This website invites artists of all disciplines ... to respond in some way to the text of The Next Village. Their responses may take any form, and of course, they may not respond at all.The Next Village is a very short story by Kafka; short enough to be reproduced here, though I won't. Keith Ridgway's site has contributions from other notable writers such as Hugo Hamilton and Lawrence Norfolk (the first half of whose novel In the Shape of a Boar is like nothing I've read before or since) as well as Rhys Tranter, from whose excellent blog A Piece of Monologue this information comes.
My own, uncalled-for response is merely to read and re-read the story itself, which now, I realise, has led me to the next village anyway.
Ridgway himself is a very interesting writer. His novel Animals was quite unlike anything I've read, and which I really would like to revisit.
ReplyDeleteI've been dipping my toe in Kafka too, so this post is doubly welcome. 'Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor' is rather less short than 'The Next Village' but has made me want to make another journey back to Kafka soon.
I reviewed Animals for the TLS. That spider on the towel is not easy to forget!
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