The Kafka Chronicles
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Book Overview
Explores the relationship between style and substance, self and sexuality, and identity and difference The Kafka Chronicles is an adventure into the psyche of an ultracontemporary twentysomething artist who is lost in an underworld of drugs and mental terrorism, where he encounters a cast of angry yet sensual characters: Alkaloid Boy and Blue Sky, an inconspicuous and loving couple who find themselves subjected to constant government harassment; General Psyche and his sidekick Major Uptight, the military officers responsible for controlling the media upon briefing room during the Gulf War; King Bohemia, a guerilla-artist who hosts wild orgies; and, of course, Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one day and finds himself living in the eco-anarchy of postmodern America.
The Kafka Chronicles ignites a hyper-language that explores the relationship between style and substance, self and sexuality, and identity and difference. Amerika's energetic prose uses all available tracks, mixes vocabularies, and samples genres. Taking its cue from the recent explosion of angst-driven rage found in the alternative rock music scene, this novel reveals the unsettled voice of America's next generation.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0932511546
ISBN13:9780932511546
Release Date:January 1993
Publisher:F2c
Length:189 Pages
Weight:0.20 lbs.
Dimensions:0.4" x 4.4" x 7.0"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
postmodern masterpiece still resonates
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
I read this novel when it first came out in 1993 and finally made my way back to it ten years later. What an incredible book - very prohpetic, especially the wildly satirical "Amerika At War: The Mini-Series" chapter that takes up the bulk of the middle of this book. It's like Jonathan Swift meets Joseph Heller meets Philip Roth meets Celine (who Amerika is actually compared to on the back cover). There are very few young American writers who are do deft at lampooning the far right politicians, but Amerika succeeds at this like no other (you get this eerie feeling reading about the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and seeing how the author's hyberbole has become The Real Thing with Bush 43 in 2003). Amerika has stopped writing novels and is now an internationally famous video and digital artist, but his early breakthrough work like The Kafka Chronicles positions him as both the James Joyce and William Burroughs of his generation.
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