Somehow I am not surprised.

We attended the annual meeting of the Swedish Wagner Society the day before yesterday, speaking of Wagner. It was interesting, both the meeting itself, the subsequent lecture on Birgit Nilsson, and from a more anthropological perspective. I was one of perhaps five people under fifty, no surprises there either. I'm looking forward to coming activities.

My old friend M is also trying to polish up his German and had been given Die Verwandlung by a German acquaintance as a good place to start - not a bad idea, really. I hadn't even thought of Kafka as a German writer. Even if it's probably not strictly true that the language is easy, you're already familiar with the story and can concentrate more on the language, and it's short, which helps too.

I think I'll try to persuade M to watch more German film with me, as well.