How Franz Kafka inspired two classic tracks by The Cure
Inspiration can arrive at artists in many obscure forms, and it doesn’t always have to be music which gets their pulse racing. Take The Cure singer Robert Smith, for example. One of his main influences, Franz Kafka, is a renowned figure of the literary world.
Kafka was born in Prague in 1883 and specialised in the art of short stories, which Smith found utterly compelling. Although his life was cut prematurely short in 1924 when he passed away after contracting tuberculosis, Kafka left behind a robust oeuvre of work which continues to keep his legacy alive.
Tragically, Kafka was relatively unknown during his lifetime, and it wasn’t until he died that he reached fame. At the time of his death, the bohemian writer had no idea about how his work would go on to touch future generations, including inspiring two classic tracks by The Cure.
The first song Smith wrote in the mould of Kafka is ‘At Night’, material which later appeared on the 1980 album Seventeen Seconds. The song takes its title from a short story of the same name and elaborates on one of the watchmen characters that appear in Kafka’s creation.
Smith told Rockstar (via SongFacts) in 1984: “That song is inspired to Kafka, to the fact that there is a guardian – that is God’s concept after all – that sees us. Coming back to the night, it recurs frequently in what I write because I prefer it to daylight by far. I usually work at night and sleep during the day. I don’t know why, but it is so.”
Four years later, Smith again returned to Kafka’s work while working on Wish. The final result was ‘A Letter To Elise’, named after the writer’s collection, Letters To Felice.
Smith made the revelation about the track when he listed his favourite books to Radical Reads and named Kafka’s Collected Stories. The Cure frontman commented: “For the first time, the narrator’s voice was mine. I was the narrator. I was blending myself in his words. I read and re-read all of his books: The Trial, The Metamorphosis, The Castle… His influence on my writing is huge, as on ‘A Letter To Elise,’ directly inspired by his Letters to Felice.”
It’s also been suggested that the track was inspired by David Bowie, another strong influence on Smith’s songwriting. Bowie has a song titled ‘A Letter to Hermione’, which is of a similar vein narratively speaking as The Cure’s track. In all likelihood, Bowie and Kafka’s work combined to set a spark off in Smith’s mind, which resulted in him penning ‘A Letter To Elise’.
Listen below to the two songs by The Cure, which spawned from the fantastical mind of Franz Kafka, and brought his work into a whole new realm.
