Opinion: It’s not always good when life imitates art

To the community,

Whether friend or foe, I urge everyone to read Frank Kafka’s latest psychodrama like it’s “Poland’s Affair”. The plotline is much like Kafka’s “Trial”. A man is accused of a crime, but he cannot find anyone who will tell him what is the crime. Thus, he cannot answer any charge brought against him. He is defenseless. So the tale is a horror story. A mind game wherein the accused for weeks and months must wait for someone to tell him what is his crime, his fate.

The story takes place in a small alpine town. Some call it paradise, but for the accused it has become hell.

Bill Crawford

The citizens are powerless because the local powers that be have sealed their lips. The town manager isn’t talking, nor is the police chief. In the story there is a rumor that the national police are playing in this game of terror. They are silent.

In this horror story the reader is left hanging because it ends without a resolution. The reader must guess as to the fate of the accused. By the way, Kafka died in 1924, so he wrote “Poland’s Affair” from his grave to remind us that his voice is still alive and loud and clear. Some voices are immortal. There is such a thing as state of terrorism.

Bill Crawford, South Lake Tahoe