RE: Kafka and his influence
My sister studied Eastern European languages, literature and culture and she introduced me to all these writers and also Master and Margarita, which is for both of us the best book ever written. Bulgakov also loved Goethe very much and there is a lot of Faust in the Master and Margarita. I also watched the Mini series probably more than ten times. The Invitation to a Beheading is new to me and I will look for it, I have heard the name Nabokov but haven't read anything of him. Thank you very much for the recommendation.
Funny thing, I do have two other books by Bulgakov which I also have not read because I think too that the Master can not be topped. The Russian writers from Gogol to Bulgakov do have a Kafkaesque touch, I agree.
The origin of our letters is a very interesting subject and I believe the origin lies in the Runes. Runes are ancient European symbols and the cyrillic alphabet may very well have come out of it. The Runes also have many similarities to the "Latin" alphabet, which in my opinion is not Latin at all ;)
Yes, I also think it's the best book ever written. But the strange thing is when I read other authors and I love the book they wrote, I always read everything else from them. With Bulgakov it's different. And as I see it was the same with you. I don't know why, maybe we are afraid of cracking the perfection of his masterpiece.
Nabokov is a mandatory author. You will be surprised by his book "Invitation to a Beheading", which I recommended. The book have from Kafka's spirit, but not only. It's original and in my opinion it's the greatest work of the 20th century.
I think you are right about Bulgakov. He is the Master and that is his masterpiece. And the rest doesn't matter.
I am going to get the Nabakov tomorrow!
Super. I would be happy to read about your opinion after you finish it.
I will let you know.