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I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? {...} We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.
Franz Kafka Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors
by Franz Kafka
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Franz Kafka emphasizes the profound emotional impact that literature should have on readers. He suggests that books should not just entertain but should challenge and provoke us, forcing us to confront deep and difficult emotions. Kafka believes that literature should awaken our consciousness in a way that feels jarring or even painful, similar to a traumatic experience. This perspective advocates for reading as a transformative experience rather than mere distraction.

According to Kafka, the most valuable books are those that resonate deeply with our personal struggles and vulnerabilities. He uses powerful imagery to describe literature as an "axe for the frozen sea inside us," suggesting that a truly effective book has the capacity to break through our emotional barriers and reveal our innermost feelings. Therefore, he calls for reading that elicits intense responses, urging us to seek out works that profoundly move us and compel us to reflect on our existence.

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Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors
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Other quotes in Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors

That is a very poor career, but only a poor career give the world the light that an imperfect, but pretty good writer wants to generate--at all costs, unfotunately.
Franz Kafka Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors
That is a very poor career, but only a poor career give the world the light that an imperfect, but pretty good writer wants to generate--at all costs, unfotunately.
The amount of quiet I need does not exist in the world, from which it follows that no one ought to need so much quiet.
Franz Kafka Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors
The amount of quiet I need does not exist in the world, from which it follows that no one ought to need so much quiet.
I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? {...} We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.
Franz Kafka Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors
I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? {...} We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.
During last night's insomnia, as these thoughts came and went between my aching temples, I realised once again, what I had almost forgotten in this recent period of relative calm, that I tread a terribly tenuous, indeed almost non-existent soil spread over a pit full of shadows, whence the powers of darkness emerge at will to destroy my life…
Franz Kafka Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors
During last night's insomnia, as these thoughts came and went between my aching temples, I realised once again, what I had almost forgotten in this recent period of relative calm, that I tread a terribly tenuous, indeed almost non-existent soil spread over a pit full of shadows, whence the powers of darkness emerge at will to destroy my life…
I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we're reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for?
Franz Kafka Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors
I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we're reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for?
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If a huge genetic gap separated us from our closest relative in the animal kingdom, we could justifiably celebrate our brilliance. We might be entitled to walk around thinking we're distant and distinct from our fellow creatures. But no such gap exists. Instead, we are one with the rest of nature, fitting neither above nor below, but within.
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They are afraid of him?' D'Harcourt raised his comedian's eyebrows. Danny Hislop's bright teeth flashed in his hairless, unremarkable face. 'If they were afraid, they'd tear him to pieces like schoolgirls. My guess is that he's gorgeous. A terrible tease and nasty at moments, but oh Maeve, he has such a way with him.… Is he gorgeous, dear Adam?' Adam Blacklock, thus addressed, said quietly, 'Undoubtedly gorgeous.
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They are afraid of him?' D'Harcourt raised his comedian's eyebrows. Danny Hislop's bright teeth flashed in his hairless, unremarkable face. 'If they were afraid, they'd tear him to pieces like schoolgirls. My guess is that he's gorgeous. A terrible tease and nasty at moments, but oh Maeve, he has such a way with him.… Is he gorgeous, dear Adam?' Adam Blacklock, thus addressed, said quietly, 'Undoubtedly gorgeous.
Henry of England had all the virtues and all the faults, and solved the contradiction by making scapegoats and sin-eaters of half his entourage.
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