为什么卡夫卡的作品晦涩难懂，荒诞离奇，却被很多人奉为经典？

　　似乎到目前为止，还没有谁彻底把这个问题解释清楚。那么卡夫卡的作品算不算“皇帝的新衣”的另外一种形式呢？

　　是什么造就了“卡夫卡式”？

　　故事：Noah Tavlin

　　"Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K.He knew he had done nothing wrong,

　　but one morning, he was arrested."Thus begins "The Trial," one of author Franz Kafka's most well-known novels.K, the protagonist, is arrested out of nowhere and made to go through a bewildering process where neither the cause of his arrest,nor the nature of the judicial proceedings are made clear to him.

　　“关于约瑟夫·K的事有人说了谎,他肯定自己没有做错事，却在一天早上被捕了。”于是“审判”开始了。这是弗兰茨·卡夫卡最著名的一部小说，主角K被凭空逮捕了，并且经历一段令人困扰的过程。不论是他被逮捕的原因，还是任何的司法依据，都没有对他清楚交待过。

　　trial n审判，审理

　　protagonist n（故事或戏剧中的）主要人物，主角

　　out of nowhere 突然；出人意料地

　　bewildering adj使人困惑的

　　judicial adj司法的；审判（上）的

　　proceedings n 诉讼

　　made clear to sb 向某人说清某事

　　This sort of scenario is considered so characteristic of Kafka's work that scholars came up with a new word for it. Kafkaesque has entered the vernacular to describe unnecessarily complicated and frustrating experiences, like being forced to navigate labyrinths of bureaucracy. But does standing in a long line to fill out confusing paperwork really capture the richness of Kafka's vision?

　　这种情节被认为是典型的卡夫卡作品。于是学者们发明了一个新词，“卡夫卡式”成为不必要的繁琐和令人沮丧的经历的术语，比如被迫应对繁沉的官僚机构。但是站在长队里填写一堆令人困惑的文件真的能抓住卡夫卡视野的丰富内涵吗？

　　scenario n可能发生的事态；设想

　　characteristic adj特有的，典型的

　　vernacular n<非正式>行话，术语

　　frustrating adj令人灰心的；使人气馁的

　　navigate v（有效地）处理

　　labyrinth n令人迷惑的东西，迷宫一样的东西

　　bureaucracy n官僚作风；官僚主义；官僚体制

　　fill out 填写

　　richness n丰富；富饶

　　Beyond the word's casual use, what makes something Kafkaesque?

　　除了对这个词的随意使用外，什么造就了卡夫卡式？

　　Franz Kafka's stories do indeed deal with many mundane and absurd aspects of modern bureaucracy, drawn in part from his experience of working as an insurance clerk in early 20th-century Prague. Many of his protagonists are office workers compelled to struggle through a web of obstacles in order to achieve their goals, and often the whole ordeal turns out to be so disorienting and illogical that success becomes pointless in the first place.

　　弗兰茨·卡夫卡的故事确实描写了许多当代官僚主义的单调和荒谬。部分原因是他曾在20世纪初的布拉格担任一名保险办事员，很多他的主要角色都是在办公室工作的白领。他们不得不通过在充满障碍的网络中挣扎来达到他们的目标。常常这整个考验变得迷惘而且不合逻辑，致使成功在一开始就毫无意义。

　　mundane adj世俗的；单调的；平凡的

　　absurd adj荒谬的，荒唐的；愚蠢的；可笑的

　　bureaucracy n官僚作风；官僚主义；官僚体制

　　drawn in part from 部分来自于

　　clerk n办事员；职员

　　protagonist n（故事或戏剧中的）主要人物，主角

　　be compelled to do 被迫做某事 ; 不得不做

　　obstacle n障碍；阻碍；妨碍

　　ordeal n磨难；苦难；严峻考验；煎熬

　　turn out to be 结果是；原来是

　　disorientate v使失去方向感，使迷路，使迷失方向

　　illogical adj不合逻辑的，无缘由的；不明智的

　　pointless adj无意义的，空洞的

　　in the first place 首先；起初

　　For example, in the short story, "Poseidon," the Ancient Greek god is an executive so swamped with paperwork that he's never had time to explore his underwater domain. The joke here is that not even a god can handle the amount of paperwork demanded by the modern workplace. But the reason why is telling. He's unwilling to delegate any of the work because he deems everyone else unworthy of the task.

　　比如，在短篇小说《波塞冬》中，古希腊神明变成埋首于文书工作的主管，以至于他没有时间去探索他的深层主体。笑点在于，即使是上帝也无法应对现代职场所要求的文书工作量。但是原因很清楚，他不愿意将任何一项工作委派给他人。因为他确信其他人不值得这样的工作。

　　swamp v充斥，席卷，使应接不暇

　　be swamped with 忙于…；被…忙得一塌糊涂

　　domain n领域，领地

　　delegate v授权，把……委托给；选派（某人做某事）

　　deem v认为，视为；觉得

　　Kafka's Poseidon is a prisoner of his own ego. This simple story contains all of the elements that make for a truly Kafkaesque scenario. It's not the absurdity of bureaucracy alone, but the irony of the character's circular reasoning in reaction to it that is emblematic of Kafka's writing.

　　卡夫卡的波塞冬是“自负”的囚犯。这个简单的故事包含了所有使经典的卡夫卡式状况形成的要素。不是官僚主义本身的荒谬，而是角色在对官僚主义反应上的围绕式推理的讽刺，成为了卡夫卡作品的典型。

　　scenario n可能发生的事态；设想

　　absurdity n荒谬，荒唐；荒谬的言行

　　bureaucracy n官僚制度，官僚机构，官僚作风

　　irony n具有讽刺意味的情况

　　circular adj循环论证的;迂回而无效的

　　reasoning n推理；推断；推论

　　emblematic adj象征的，标志（性）的

　　His tragicomic stories act as a form of mythology for the modern industrial age, employing dream logic to explore the relationships between systems of arbitrary power and the individuals caught up in them.

　　他的悲喜剧就像一种现代工业时代的神话故事，运用梦幻的逻辑去探索关于专制力量和挣扎在其中的个体之间的系统间的关系。

　　tragicomic adj悲喜剧的

　　mythology n神话

　　employ v使用；利用

　　arbitrary adj专断的；武断的；霸道的

　　be caught up in 被卷入 ; 牵涉

　　Take, for example, Kafka's most famous story, "Metamorphosis." When Gregor Samsa awaken's one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect, his greatest worry is that he gets to work on time. Of course, this proves impossible.

　　举例，卡夫卡最有名的故事，“变形计”。当格里高·萨姆沙有一天早上醒来，发现自己突变成为一个巨大的昆虫，他最大的担心是如何准时上班。当然，这是不可能的。

　　metamorphosis n变形；变质

　　transform into 转变成

　　It was not only the authoritarian realm of the workplace that inspired Kafka. Some of his protagonists' struggles come from within.

　　不只是专制的工作环境启迪了卡夫卡，一些他的经典角色的挣扎来自于内部。

　　authoritarian adj独裁的；专制的

　　realm n（兴趣或活动的）界，领域，范围

　　protagonist n（故事或戏剧中的）主要人物，主角

　　The short story, "A Hunger Artist," describes a circus performer whose act consists of extended fasts. He's upset that the circus master limits these to 40 days, believing this prevents him from achieving greatness in his art. But when his act loses popularity, he is left free to starve himself to death.

　　短篇小说，“一个饥饿的艺术家”，描述了一个马戏团表演者的任务是由延期的禁食组成的。他苦恼于马戏团主把禁食限制为40天，因为他相信这会阻碍他达成他伟大的表演。但当他的表演缺乏人气时，他被置之不理，以至于饥饿至死。

　　circus n马戏团

　　extended adj延伸的；长的；延长的

　　fast n禁食期；斋戒期

　　prevent sb from doing sth阻止某人做某事 ; 防止某人做某事

　　The twist comes when he lays dying in anonymity, regretfully admitting that his art has always been a fraud.He fasted not through strength of will, but simply because he never found a food he liked.

　　扭曲的地方在于，当他在默默死去的临终前，后悔地承认他的艺术一直是一个骗局。他的禁食不是通过意志的力量，而仅仅是因为他从没有找到他喜欢的食物。

　　lay dying 弥留之际

　　anonymity n匿名；无名；不公开姓名

　　fraud n欺诈，骗局，诡计

　　fast v禁食；斋戒

　　strength of will 意志力

　　Even in "The Trial," which seems to focus directly on bureaucracy, the vague laws and bewildering procedures point to something far more sinister: the terrible momentum of the legal system proves unstoppable, even by supposedly powerful officials. This is a system that doesn't serve justice, but whose sole function is to perpetuate itself.

　　即使是在“审讯”里，似乎是直接专注在官僚主义上，模糊的法律和扑朔迷离的程序指出了更为罪恶的东西：法律系统的恐怖势不可挡，甚至是那些很有权势的官员都无法阻挡。这个系统不是为正义服务的，而是将延续自己作为唯一的功能。

　　bureaucracy n官僚作风；官僚主义；官僚体制

　　vague adj含糊的，不明确的

　　bewildering adj使人困惑的

　　sinister adj邪恶的，不祥的

　　momentum n动量，冲量；冲力；推动力；势头

　　supposedly adv想象上；大概；恐怕

　　perpetuate v使持续；使长存，使永恒

　　What political theorist Hannah Arendt, writing years after Kafka's death, would call "tyranny without a tyrant."Yet accompanying the bleakness of Kafka's stories, there's a great deal of humor rooted in the nonsensical logic of the situations described.

　　政治理论家汉娜·阿伦特在卡夫卡死去后一直书写的叫做“没有暴君的暴政“。然而，在伴随着卡夫卡故事的荒凉里，有不少的幽默扎根在那些描述的事件里的荒谬逻辑中。

　　tyranny n暴政，专制统治

　　tyrant n暴君；暴虐的人；专横的人

　　bleakness n严寒；阴郁；萧瑟凄凉；惨淡无望

　　nonsensical adj愚蠢的；荒谬的

　　So on the one hand, it's easy to recognize the Kafkaesque in today's world. We rely on increasingly convoluted systems of administration that have real consequences on every aspect of our lives. And we find our every word judged by people we can't see according to rules we don't know.

　　所以，一方面很容易识别在当今世界中的“卡夫卡式”。我们依靠越来越扭曲和困惑的管理系统，这个管理系统在我们生活的各个方面已经有了真实的效应。我们发现我们的每一个单词都在被我们看不到的人下判断，根据我们不知道的规则。

　　convoluted adj复杂的；费解的；旋绕的

　　On the other hand, by fine-tuning our attention to the absurd, Kafka also reflects our shortcomings

　　back at ourselves. In doing so, he reminds us that the world we live in is one we create, and have the power to change for the better.

　　另一方面,通过修饰我们对荒谬的注意力，卡夫卡也反省了我们自己身上的缺点。通过做这些，他提醒我们，这个我们居住的世界是我们创造的，因此我们有力量使它变得更美好。

　　fine-tune v对…进行微调

　　reflect v深思，反省，认真思考

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