Modernity and Literature II

1
Modernity and Literature II

• Franz Kafka

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Lecture Outline

• Franz Kafka life and works very brief
  introduction (KS)
• Franz Kafka, "Ein Landarzt" (JR)

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Franz Kafka 1883-1924

• Born in Prague
• German-Jewish
• "Die Verwandlung" ("The Metamorphosis")
  (1915)
• "vermin" "Ungeziefer" Anti-Semitism
• "Brief an den Vater" (1919)
• Studied Law
• Friend and editor Max Brod
• Work in insurance company

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Important Works

• Das Urteil (1913)
• Der Heizer (1913 Erstes Kapitel des
  Romanfragmentes Der Verschollene)
• Die Verwandlung (1915)
• Vor dem Gesetz (1915)
• In der Strafkolonie (1919)
• Ein Landarzt (Erzählung (1919) und Titel eines
  Buches (1919) Ein Landarzt kleine Erzählungen
• nicht während seiner Lebzeiten veröffentlicht
• Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle 1915
• Brief an den Vater 1919
• Der Prozess (erschienen 1925, Niederschrift
  1914/15)
• Das Schloss (erschienen 1926, Niederschrift 1922
  Romanfragment)
• Amerika (erschienen 1927, erste Entwürfe 1912
  der Titel des Romanfragments geht auf Brod
  zurück, nach Kafka heißt es Der Verschollene)

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Kafkaesque

• Merriam webster Main Entry Kafkaesque
• Function adjective of, relating to, or
  suggestive of Franz Kafka or his writings
  especially having a nightmarishly complex,
  bizarre, or illogical quality ltKafkaesque
  bureaucratic delaysgt
• wikipedia "Kafkaesque" is an adjective which is
  used to describe concepts, situations, and ideas
  which are reminiscent of the literary work of
  Prague writer Franz Kafka, particularly his novel
  The Trial and his novella The Metamorphosis.
• The term, which is quite fluid in definition,
  has also been described as "marked by a
  senseless, disorienting, often menacing
  complexity Kafkaesque bureaucracies" 1 and
  "marked by surreal distortion and often a sense
  of impending danger Kafkaesque fantasies of the
  impassive interrogation, the false trial, the
  confiscated passport . . . haunt his innocence"
  The New Yorker. 2
• It can also describe an intentional distortion
  of reality by powerful but anonymous bureaucrats.
  "Lack of evidence is treated as a pesky
  inconvenience, to be circumvented by such
  Kafkaesque means as depositing unproven
  allegations into sealed files ..."