Lawrence Hall, HSG
Kafka and the Self-Service Checkout Kiosk
Thanks to Rowan Pelling
Those who have never suffered through Kafka
Should not employ the adjective “Kafkaesque”
The landgraf would not approve
When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning
from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed
in his bed into a monstrous self-service checkout kiosk.
Someone must have traduced Joseph K.,
for without doing anything wrong
he was arrested in the checkout line
one fine morning
It was late in the evening when
the supermarket supervisor arrived.
Kafka, The Metamorphosis. Trans. Stanley Corngold. New York: Norton. 1972
Kafka, The Trial. Trans. Willa and Edwin Muir. New York: The Modern Library. 1956
Kafka, The Castle. Trans. Willa and Edwin Muir. New York: Schocken. 1982
The hell of self-service checkouts is becoming Kafkaesque (yahoo.com)
