[Not the Onion] Richard Dawkins rants about Kafka's Metamorphosis. He calls it "bad SF".
Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins)
Kafka's Metamorphosis is called a major work of literature. Why? If it's SF it's bad SF. If, like Animal Farm, it's an allegory, an allegory of what? Scholarly answers range from pretentious Freudian to far-fetched feminist. I don't get it. Where are the Emperor's clothes?
"This classic text actually sucks" is probably the lowest form of literary criticism, especially when it doesn't engage with any of the discussion surrounding the book.
That said, some classic texts aren't all they're worked up to be.
I feel like a lot of that sentiment stems from being forced to read them in High School without an instructor guiding you along to contextualize the piece and explain/help appreciate essentially why it is considered a classic.
I can imagine Dawkins walking down an isolated country road. He gets started when he turns a corner and a woman in hijab runs up to him. She pleads with with him....
"My husband has had a heart attack. I have no phone. Please call 999!"
Like why is Dawkins like this? The absolute breaking point for me was when he wore a shit that said "we are all Africans" and refused to take criticism on it. Like yes, technically on a surface level he's right, the human race originated in Africa. But given the historical context of colonialism, racism, slavery, etc, does Dawkins not realise how inflammatory and straight up offensive it is for himself, a white British guy, to wear a shirt like that? Like come on