ON LITERARY OSMOSIS AND THE PERILS OF TRYING TO WRITE IN FAMOUS PLACES

 Adrian McKinty tries to get some writing done in Kafka's old office in Prague.

I wrote a couple of opening lines and crossed them out and got a fresh sheet of paper and stared at that for a while.
 I looked through the window at the building opposite. This must have been Franz’s view when he was writing those bloody insurance reports. It was an attractive building and on the third floor there was a large, peculiar sheep bas relief highlighted in gold paint. If it was there back then Kafka must have stared at that sheep for hundreds of hours. He did in fact write one short story about a sheep, “A Crossbreed,” which is a story about an animal that is half-cat, half-sheep with odd eating habits and dietary restrictions. It’s not his best work if I’m honest.

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