Kafka, Angry Poet

       Pascale Casanova's The World Republic of Letters impressed me greatly, and I was very pleased to see and now read a copy of her Kafka, Angry Poet (see the Seagull publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk) -- but I found myself stymied in trying to write up a review -- and have, for now, given up.
       I found her take on Kafka informative and interesting, but find it hard to try to write anything about it without falling in the Kafka-rabbit-hole (which, as you may have noticed, I've by and large managed to avoid; I got Kafka in and out of my system long before I started the site, and I have little patience for the mythologized (if not outright deified) depictions of him that are the order of the day (though Casanova, to her credit, does well to avoid a lot of that)). When I get my hands on the third Stach volume (the early years), maybe I'll get to some in-depth Kafka coverage, but for now I can't help but keep a little distance.
       I am disappointed, however, how little critical attention this volume has gotten (which is why I mention this): it really is very good -- interesting, informative and accessible. Baffling that it hasn't been more widely reviewed.