Looking out Distractedly — Franz Kafka
A nod towards Sabrina Carpenter’s album covers
My first piece about Proust and remembrance can be found here:
Marcel Proust and The illusion of Time
Edited Anastasia Nuñez x
‘What shall we do in the spring days?’ Kafka asks.
Resting the cheek against the window, the sun setting on the face of a girl looking over her shoulder, a man running towards her — no past her — and her face ‘is quite dazzling.’
In other words, with the past behind us the future holds more in store for our upcoming present. The feel of the sun against our faces, against the faces of those we love, to chase and to be chased, to be young and carefree — to look ahead to better days after the cold ones far behind us. To be even a bystander, looking out distractedly at those who are already there, and as the spring approaches — as we move from our teens to our early twenties — maybe we can eventually join them? And not remain alienated behind this window forever.
Just as in Children on the Road, Kafka exhibits a longing for the peak of youth — as we look out distractedly.
To look back over one’s shoulder while facing forward — I’ve always felt is the quintessential embodiment of Proust — to live forwards whilst looking backwards. What’s quite un-Proustian about this passage is that even as she’s looking backwards, her ‘face is quite dazzling.’ Giving the impression that she’s not brooding over the past, but more like Sabrina Carpenter’s album covers, her circumstances catch her curiosity — but not enough for her to stray from her own path. And perhaps that’s exactly what drew the man towards her — and the interplay of these two beneath the sun was what compelled Kafka to write this down for us.
Looking out Distractedly, from Contemplation — by Franz Kafka
‘What shall we do in the spring days that are rapidly approaching? This morning the sky was grey, but if you go over to the window now, you’ll be surprised, and rest your cheek against the window lock.
Down on the street you’ll see the light of the now setting sun on the face of the girl walking along and turning to look over her shoulder, and then you’ll see the shadow of the man rapidly coming up behind her.
Then the man has overtaken her, and the girl’s face is quite dazzling. ‘
Franz Kafka | Translated by Michael Hofmann
18:21:55 | 02/07/25