>One of the first signs of the beginning of understanding

all life is suffering (4 truths)
instead of working through the understanding and reaching peace, why not die and skip all the work?

>>8414171
really makes you think

>>8414171
I think that's a too optimistic interpretation of that sentence. I think he pretty much regards modern life to be synonymous with, or inherently tied to, suffering/discontent/death wish, etc.

it means alienation, obv

I dont know but in terms of Kafka, the single most haunting part of the trial for me was the following exert.

>K. thought he had stepped into a meeting. A medium sized, two
windowed room was filled with the most diverse crowd of people - nobody
paid any attention to the person who had just entered. Close under its
ceiling it was surrounded by a gallery which was also fully occupied and
where the people could only stand bent down with their heads and their
backs touching the ceiling

>Many of them had
brought pillows that they had put between their heads and the ceiling so
that they would not hurt themselves pressed against it.

The strangeness will forever haunt me.

Kafka was a genius.

who gives a shit? Kafka is a poor man's Joyce

>>8414160

At least post the full quote

"“One of the first signs of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die. This life appears unbearable, another unattainable. One is no longer ashamed of wanting to die; one asks to be moved from the old cell, which one hates, to a new one, which one willl only in time come to hate. In this there is also a residue of belief that during the move the master will chance to come along the corridor, look at the prisoner and say: "This man is not to be locked up again, He is to come with me.”

>>8414191
not modern life, just life.

>>8414160
The wish to die to this world, to be born anew spiritually.

Alternatively, true understanding leads to suicidal despair. Which makes sense coming from a suicidally depressed man.

>>8415554
I dunno, man, why I'm even dignifying this with a response. How far people can be stuck up their asses sometimes surprises me. Joyce and Kafka have nothing in common, both entertained and moved me with their writings, and can't really be compared or one said to be better than the other since they're both such different and good (for me) writers.

>>8415554
He's nothing like Joyce. There's nothing even to draw that comparison. Wacked.