀生的故事。

One time, he manages to fast for 40 days. But gradually, the Hunger Artist's audience gets bored of his work. However hard he fasts, they're no longer impressed. He gets put in a dirty old cage and weakens terribly. Before he dies, he asks for forgiveness and confesses that he should never have been admired, since the reason he fasted was simply that he couldn't find any food he enjoyed. Shortly after he dies, he is replaced in his cage by a panther, an animal full of vigour, whom the crowd love and who has a voracious appetite. A few days after finishing The

有一次，他成功地禁食了 40 天。但漸漸地，"飢餓藝術家 "的觀眾厭倦了他的作品。無論他如何禁食，他們都不再對他刮目相看。他被關進骯髒的舊籠子裡，變得虛弱不堪。臨死前，他請求寬恕，並承認自己本不該被人欽佩，因為他禁食的原因只是因為找不到自己喜歡的食物。他死後不久，籠子裡的豹子取代了他的位置，這是一隻充滿活力的動物，深受人們喜愛，而且食慾旺盛。看完《豹》幾天後

Hunger Artist, Kafka died and was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Prague. Within a few years of his death, his reputation began. By the Second World War, he was recognized as one of the greatest writers of the age. Notwithstanding, all his close family were gassed by the Germans in the Holocaust.

飢餓藝術家卡夫卡去世後被安葬在布拉格的猶太人墓地。在他去世後的幾年內，他開始聲名鵲起。第二次世界大戰期間，他被公認為那個時代最偉大的作家之一。儘管如此，他所有的近親都在大屠殺中被德國人毒死。

He is a monument in German literary history, and at the same time, he is a sad, ashamed, terrified part of us all. Kafka once wrote that the task of literature is to reconnect us with feelings that might otherwise be unbearable to study, but which desperately need our attention.

他是德國文學史上的一座豐碑，同時，他也是我們所有人心中悲哀、羞愧和恐懼的一部分。卡夫卡曾寫道，文學的任務是讓我們重新認識那些原本可能無法忍受研究，但卻迫切需要我們關注的情感。

A book must, he wrote, be the axe for the frozen sea within us.

他寫道："一本書必須是我們內心冰封海洋的斧頭。

His books were among the most touching, frightening and accurate axes ever written.

他的書是有史以來最感人、最可怕、最準確的斧頭。

you

你