The Blue Octavo Notebooks - Analysis

Analysis

Scholars have noted that from late 1917 until June 1919, Kafka stopped writing entries in his diaries, and instead wrote in these notebooks, the bulk of which were aphorisms. The notebooks contain fragments, but like much of Kafka's writings they allude to important themes among the human condition. The notebooks are recognized for expressing some of Kafka's interest in Judaic studies, though he continued to live a secular lifestyle. Kafka was reading Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling during the time he wrote in these notebooks.