The Unconscious Influence Of Kafka On The Modern Writer

By Author: Russell Foster
Total Articles: 39
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Did you ever how exactly Franz Kafka created what he created?
He used freewriting.
He sat down in his home, closed his eyes and just listened for the inspiration to appear. He didn't plan anything before writing his novels, he just allowed divine inspiration to come to him. He considered himself only a channel for his subconscious mind and not a craftsman who has to have anything planned out before writing.
That to me is the only authentic way of writing, and I'm exhilarated to see that most modern writers have accepted freewriting as their main technique for writing.
It's thanks to freewriting or how I would like to call it 'inspired writing' that we can enjoy such cult masterpieces as the movies of David Lynch (which I assume were also written, or at least their first draft, through freewriting) and the newer more unique forms of fiction.
This is because freewriting is pretty much the only writing strategy that allows for the expression of true creativity. Our analytical mind is always so judging so critical. Freewriting frees us from that and allows us to express our true authentic message
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... Other than the simple technique modern artists also have been inspired by Kafka in a different way.
Did anyone ever notice that most cult books and movies are... gloomy? Movies like Mysterious Skin or Irreversible all deal with the dark side of human life, just like Kafka.
This could be because our psyches in the western world are naturally conflicted we are met with stresses and expectations no one could even imagine 200 years ago. Each day we see more murder on television than a veteran in the first world war.
Our minds have fundamentally changed, and they are far more open to the kind of dark, disturbing, surreal fiction Kafka has created. That's the blockbusters of today are becoming more and more disturbing.
Books like "We need to talk about Kevin" and even "The Heart is Deceitful above all things" would never be published 30 years ago, but now they are on the new york times bestsellers lists.
This is all because writers like Kafka changed our very perception of what it means to be a writer and artist. What true creativity is. Nowadays almost no one thinks that a creative person only has to follow ancient rules without actually creating anything new. It's pretty much expected for every artist to be unique and surprise us with an unique experience, and we have to thank Kafka for that.

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