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.
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Denne historien er fra June 07, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Life in motion
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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.
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.
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.
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.
New surgery restores smell for long Covid sufferers
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Dark secrets Stargazing heaven put at risk by energy plant
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Find the whey: tempting ideas to make the most of cottage cheese
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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.
