Odradek

In A Country Doctor, the second volume of short stories published in his lifetime, Franz Kafka wrote a curious two pages on a creature called the Odradek. The story, which is titled either "A Father's Worry," or "Cares of a Family Man," depending on translation, at its essence defies illustration-- it is a description of a creature too abstract to truly understand. The Odradek somehow resembles a star-shaped spool of thread. It lives in the attic or the stairwell, corridors, or the front hall, "No fixed residence," it would say when asked where it lives. All the same the narrator is almost pained by the fact of its existence and especially by its longevity: "He obviously does no one any harm, but I find it almost painful to think he might outlive me."

#Odradek #JBTart #illustration #Kafka #Acountrydoctor #Afathersworry #caresofafamilyman #PricelessPennies