| 释义 |
Kafkaesque, a.|kæfkəˈɛsk|
Also with hyphen.
[See -esque.]
Of or relating to the Austrian writer Franz Kafka (1883–1924) or his writings; resembling the state of affairs or a state of mind described by Kafka. Hence Kafkaˈesquely adv.
1947New Yorker 4 Jan. 61/1 Warned, he said, by a Kafka-esque nightmare of blind alleys. 1954Koestler Invis. Writing x. 120 Long before the Moscow purges revealed that weird, Kafka-esque pattern to the incredulous world. 1958Spectator 24 Jan. 114/2 An authentic Kafkaesque atmosphere of despair and horror. 1958E. Dundy Dud Avocado i. viii. 147 Postcards and wires to the Paris Embassy were all Kafkaesquely re-routed to that powerful Man in Charge. 1963Times 23 May 6/7 Kafkaesque in its grip and pitiless in its exposition of the cruellest of tortures, that of hope. 1972Newsweek 10 Jan. 51/2 The Kafkaesque self-abnegation of the infamous ‘show trials’ [in Russia].
Also ˈKafka n. used attrib., ˈKafkan, ˈKafkaish, ˈKafkian adjs. = Kafkaesque a.
1936M. Lowry Let. (1967) 11 This is the perfect Kafka situation. 1951S. Spender World within World v. 272 They became more Kafkaish than ever. 1959N. & Q. Oct. 381/1 A re-statement of the Kafkan anguish. 1962tr. J. L. Borges's Labyrinths (1970) 234 The moving object and the arrow and Achilles are the first Kafkian characters in literature. 1962Guardian 26 Sept. 8/6, I..had wondered if the whole project would turn out to be a Kafka nightmare. 1966New Statesman 25 March 437/1 All the Kafkan stuff..gone seedy and suicidal in a backstreet rooming-house. 1971N. Freeling Over High Side ii. 82 So little of what one did made any sense. One lived in a Kafka world. |