After Tom's inspiring reviews of German classics and masterpieces, I figured I'd try to read a work by one of the great German authors for once - so far, the only book I've read in German that one might call serious literature was Bernhard Schlink's Der Vorleser (The Reader).

So Kafka it was, and when I couldn't find either Das Prozeß (The Trial) nor Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) in my library, I ended up with Amerika. Can't say I'd ever heard about it before, but I figured it'd be worth reading anyway.

Amerika - the title was chosen by his editor, Kafka never decided on a final title - was Kafka's first novel, but was never finished, and the published version now merely contains three sizeable fragments of the final two chapters, though all the rest feels finished enough. The first chapter was Kafka's first ever published work (though I'm not sure how well it would work stand-alone...). Despite this unfinished status, Kafka seems to have been rather fond and proud of this book. I for one am not entirely sure why.

Amerika is the story of Karl Roßmann, a 15-year old boy who is forced to leave his conservative family after getting caught having sex with a servant - though, as we find out later, it was more like being raped by the servant - and sent off on his own to America, a place Kafka himself never had been and never would be, though he'd read a lot about it. I have the impression that perhaps if I had realized Roßmann's age from the start, I might have appreciated the novel more. As it was - I figured he was seventeen or so - I rapidly developed a pronounced dislike for this awkward, immature boy, with an uncanny knack for talking too much when he should shut up, shutting up when he should speak, and wanting to sound smarter than he is. Those things are more understandable perhaps in a fifteen-year-old, and his age certainly makes the enormity of his being sent off all alone to a foreign continent, never to return, more notable. All the same, a modern reader should probably think of Karl as being twelve rather than fifteen, to get the effect Kafka seems to be aiming at.

However, regardless of his age, I really can't agree with Kafka's editor, when he writes of "this good boy Karl Roßmann, who rapidly wins all our love", or his "childish innocence and touchingly naive purity of the hero". Perhaps part of it is that his editor was writing this in the twenties, but still. It's hard to feel very sorry for this hero, who certainly is childishly innocent and naive, but not in a touching way if you ask me.

If this less-than-inspiring protagonist had been in an impressively good plot, or particularly insightful take on the experience of immigrants in America, though, I might've still found the book a good read. As it is, there are absolutely scenes that have something, that are memorable to some extent, and a few clever ideas - like Kafka's description of the Statue of Liberty holding a sword, instead of a torch. But there was too little of that to make the book live up to my expectations.

Part of my problem with this book might also be that it's a bizarre hybrid of a realistic story and what I think of as a typical "Kafkaesque" story like The Trial (which I must confess I haven't yet read, in any language). Thus, Karl is repeatedly confronted by adults and authority figures and condemned or scolded for various "crimes" of which he is either barely or not at all guilty, with sometimes truly ridiculous reactions on the part of the authority figures. In The Trial, I understand that this works rather well, but here, with such reactions occurring in a mostly realistic novel, it just feels extremely weird and disorienting. Though naturally that is a subjective matter, and I must confess I dislike it when I'm not sure how to read a book, or feel that I'm missing the point (as some of my friends on this board have noticed before ). Others may not find that as irritating.

In conclusion, I think Kafka fans who want to understand his thinking and work cannot afford to skip this book, but other readers might want to, despite the few worthwhile scenes showcasing Kafka's talent as an author. I am quite sure The Trial is a far better book, so reading this hasn't discouraged me from reading more Kafka, but it certainly hasn't made me more enthusiastic about him either.