Resistance is futile
The Guardian Weekly|June 07, 2024
Why does Franz Kafka's world of nightmare bureaucracy and modernist alienation remain a cultural touchstone, a century after his death?
Claire Armitstead
Resistance is futile

AFTER SPLITTING UP WITH DIANE KEATON in the film Annie Hall, Woody Allen's lugubrious Alvy hooks up with a hippy-dippy music journalist for a one-night stand that does neither of them any favours. "Sex with you is really a kafkaesque experience," says Pam, over a postcoital cigarette. "I mean that as a compliment." Given that Pam (a fabulously drifty Shelley Duvall) is a self-confessed Rosicrucian, with a chat-up style that leans heavily on the word "transplendent", it's clear that finding a philosophical vocabulary for life's highs and lows is not her strongest suit.

Annie Hall was released in 1977 - 30 years after the first usage of the adjective "kafkaesque" was recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary. One might have thought that such a resounding satirical takedown in an Oscar-winning film would make the word an embarrassment. But no. Fastforward to 2010 and it was back in the satirical crosshairs, as the title of an episode in the third series of Breaking Bad, in which bags of blue meth from Walt and Jesse's superlab are distributed in tubs of batter to fried chicken restaurants across the American south-west. The pair's lawyer, Saul, tries to persuade a bemused Jesse to launder his ill-gotten gains by becoming the tax-paying proprietor of a nail salon. When the leader of Jesse's support group says his working conditions sound kafkaesque, he has no idea how right he is.

Denne historien er fra June 07, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra June 07, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA THE GUARDIAN WEEKLYSe alt
Life in motion
The Guardian Weekly

Life in motion

After the Oscar success of a little-known Latvian animation called Flow, are the artform's budget film-makers on the brink of new recognition?

time-read
6 mins  |
March 14, 2025
The Guardian Weekly

'Ceasefire' is a hollow word - the killings and denial of aid continue

It has been nearly two months since a ceasefire came into effect in Gaza, and it's clear that it would more accurately be called a \"reduce\" fire, rather than a cessation.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 14, 2025
Policy jolts Businesses blindsided by Trump tariff uncertainty
The Guardian Weekly

Policy jolts Businesses blindsided by Trump tariff uncertainty

Donald Trump declared there to be \"no room left\" for a deal with Canada and Mexico last week, launching a trade war against his nation's closest allies that he presented as a bid to protect America's soul. Then he pulled back.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 14, 2025
Crap jobs, toxic politics: no wonder happiness evades young people
The Guardian Weekly

Crap jobs, toxic politics: no wonder happiness evades young people

So there are two studies, one commissioned by Weetabix, one by the UN, but we don't need to decide which one is likely to be the more reliable because, praise be, they both say the same thing: 45 is now the age of peak happiness.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 14, 2025
Keeping their distance Populists in a tight spot over support for Trump
The Guardian Weekly

Keeping their distance Populists in a tight spot over support for Trump

Europe's rightwing populist parties are split over how far to distance themselves from Donald Trump's pressure on Ukraine, with some fearing solidarity with the US president's brand of nationalism will damage their efforts to widen their domestic support.

time-read
2 mins  |
March 14, 2025
Evidence of beatings, torture and starvation at RSF base
The Guardian Weekly

Evidence of beatings, torture and starvation at RSF base

Lying between the makeshift graves is a mattress, a large bloodstain visible in the midday sun. A name is scrawled in Arabic on its ragged fabric: Mohammed Adam.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 14, 2025
New surgery restores smell for long Covid sufferers
The Guardian Weekly

New surgery restores smell for long Covid sufferers

Doctors in London have successfully restored a sense of smell and taste in patients who lost it due to long Covid with pioneering surgery that expands their nasal airways to kickstart their recovery.

time-read
2 mins  |
March 14, 2025
Dark secrets Stargazing heaven put at risk by energy plant
The Guardian Weekly

Dark secrets Stargazing heaven put at risk by energy plant

In the Atacama desert, the driest non-polar region on Earth, the sky shines when the sun sets. Up in the arid hills 130km south of the Chilean city of Antofagasta, comets burn brightly and flawless trails of stars and nebulae streak the night sky.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 14, 2025
Find the whey: tempting ideas to make the most of cottage cheese
The Guardian Weekly

Find the whey: tempting ideas to make the most of cottage cheese

Why is everyone talking about cottage cheese, and can you make anything that's actually good with it?

time-read
2 mins  |
March 14, 2025
The Guardian Weekly

Recasting India's electoral map risks deepening its north-south divide

When Narendra Modi's alliance won a narrow majority in last year's Indian election, it signalled his waning popularity after a decade in power.

time-read
2 mins  |
March 14, 2025