On One Conversation Card by Franz Kafka

Abstract

Translator’s commentary on Franz Kafka’s “conversation cards,” including information on their biographic context of that last text-document written by Kafka, as well as observations on the stylistic peculiarities imposed by the material form of the cards (terseness) and the advancing disease which made the physical activity of writing difficult (run-on sentences, wrong punctuation, and grammatical errors). However, the commentary is not a typical translatological analysis, but rather a note on Kafka’s writing in general. One of the card messages seems to encourage such an approach in particular: The worst is that I cannot even drink a glass of water, but one can get somewhat satiated with the thirst itself.”