Some years ago, I dreamed of write a book, that they would publish it in a Editorial more or less of medium level and see its cover in some shop windows of the bookstores of my city, among others,… Illusion! Yes, several years ago, I was quite delusional about this topic, until I was able to dig a little into the issue of publishing and meet people who open your eyes and put your feet on the ground ...
The reality that surrounds books and their publication is quite different ... Few, very few writers are the ones who can really say that they make a living from writing, and it is that always, the writing profession, was badly paid. And if not, ask Kafka, for example and to name just one.
If we mention Spain, we will say that Characters like Belén Esteban sell more books than Mario Vargas Llosa (which also does not charge badly), data that I do not know very well how to catalog: if in the absurd, in the painful, or directly, in the crude and sad reality that surrounds certain matters of the country. Leaving the opinions far away, which I have already extended enough in them, I recommend this book: "Writings on the art of writing" de Franz Kafka.
What will we find in this book?
This book includes all the references of Franz Kafka, accessible to compilers, about his own work and also his main ideas and observations on the art of writing in general, on the art of writing letters and on the art of carrying a letter. daily.
This compilation chronologically collects materials from the most diverse sources: The Diaries by Kafka, his personal correspondence (Felice Bauer, Milena Jesenská, Max Brod…) but also professional correspondence with editors and writers; as well as reports, notes, fragments of his works and transcripts of conversations.
These documents are of exceptional interest for approaching the life and work of Kafka, and they reconstruct the close interplay between the two because, as Joachim Unseld points out, “Kafka's life journey is inextricably linked to the history of his publications. The path that he followed was marked by hope and then by the decision to become a writer, passing through the security of being one (security that triggered his creative productivity) until he reached disappointment (which finally paralyzed all his productivity in a painful way) when verifying the impossibility of realizing the goal of his life ».
Kafka's work, fragmented, enigmatic, predictive, also feeds on this indefatigable correspondence with the act of writing itself.
Even if it is poorly paid, even if you never see how a publisher is interested in your book, being a writer and dedicating yourself to it goes beyond pure economic interest, if ever, someone began to draw word after word really thinking about it.