Kafka’s Letter

In the reception history of Kafka in France ‘true’ understanding of his work is commonly associated with the rejection of allegorical modes of reading. The latter is therefore only acknowledged in the ‘official’ Kafka scholarship from the ‘60s onwards. Contrary to this opinion, my article will reassess the French existentialist reception of Kafka’s work by showing that those readings are already steeped in reflections on the nature of the literature/philosophy divide that show that the existentialists already argued against allegorical readings. I will do so by exploring the concept of the ‘metaphysical novel’ which the existentialists discuss as a response to the above concerns and through which they argue that metaphysical experience and literary expression must be regarded as part of the same single movement of writing. This insight is far-reaching: it shows that the existentialist understanding of Kafka is in need of revision not only in terms of the purported ‘philosophical’ meaning but also in terms of the reception history and the universal meaning attributed to Kafka’s work under the influence of existentialism.

Neophilologus, 1993

The whole art of Kafka consists in forcing the reader to reread," says Albert Camus in his famous essay on the Absurd (124). Camus attributes this to the ambiguity and symbolic character of Kafka's works, which challenge the reader to adopt a hermeneutic approach, and reread the stories time after time from a new angle, trying to determine their meaning. But this is hardly a complete explanation of the special feeling aroused by Kafka's writing and the strange attraction that draws one again to the same text to repeat a similar Kafkaesque experience. Kafka's works are indeed highly ambiguous and contain dense symbols that constitute an integral part of their universe; and, certainly, "the symbol gives rise to thought" as Ricoeur says (299). It invites interpretation and, so to speak, inspires the hermeneutic reading as a necessary correlative of its symbolic nature. Critics have therefore abundantly analyzed Kafka's text, meticulously probing his imagery, plots, heroes and tortuous thinking, in a consistent attempt to decipher his symbols and suggest some sort of explanatory key-whether a sociological, psychological, mythical or philosophical key in the spirit of the traditional approaches which, over the years, have characterized criticism of the Kafka text, or a self-referential recta-linguistic or recta-poetic key according to the demands of the structuralist and post-structuralistic criticism which began to be published during the seventies. It should be pointed out that side by side with "purist" critics who continue to present traditional unified interpretations, 2 there is a growing new approach of heterogeneous criticism based on methodological pluralism. This recent approach is developing a multi-directional interpretation (sometimes even at the cost of the consistency and coherence of the critical discourse itself) which aims at giving expression to the various levels and areas of significance that, according to these critics, the Kafka text simultaneously directs itself towards. 3 But the attempt to interconnect extremely different interpretations within one line of interpretative argument, sometimes leads the critical text to begin itself to resemble (in the suggestive metaphors which characterize its style and in its patterns of ambiguous images) the symbolic text whose task it is to interpret? Some critics, despairing of translating Kafka's universe into rational modes of thinking, have preferred "to approach the drama through its appearance and the novel through its form" (Camus 124). They warn the reader against the tendency to treat Kafka as an "unsuccessful philosopher in need of someone to explain him" (Magny 163) and suggest a

Philosophy and Kafka, eds. Brendan Moran and Carlo Salzani, 2013

1986

Journal of Austrian Studies, 2013

The following essay describes the act of reading involved in Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" and discusses, on this basis, the value of Kafka's novel for reflecting on the phenomenological question of "dislocation". This essay endeavors to answer the following set of questions: to what extent is our reading of Kafka's novel possible? What does the act of reading produce on the reader? How is this performativity related to formal and narrative aspects of the book? What is the nature of our act of reading? These questions are addressed by discussing the issue of dislocation, on three levels: formal (1), reflexive (2) and responsive (3). In part one, I give a non-exhaustive description of the formal structure of the story by means of the concepts of reversal and gesture. In part two, I argue that our reading act is premised upon a necessary but impossible interplay with Gregor Samsa and that this interplay constitutes the reflexive layer of our reading. In part three, I give an account of what it is like to reflect on the act of reading Kafka's novel and suggests that this reflexivity makes our reading a responsive act to an adverse experience, before concluding.

2011

The editors and contributors owe their collaboration on this volume to the Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) in Oslo, Norway. Two of the editors-Jakob Lothe and Beatrice Sandberg-were members of the Narrative Theory and Analysis research project, which was proposed and led by Jakob and hosted and funded by CAS during the 2005-2006 academic year. CAS supported not just the project but also a symposium on Franz Kafka in May 2006 that served as the genesis of this book. We owe a profound debt to Professor Willy Østreng, who was director of the Centre at the time we were there, and the administrative staff of CAS, for their friendliness, encouragement, and assistance. Additionally, CAS generously contributed funding to offset the publication costs of this volume. We have also benefited from the collegial intellectual atmosphere fostered at CAS by the other members of the research team: Daphna erdinast-Vulcan, Anniken greve, Jeremy hawthorn, J. hillis Miller, James Phelan, Anette h. Storeide, Susan R. Suleiman, and Anne Thelle. Finally, two of the editors wish to give special thanks to the third-Ronald Speirs-for his invaluable input, not only generally but also with particular regard to his contribution to the writing of the introduction.

New German Review: A Journal for Germanic Studies, 1994

When considering the vast bulk of scholarly research that has been produced in connection with an author such as Franz Kafka, the claim that any one of his texts in particular has been overlooked may at first appear either hard to believe or beside the point. Nevertheless, when it comes to the editorial history of one of Kafka's stories entitled "Der Dorfschullehrer" ("The Village Schoolteacher") this claim does not seem altogether invalid. 1 Although there definitely have been some critics who have tried to include the story in their general assessment of Kafkian prose, (e.g. Wilhelm Emrich, James Rolleston, Margret Walther-Schneider and Herbert K.raft) 2 the same kind of lively debate has not developed around this text as it has in the case of other Kafka stories. 3 Consequently, despite these isolated attempts over the years to bring the story more into the critical limelight, there still have been surprisingly few studies that place this text at the center of their focus. 4 One feature that is particularly striking about this text, and one that has been consistently overlooked by the critics, is the way in which it is itself focused on issues of marginalisation and a certain resistance to interpretation. This story, which contains a description of how a phenomenon documented in a written text fails to gain critical recognition almost appears to have transported that content beyond the framework of the original where it has become a description of the story's own inability to call critical attention to itself. In this way the text seems to have predicted its own fate among the critical community: a text so obsessively devoted to the marginal, insignificant and 'overlooked' seems to have undergone the same treatment at the hands of the critics. This pronounced lack of cr itical interest in a story by an author most of whose other works have been scrutinized in great detail, might lead one to

While it is known that Blanchot approaches philosophical issues by way of literature, it is important to remember that this is coupled to its reverse, which is just as significant: that he approaches literature by way of philosophy. This does not make him into a quasi-or pseudo-philosopher, for his concern is always centred on the literary, but what this coupling draws out is the manner in which Blanchot persistently pursues questions about the nature and status of literature, for which he draws upon an extensive philosophical awareness. Developing this understanding enables us to come to terms with the extremely focused mode of reading and writing that Blanchot has become known for, which leads him to ask what seem to be the same questions, and raise what seem to be the same issues, whatever fictional or critical work he is engaged in. The repetitive nature of Blanchot's writings has sometimes been seen as a failing, but what has to be borne in mind is that this repetition is the result of the necessarily persistent need to bring literature back to addressing questions about its nature and status, for these are the questions by which it persists, and also that, despite this repetition, he is singularly sensitive to what escapes these questions; what remains of the literary beyond the purview of philosophy. 1 While Blanchot's philosophical awareness has never been in doubt, this coupling uncovers its corollary; for if literature is approached by way of philosophy, then this has implications for philosophy, since its encounter with literature can bring about a difference in the way that philosophy proceeds; that is, a difference in thinking.

2017

In recent years, 'writing' has become a keyword in Kafka research. Deconstructivist critics argue that Kafka's primary aim was not the creation of completed works; rather, writing, the continuous transformation of life into Schrift (meaning text or scripture), was for him an aim in itself-and, at the same time, the real and only subject of his texts. 1 Such claims should not remain uncontested. Though writing for Kafka was obviously better than not being able to write, it was definitely no substitute for the production, and indeed the publication, of finished works. Such debates aside, it is clear that Kafka developed a very original and unorthodox way of writing, which in turn had important consequences for the shape of his novels and shorter prose works. This chapter discusses the main features of Kafka's personal version of écriture automatique ('automatic writing'-writing which bypasses conscious control); his techniques for opening a story, continuing the writing flow and closing it; the purpose of his self-corrections; and the consequences that this mode of literary production had for Kafka's novels. Writing in Perfection: 'The Judgement' Kafka was notoriously critical of his own work, but there is one text that even to him appeared faultless: 'Das Urteil' ('The Judgement', 1912). Strangely enough, his main reason for approving of the narration was the way in which it had been written: This story 'The Judgement' I wrote at one sitting during the night of the 22nd-23rd, from ten o'clock at night to six o'clock in the morning. .. The fearful strain and joy, how the story developed before me, as if I were advancing in water. Several times during this night I carried my own weight on my back. How everything can be said, how for everything, for the strangest fancies, there waits a great fire in which they perish and rise up again. .. At two I looked at the clock for the last time. As the maid walked through the anteroom for the first time I wrote the last sentence. .. The conviction verified

2021

Kafka's 'Before the Law' showcases his modernist approach to literature that marks a break from literary Realism. Through analysing the text, the essay would aim at exploring Kafka's rebellion against Realism with regard to the content and form he devises, and his peculiar relationship with language.