Kafka's Openers.

Franz Kafka, nothing short of a legendary author, is quite well known for his short stories, and especially for his novella, The Metamorphosis. Kafka wrote stories so applicable to modern life and so harrowing that the term "kafkaesque" is recognized in the english language, and is attributed to works akin to those of Kafka's. And so, as I'm sure you'd assume, there's been an innumerable number of essays on Kafka and his stories, ranging from his relationship with his father, to wild interpretations of The Metamorphosis. However, today I write of an aspect of Kafka's tales that I consider to be a fundamental one; his opening lines.

Indeed, while I haven't read Kafka quite as extensively as I likely should, out of all of the stories of his I've read, the majority have phenomenal opening sentences.  For the sake of familiarity, take for example his most popular work, The Metamorphosis. The Metamorphosis  begins with the line, "When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning, he found that he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug." An undoubtedly powerful sentence, that take no time to invoke a sense of urgency, shock, and further wonder which facilitates reading of the tale. This immediate shock grips readers and digs unyielding claws within them dragging the readers through the story. You'd be quite hard pressed to find someone who finds that opening line uninteresting, in fact, I'd wager even those who have just read it in this post may seek out The Metamorphosis for further reading, or at the very least, more information on the overreaching dark nature of many of Kafka's stories.

The Metamorphosis isn't the sole story of Kafka's to feature these stark, effective openings either. Take for example the rather similar A Report to an Academy, another of Kafka's stories dealing with similar themes of captivity and devices such as anthropomorphized animals; "You have honored me with your invitation to submit a report to the Academy about my former life as an Ape." Again, the reader is immediately bashed with an intriguing statement to spark the story's beginning.  While it may not be quite as effective as the previous example from The Metamorphosis (It is largely considered his masterwork for a reason, after all.) it suffices for the same purpose, and display Kafka's propensity for such strong openers.

Now, these openers are not only important for pulling the reader in, for Kafka also does an excellent job at shaping the narrative around such statements. Kafka makes the opening statements the beginning points of his stories and forms the narrative from that point, as opposed to going into something akin to a flashback leading up to the point in which shocking opener occurs. Such style makes many of Kafka's stories read rather like "Flash Fiction" despite not meeting the short length restricted specific to the genre. I consider them similar in that Kafka often delves immediately into the primary action, and builds to the climax rather quickly. Background information and character history often reveals itself over time through the main action, rather than in a linear fashion with portions of the text devoted to each character. In the Penal Colony opens with the line " 'Its a machine like no other', said the officer to the explorer, as he surveyed the machine with a somewhat admiring look, although he was so familiar with it." a statement just as powerful in invoking interest as the previous examples, as well as one that provides little information about the two present characters. Though, as you can see, the reader is already exposed to Kafka's gradual method of revealing character related information through his implication that the officer knows this odd machine well, and yet is still awed by it. The story goes on further with similar tidbit reveals about character history, as the main action of a prisoner's execution occurs.

To summarize in a single overreaching point; Franz Kafka is a paragon of superior opening sentences that immediately introduce a main point of action and interest, and an excellent model as to how to mold narratives around such statements. So, if fellow writers ever find themselves lost at how to open a tale, especially one heavily oriented around the plot, I believe Kafka is the perfect author to turn to.