{"id":1734,"date":"2026-07-31T18:11:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T18:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1734"},"modified":"2026-07-31T18:11:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T18:11:59","slug":"kafkas-most-entertaining-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1734","title":{"rendered":"Kafka\u2019s Most Entertaining Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"<section>\n<div>\n<p><small><em>This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors\u2019 weekly guide to the best in books. <\/em><i>Sign up for it here.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1732\">The Weird State of the Influencer<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In biological science, anthropomorphism is best avoided; nonhuman organisms should be studied on their own terms, without human qualities projected onto them. But that rule goes out the window in fiction\u2014especially the kind in which animals are the main characters. As a child, the writer Rachel Vorona Cote was captivated by novels told from the perspective of chatty puppies and noble horses; the \u201cimaginative leap\u201d of making them think prompted her to realize what fiction could do. In an essay this week for <em>The Atlantic<\/em>, Cote wrote about Paul Yoon\u2019s new novel, <em>Etna<\/em>, concerning a dog conscripted into a war, as well as other tales that endow animals with an innocence that their bipedal characters lack. But I\u2019d like to recommend a couple of hilarious stories by Franz Kafka (trust me!) that do something very different.<\/p>\n<p>First, here are four new stories from the <em>Atlantic<\/em>\u2019s Books section:<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>The most interesting part of your life<\/li>\n<li>The revelatory cringe of Anthony Fauci<\/li>\n<li>\u201cIndependence Day,\u201d a poem by Franz Wright<\/li>\n<li>The Bible belongs in the classroom<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Many contemporary animal stories, Cote writes, focus on creatures in peril. <em>Etna<\/em> follows a dog who, after the fighting ends, must make an <em>Odyssey<\/em>-like journey home. Yoon\u2019s novel shares a theme with Henry Hoke\u2019s 2023 novel, <em>Open Throat<\/em>, which is told by a mountain lion living in the Hollywood Hills, and with the recent films <em>EO<\/em> and <em>Flow<\/em>. All these works feature dignified animal narrators struggling to survive in the mess that people have made of their world. \u201cEtna may lack the privilege of human sovereignty and the benefits of advanced intelligence,\u201d Cote writes, \u201cbut he is free of the hubristic delusions that underwrite so much human-produced wreckage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The beasts in two of Kafka\u2019s last works, on the other hand, are full of hubristic delusions. (His most famous animal is probably a giant bug, the protagonist of his novella <em>The Metamorphosis<\/em>\u2014but that one starts out as a man.) These short stories, which Kafka wrote late in life and never quite finished, feature narrating critters. \u201cInvestigations of a Dog\u201d stars a curious and philosophical canine, and \u201cThe Burrow\u201d follows a hypervigilant mole (or maybe a badger\u2014he doesn\u2019t describe his appearance much, but we know he\u2019s got issues). The dog story is sometimes read as a satire of academia; the hound proposes elaborate theories to explain where food comes from. Little does he know\u2014because he either can&#8217;t see it or chooses not to\u2014that humans exist, and that he and his social, freedom-loving peers are merely pets.<\/p>\n<p>The mole\/badger, by contrast, is a fragile neurotic. He has spent years constructing a complicated underground burrow with an impregnable \u201cCastle Keep\u201d at its core. \u201cThere I sleep the sweet sleep of tranquility, of satisfied desire, of achieved ambition,\u201d he thinks. \u201cFor I possess a house.\u201d We soon learn that this satisfaction is fleeting and illusory. The more the narrator has, the more he has to lose, and he descends into paranoia, imagining that unknown predators will soon destroy him or\u2014worse\u2014his castle. You don\u2019t have to be a post-structuralist like Jacques Lacan (who referenced \u201cThe Burrow\u201d in his theoretical writings) to see the mole as an allegory for human accumulation and striving, which has a way of magnifying, rather than easing, existential anxiety. Kafka\u2019s varmints, in other words, are no better than us; they are creatures of both instinct and self-justification, overcompensating for what they don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n<p>And what\u2019s so hilarious about that? Humor is subjective, but animals can generate comedy in the most serious of tales: I find the idea of a house-proud mole or a canine academic pretty funny, and I can\u2019t be alone. The philosopher Aaron Schuster, who wrote a whole book about Kafka\u2019s dog story, called these works \u201cslapstick tragedy.\u201d I think that\u2019s a fair gloss and a good way of describing some of my favorite fiction. These particular stories may introduce us to bizarre mammals, but like any good slapstick tragedy, they leave us laughing and crying over ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1730\">Galaxy Brain: Behind the Curtain at Google<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why Animal Narrators Are All the Rage<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i>By Rachel Vorona Cote<\/i><\/p>\n<p>A new novel helps explain why so many storytellers enlist animal narrators to explore humanity.<\/p>\n<p>Read the full article.<\/p>\n<h4><b>What to Read<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><strong><em>How Music Works<\/em><\/strong><strong>, by David Byrne<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Byrne\u2019s book could be called a memoir or a manual, but whether you\u2019re primarily interested in the New Wave pioneer\u2019s career or actually attempting to start yours, the depth of knowledge he shares on the music industry makes this a worthy read. Byrne\u2019s chapters range widely: One covers how the structure of performance spaces can inform the type of music played within; another provides a thorough examination of the development of recording technology (and its effect on music). Perhaps the most revelatory section is the one concerning money: The singer documents in granular detail how much he spent and earned for one record, pulling back the curtain on a process that\u2019s ordinarily very hush-hush. You\u2019ll finish with a greater respect for all that musicians do, whether they\u2019re superstars or just starting out in the back of a bar.\u00a0 \u2014 Juliet Izon<\/p>\n<p>From our list: What to read to really understand music<\/p>\n<h4><b>Out Next Week<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><em>\ud83d\udcda <\/em><em>The Amateur<\/em>, by Chris Bohjalian<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>\ud83d\udcda <\/em><em>The People\u2019s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn<\/em>, by David Zirin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><em>\ud83d\udcda <\/em><em>The Women in White<\/em>, by Sarah Pekkanen<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h4><strong>Your Weekend Read<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>A Brief Exchange That Shows the Enormous Difference Between Trump and Obama<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i>By Sally Jenkins<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Suavity is a sorely missed ingredient in the American presidency. The effortless charm of a Roosevelt or a Reagan, a Bush or a Clinton, projected a particular brand of power. <em>Suave<\/em> means a kind of athletic ease and self-command in difficult, spotlighted circumstances, the assurance that solutions are at hand if only we all hold our composure and act right-headedly. Here was the ultra-suave Barack Obama\u2019s message to the basketball player Caitlin Clark in a small but noteworthy exchange over the WNBA All-Star weekend: It never hurts to be winsome. In fact, it can help you win.<\/p>\n<p>Read the full article.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><small><em>When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting <\/em>The Atlantic<em>.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><small><i>Sign up for The Wonder Reader,<\/i><i> a Saturday newsletter in which our editors recommend stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1728\">This May Be Trump\u2019s Biggest Error in the Iran War<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><small><i>Explore <\/i><i>all of our newsletters.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The animal narrators in these works teach us something funny about human beings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books-briefing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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