10 Songs for Franz Kafka’s The Trial
“The essence of my unmusicalness,” wrote Franz Kafka in his diary, “consists in my inability to enjoy music connectedly; it only now and then has an effect on me, and how seldom is it a musical one. The natural effect of music on me is to circumscribe me with a wall, and its only constant influence on me is that, confined in this way, I am different from what I am when free.” How. . . well, Kafkaesque, I suppose.
If you’re reading this space, or if you’ve studied in any American high school, I probably don’t have to tell you what The Trial is all about. But in case you’re an Ozzy fan who’s simply wandered over: first, welcome, and second, The Trial is a novel about a man accused of an unknown crime by an unknown authority, ordered to show up at a strange court at an unknown time. His attempts to clear his own name—or even to find out what, exactly, is going on—are futile, and his predicament becomes increasingly surreal. It’s a claustrophobic, oppressive novel, bleak, but not without some slivers of humor. Everything in this novel is complex, too complex to comprehend, and perhaps not even real, and everything is dark.
As the nights get longer and stranger, a playlist to soundtrack Kafka’s most famous novel.
“Undoing a Luciferian Towers,” Godspeed You! Black Emperor
At the beginning, despite its oppressiveness—that muffling overlay—this song is almost hopeful, with the lilting pipes in the background. But slowly, as the song goes on, the pipes slowly begin to sound a bit demented, and then frankly shrill, and then at some point you realize that your shoulders are up by your ears and you’ve been driven half-mad by this surrealist soundscape.
“ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible),” John Cage
As its title suggestions, the point of this piece is that you play it as slowly as possible. Or to be more precise: Cage has never specified how long it is supposed to last, so it’s open to interpretation. One performance of the piece began in 2001 in a German church, and is projected to conclude in 2640; the chords change every few months. So there’s a pretty good allegory for bureaucracy.
“Trust Us,” Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Ominous and somewhat nonsensical, while also swearing that everything is quite all right; I imagine this song as the hypnotic dance of the mysterious agents who appear to arrest K.—and later to kill him.
“Megalomania,” Black Sabbath
Nearly ten minutes of the walls closing in. Both sonically and lyrically, it might as well be the internal bleat of K., our hero: “Where can I run to now?/ The joke is on me/ No sympathizing god is insanity, yeah/ Why don’t you just get out of my life, yeah? . . .”
“Seconds Too Late,” Cabaret Voltaire
The relentless back beat, the twitchy snippets of imperceptible information, the ghostly melody: this is a song for getting utterly lost in a never-ending labyrinth, whether actual or imaginary.
“Spaceape,” Burial
This must be what it feels like to have the voice of an all-powerful, utterly indifferent God echoing in your head.
“Bloom,” Radiohead
It’s beautiful, sure—but it also makes you feel a little bit like you’re trapped inside a beating heart built from metal gears and paper walls. This is another one that creeps up on you: at first it sounds almost relaxing, but soon you’re surrounded by whispers and wheels.
“Atmosphères,” Gygöry Ligeti
This sound poem makes me deeply uneasy; it’s something akin to the feeling of being followed on a dark night full of corners—or at least the soundtrack to same.
“Descent into the Inferno,” Foetus
This track appeals to the gritty, smoky, but still-absurdist quality of the novel, which I have never found quite as cold as other people. In fact, it’s all a little silly, much like this song.
“Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” Bauhaus
No one is more goth than Kafka.
Bonus Track: “The Bus is Late,” Satellite High
Listen to this song to understand—with your whole body, mind you—the true meaning of “Kafkaesque.”
„Suština moje nemizikalnosti“, napisao je Franz Kafka u svom dnevniku, „sastoji se u mojoj nesposobnosti da povezano uživam u muzici; to samo povremeno deluje na mene, a kako je retko muzičko. Prirodni efekat muzike na mene je da me ograniči zidom, a njen jedini stalni uticaj na mene je taj što sam, ovako ograničen, drugačiji od onoga što jesam kad sam slobodan. “ Kako. . . pa, kafkijanski, pretpostavljam.
Ako čitate ovaj prostor ili ste studirali u bilo kojoj američkoj srednjoj školi, verovatno ne moram da vam kažem o čemu se radi u suđenju. Ali u slučaju da ste obožavatelj Ozzija koji je jednostavno zalutao: prvo, dobrodošli i drugo, The Trial je roman o čovjeku kojeg je nepoznati organ optužio za nepoznati zločin, kojem je naređeno da se pojavi na čudnom sudu kod nepoznatog vreme. Njegovi pokušaji da očisti svoje ime - ili čak da sazna šta se tačno događa - uzaludni su, a njegova nevolja postaje sve nadrealnija. To je klaustrofobičan, ugnjetavački roman, mračan, ali ne i bez trunke humora. Sve je u ovom romanu složeno, previše složeno da bi se shvatilo, a možda nije ni stvarno, a sve je mračno.
Kako noći postaju sve duže i čudnije, plejlista za zvuk najpoznatijeg Kafkinog romana.
“Undoing a Luciferian Towers,” Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Poništavanje luciferijanskih kula“, Bog vam hteo! Crni car
Na početku, uprkos svojoj opresivnosti - tom prigušujućem prekrivanju - ova pesma je gotovo puna nade, a u pozadini su dizalice. Ali polako, kako pesma ide, cevi polako počinju da zvuče pomalo dementno, a onda iskreno kreštavo, a onda u nekom trenutku shvatite da su vam ramena podignuta uz uši i da vas je ovo poludelo nadrealistički zvučni pejzaž.
“ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible),” John Cage
„ASLSP (što je moguće niže)“, John Cage
Kao što sugeriše naslov, poenta ovog komada je da ga igrate što sporije. Ili tačnije: Kejdž nikada nije odredio koliko treba da traje, pa je otvoren za tumačenje. Jedno izvođenje dela započelo je 2001. godine u nemačkoj crkvi, a predviđa se da će se završiti 2640; akordi se menjaju svakih nekoliko meseci. Dakle, postoji prilično dobra alegorija za birokratiju.
„Verujte nam“, kapetan Govedina i njegov magični bend
Zlokobno i pomalo besmisleno, istovremeno se zaklinjući da je sve u redu; Zamišljam ovu pesmu kao hipnotički ples misterioznih agenata koji izgleda hapse K. - a kasnije i ubijaju.
„Megalomanija“, Black Sabbath
Skoro deset minuta zatvaranja zidova. I zvučno i lirično, to bi moglo biti i unutrašnja bleja K., našeg junaka: „Gde sada mogu da pobegnem? / Šala je na meni / Nijedan bog koji saoseća nije ludost, da / zašto jednostavno ne izađeš iz mog života, da? . . . “
„Sekunde su prekasne“, Kabare Volter
Neumoljivi ritam leđa, trzavi isečci neprimetnih informacija, sablasna melodija: ovo je pesma koja se potpuno gubi u neprestanom lavirintu, bilo stvarnom bilo izmišljenom.
„Spaceape“, sahrana
Ovo mora da je osećaj kad vam u glavi odjekuje glas svemoćnog, krajnje ravnodušnog Boga.
"Bloom", Radiohead
Prelepo je, naravno - ali i zbog toga se osećate pomalo kao da ste zarobljeni unutar srca koje kuca, izgrađenog od metalnih zupčanika i papirnih zidova. Ovo je još jedno koje vam se prikrada: u početku zvuči gotovo opuštajuće, ali uskoro ste okruženi šapatom i točkovima.
„Atmospheres“, Gigori Ligeti
Ova zvučna pesma mi stvara duboku nelagodu; to je nešto slično osećaju da vas prate u mračnoj noći punoj uglova - ili barem zvučne podloge za isti.
„Silazak u pakao“, Fetus
Ovaj trag privlači krhki, zadimljeni, ali ipak apsurdistički kvalitet romana, koji nikada nisam smatrao toliko hladnim kao drugi ljudi. U stvari, sve je pomalo glupo, slično ovoj pesmi.
„Bela Lugosi’s Dead“, Bauhaus
Niko nije lepši od Kafke.
Bonus staza: „Autobus kasni“, satelit je visok
Slušajte ovu pesmu da biste razumeli - celim telom, pazite - pravo značenje „kafkijanskog“.
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