Ben Okri joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Rescue Will Begin in Its Own Time,” four short fiction pieces by Franz Kafka, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann, which were published in The New Yorker in June of 2020. Okri is the author of two dozen books of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, including the novels “The Famished Road,” which won the Booker Prize in 1991, and “The Freedom Artist,” which was published in 2019.
This is the New Yorker fiction podcast from the New Yorker magazine.
I'm Deborah Treisman, fiction editor at the New Yorker.
Each month, we invite a writer to choose a story from the magazine's archives to read and discuss.
This month, we're going to hear the rescue will begin in its own time.
Four short fiction pieces by Franz Kafka, translated from the German by Michael Hoffmande, which were published in the New Yorker in June of 2020.
Even though the knife was big and sharp and the bread neither too soft nor too hard, the knife could not cut into it, we children looked up at father in surprise.
He said, why should you be surprised?
Isn't it more surprising if something succeeds than if it fails?
The stories were chosen by Ben Oakrey, who is the author of two dozen books of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, including the novels the Famished Road, which won the Booker Prize in 1991, and the Freedom Artist, which was published in 2019.
Hi, Ben.
Hello, Deborah.
Welcome.
So when we started talking about doing the podcast, one thing that was very clear to me was that you feel an affinity with Kafka's work.
What is it that makes what he does important to you?
Well, it's hard to say.
The more you read Kafka, the more confusing it is, actually, he's someone who gets more mysterious with more acquaintance.
It's very strange, and I think it's the deceptive quality he has, actually.
I think it's the way his mind probes reality.
It's a universalizing quality that his mind has.
He's somehow trained himself either because of some deep trauma in his life or because of what he felt about life.