Saturday, January 07, 2006

"Auf der Galerie" by Franz Kafka

How about something different today--a bilingual edition? Here is Franz Kafka's little parable in its original German and in its English translation, by Willa and Edwin Muir. Read by Irmina Haupt. Time 2:34.

This tiny squib is one of Kafka's shortest, most dreamlike works, about a circus equestrienne (at last, a chance to use that beautiful word!) who dazzles her audience--and the reader. One feels that the narrator, acting as witness, is brought both to tears and speechlessness by this lovely vision at a public performance.

Irmina Haupt is the pseudonym for a young video artist who has worked and traveled extensively in North America, the Canary Islands, the Middle East, and Europe. Her center of operations is now Munich, where she creates installations for museums and galleries, though probably not like the one in this story! She recently visited the States, though not exclusively to read this story for us; like Kafka himself, she is of Austro-German extraction and apologizes for any confusion due to her semi-Viennese accent. And we think in this description we've been able to mention more geographic locations than any other so far!

1 comment:

Scoot said...

Sorry--you must have downloaded the original version posted here, in German. Look for the English translation which comes after this posting--and thanks for (trying to) listen!