Original language: Español
Year of publication: 2024
Valuation: Highly recommended
Late, as always. 2024 was the year of the centenary of the death of that famous writer who died of tuberculosis (or of that famous tubercular person who wrote) and we did not dedicate, I believe, even a measly review to him. Of course, we arrive at 2025 and 10 days later…an in-depth review of a book that has Kafka as its center! Don’t take it into account, please.
Well, the fact is that today we bring to ULAD this New Kafkarama, published at the end of 2024 by Ediciones del Subsuelo, and the first thing we must ask ourselves is what it is New Kafkarama.
Options:
- Novelized biography of Kafka, either as (re)construction or (de)construction of the author.
- Historical novel
- Chronicle of the 20th century, at least from 1910 to 1968, approximately
- Borgian game
- Borgesian and metaliterary game
- All of the above
- None of the above
There is something of all that. Obviously, the novel is a tribute to the figure of Franz Kafka, “radiating core” (suck that one, Errejón (well, it’s a saying, it’s a saying, don’t take it literally)) from which they depart and to which a series of ramifications arrive that cover a space of more than 50 years, from the First World War to the Soviet repression in Czechoslovakia. To do this, Rodrigo Breto uses some 65 photographs in which historical and fictitious figures, big names and more or less anonymous beings parade, among whom different associations are established. For example, Max Brod, Oskar Pollak, Dora Diamant, Gavrilo Princip, Musil, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini (and a pipe that was passed from mouth to mouth), a BBC presenter, an almost anonymous disciple of Meyrink, etc.
Thus, we find ourselves with a narrative full of anguish, violence and absurdity, like the 20th century that it portrays, but also with a bizarre narrative full of humor that stands out for three reasons, fundamentally:
- His ambition. I like those novels that try to put everything in the novel, as long as there is a mortar that makes the whole thing not fall apart. In this case, the various plots are well woven together and expand the horizons of the text beyond a “simple” biography or tribute.
- Its rhythm, in which structure and style play a key role. On the one hand, photographs function as small stories that transfer the action to various spaces and times without letting the narrative become entrenched; On the other hand, the style, without periods or commas or Christ who founded it, gives the narrative a lot of agility. Yes, it is not a new resource, but it works.
- The theme. If the two previous points have an obvious subjective element, this is already the “no more” because the First World War or the period of Soviet domination over the countries in its orbit are two historical eras that amaze me.
Some may say that he who covers a lot does little, that perhaps all the stories do not awaken the same interest in all readers, that this is a “too intellectual” book. Maybe, I don’t deny it, but I think that if you manage to get into the game, if you get the ticket to visit the Kafkarama and sit down and look at all the photographs, you’re going to have a great time. I, at least, have done it.
Source: https://unlibroaldia.blogspot.com/2025/01/jose-carlos-rodrigo-breto-nuevo.html
