"A Complete History of World Literature in 14 Recipes"
More than a typical collection of either stories or recipes, Kafka's Soup is both: both culinary and literary, this book is a veritable intertextual treat. Conceived, written, and illustrated by London photographer and literary genius Mark Crick, Kafka's Soup was published in 2005. It is his first book.
Fourteen different authors—Raymond Chandler, Jane Austen, Franz Kafka, Irvine Welsh, Marcel Proust, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, John Steinbeck, Marquis de Sade, Virginia Woolf, Homer, Graham Greene, Jorge Luis Borges, Harold Pinter, and Geoffrey Chaucer—are paired with a corresponding recipe. Each recipe is revealed via a story which mirrors the inspiring author's style.
Rich Chocolate Cake à la Irvine Welsh just about killed me though I could eke out my days on the title story alone. & Tiramisu à la Marcel Proust was suitably dream-inducing. Moste fitting was Onion Tart à la Geoffrey Chaucer. To read it is to make pilgrimmage back in tyme to when the Englishe tongue was greene, it would then seem that to cook and consumme it would be pleasing althemoreso.
Kafka's Soup is an eclectic sampling of literary ventriloquism that is faithful and fun. Used properly, this book will expand your literary palate.