Franz Kafka looked nothing like his father Hermann, a fleshy, forceful businessman. In looks as in personality he favored his mother’s family, though Julie Kafka’s features were not quite as sharp, not to say rodenty, as her son’s, nor did[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Another joke that may work only in my head, in reference to Kafka’s day job at an insurance agency. I like to think it was a wacky workplace where sitcom-worthy situations arose regularly, but I don’t think Czech insurance offices[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
I don’t quite know why I find the phrase he’s not strong so delightful. Partially it’s the recollection of the episode of Ren and Stimpy in which Stimpy piously asks God to “please watch out for my best pal, Ren.[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
So far I’ve mostly drawn Kafka looking alarmed or terrified or otherwise incapable of dealing with human existence, but he was a funny guy too — you can’t be all that serious when you’re writing a story about a guy[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
I will let pass no opportunity to draw Franz Kafka looking terrified.
It Can’t Happen Here, his 1935 dystopian vision of an America dragged into fascism by its unfit president, is the current bestseller, but most of Lewis’s books portray the American character in ways that are still relevant about a hundred[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
I hope you enjoyed your Purim, Small Peculiarteers! Remember that it commemorates the events in the book of Esther, the only book of the Bible that makes no explicit reference to God. I think it was God’s way of showing[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
By James Stephens, circa 1916. Versions vary slightly in punctuation; this text is taken from The New Poetry: An Anthology, eds. Harriet Monroe and Alice Corbin Henderson, 1917.
Am I making a dumb joke or some kind of statement or do I just like the word hidalgo? It’s mostly the last one.
These days, of course, Germany is very proud of Kafka, even though he was Czech. I’m told he is often praised for the “purity” of his German. Awkwaaaaard.
Click to buy my illustrated version of the book of Jonah! I’m super proud of it.