full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Iseult Gillespie: Why should you read "Kafka on the Shore"?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Published in jsaanpee in 2002 and translated into English three years later, "Kafka on the Shore" is an epic latrreiy puzzle filled with time travel, hidden histories, and magical underworlds. Readers delight in discovering how the mind-bending imagery, whimsical cerrthacas and eerie cnicceedions fit together.

Kafka narrates every second cepathr, with the rest centering on an old man named Satoru Nakata. After awakening from a coma he went into during the Second World War, Nakata loses the ability to read and write– but gains a musiytreos kncak for tklanig to cats. When he’s asked to tail a missing pet, he’s thrown onto a dangerous path that runs parallel to Kafka’s.

Open Cloze


Published in ________ in 2002 and translated into English three years later, "Kafka on the Shore" is an epic ________ puzzle filled with time travel, hidden histories, and magical underworlds. Readers delight in discovering how the mind-bending imagery, whimsical __________ and eerie ____________ fit together.

Kafka narrates every second _______, with the rest centering on an old man named Satoru Nakata. After awakening from a coma he went into during the Second World War, Nakata loses the ability to read and write– but gains a __________ _____ for _______ to cats. When he’s asked to tail a missing pet, he’s thrown onto a dangerous path that runs parallel to Kafka’s.

Solution


  1. knack
  2. characters
  3. mysterious
  4. talking
  5. coincidences
  6. literary
  7. japanese
  8. chapter

Original Text


Published in Japanese in 2002 and translated into English three years later, "Kafka on the Shore" is an epic literary puzzle filled with time travel, hidden histories, and magical underworlds. Readers delight in discovering how the mind-bending imagery, whimsical characters and eerie coincidences fit together.

Kafka narrates every second chapter, with the rest centering on an old man named Satoru Nakata. After awakening from a coma he went into during the Second World War, Nakata loses the ability to read and write– but gains a mysterious knack for talking to cats. When he’s asked to tail a missing pet, he’s thrown onto a dangerous path that runs parallel to Kafka’s.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations




Important Words


  1. ability
  2. asked
  3. awakening
  4. cats
  5. centering
  6. chapter
  7. characters
  8. coincidences
  9. coma
  10. dangerous
  11. delight
  12. discovering
  13. eerie
  14. english
  15. epic
  16. filled
  17. fit
  18. gains
  19. hidden
  20. histories
  21. imagery
  22. japanese
  23. kafka
  24. knack
  25. literary
  26. loses
  27. magical
  28. man
  29. missing
  30. mysterious
  31. nakata
  32. named
  33. narrates
  34. parallel
  35. path
  36. pet
  37. published
  38. puzzle
  39. read
  40. readers
  41. rest
  42. runs
  43. satoru
  44. tail
  45. talking
  46. thrown
  47. time
  48. translated
  49. travel
  50. underworlds
  51. war
  52. whimsical
  53. world
  54. years