We have started Shabda - A Reading Club @ Department of Communication Skills, MEFGI, Rajkot on January 13, 2015.
In the first session, we read two stories "Before the Law" by Kafka and "August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains" (1950) by Ray Bradbury.
In the first session, we read two stories "Before the Law" by Kafka and "August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains" (1950) by Ray Bradbury.
I would like to share my views on these stories and I would like to invite more views from the fellow readers:
ReplyDeleteOn "Before the Law":
Well, I believe Kafka is opening a fantastic debate on the nature of the law, dubious interpreters (gate keepers) and the people who are standing before the law. It questions the very operational methodology of law as a delaying phenomenon. It happens to all of us who stand in front of the law, of any kind. For example, in this context, India as a country is known for pending case. The true political colour of law is projected with terse use of words.
On "August 2026...":
I think what is striking about the story is not the actual- believable prophesy but rather the disturbing detailing. The short story writer has got that knack for crafting it so nicely that one's running eyes literally feel the numbness of the seeing future. Besides, the way 'Time' becomes the dark metaphor for possible futility of materialization of human future is interesting.
Needless to say, these two stories have transformed my own perception of literature. Its never so romantic as some poets and writers have mistakenly popularized it. Its damn intellectual game of expressing what is not possible in the world of political correctness.
I think we are back to the basic questions of what literature is and what literature should do...It is not a mean feat for the first session of a reading club to take us right back to the most fundamental questions of literary theory and criticism. Congratulations are in order...
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