Franz Kafka (1883-1983): His Craft and Thought

169 Pages·1986·7.25 MB·English

by  Roman Struc, John Yardley

Franz Kafka (1883-1983)
His Craft and Thought
Edited by
Roman Struc and J. C. Yardley
The eight papers in this volume were originally pre-
sented at the centennial conference on Franz Kafka
held at the University of Calgary in October 1983.
As diverse in approach and methodology as these
papers are, "the general drift of the volume is
away from Germanistik towards 'state-of-the-art'
methods."
The opening articles by Charles Bernheimer and
James Rolleston both deal with the similarities and
contrasts between Kafka and Flaubert, with Bern-
heimer focusing on the "I" and the dilemma of narra-
tion in Kafka's early story, "Wedding Preparation in
the Country," and Rolleston on the time-dimensions
in Kafka's work that link him to the Romantics. Other
articles in the volume deal with the complex interrela-
tionships between author and narrator, and implied
author and implied reader; with Kafka's place in the
European fable tradition and in classic and Romantic
religious traditions; with Kafka's diaries; and with his
female protagonists.
Roman Struc is Professor of German at the University
of Calgary. J. C. Yardley is Professor of Classics at the
University of Calgary.
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Franz Kafka (1883-1983)
His Craft and Thought
Edited by
Roman Struc and J. C. Yardley
Essays by
Charles Bernheimer Ernst Loeb
James Rolleston Mark Harman
Patrick O'Neill Ruth Gross
Egon Schwarz W. G. Kudszus
Published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press
for The Calgary Institute for the Humanities
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title
Franz Kafka (1883-1983) : his craft and thought
Includes index.
ISBN 0-88920-187-0
I. Kafka, Franz, 1883-1924 - Criticism and
interpretation. I. Struc, Roman, 1927-
II. Yardley, John, 1942- . III. Bernheimer,
Charles, 1942- . IV. Calgary Institute for
the Humanities.
PT2621.A26Z68 1986 833.9'12 C86-093871-9
Copyright © 1986
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
N2L 3C5
86 87 88 89 4 3 2 1
No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system, translated or
reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
Printed and bound in Canada
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Editors' Notes vii
Introduction 1
Roman Struc, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
1. The Splitting of the "I" and the Dilemma of Narration:
Kafka's Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande 7
Charles Bernheimer, State University of New York,
Buffalo, New York
2. Kafka's Time Machines 25
James Rolleston, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
3. The Comedy of Stasis: Narration and Knowledge in
Kafka's Prozess 49
Patrick O'Neill, University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
British Columbia
4. Kafka's Animal Tales and the Tradition of the
European Fable 75
Egon Schwarz, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
5. Kafka's "In the Penal Colony" as a Reflection of Classical
and Romantic Religious Views 89
Ernst Loeb, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
6. Life into Art: Kafka's Self-Stylization in the Diaries 101
Mark Harman, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster,
Pennsylvania
7. Of Mice and Women: Reflections on a Discourse 117
Ruth Gross, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York
8. Meeting Kafka 141
W. C. Kudszus, University of California, Berkeley,
California
Index 153
v
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EDITORS' NOTES
The quotes from The Castle are from: Franz Kafka, Das
Schloss, ed. Malcolm Pasley (Frankfurt: S. Fischer, 1982), p. 7.
The diary entries can be found in: Franz Kafka, Tagebucher;
1910-1923, ed. Max Brod (Frankfurt: S. Fischer, 1954), pp. 552-53
(January 16, 1922), pp. 565-66 (January 29, 1922), pp. 566-67
(January 29, cont.), pp. 563-64 (January 27, arrival day). The
quote from pp. 565-66 has been changed according to Franz Kafka,
Das Schloss (Apparatband), ed. Malcolm Pasley (Frankfurt: S.
Fischer, 1982), p. 63 ("Sp." rather than "Spindlermuhle"). See this
new edition also for the letter from March 1922 (to Robert Klopstock),
which is mistakenly dated March 1923 in: Franz Kafka, Briefe 1902-
1924, ed. Max Brod (Frankfurt: S. Fischer, 1958), p. 431; Apparat-
band, pp. 64-65. For "Spindelmuhle" rather than "Spindlermuhle" cf.
Hartmut Binder, Kafka in neuer Sicht: Mimik, Gestik und Perso-
nengefuge als Darstellungsformen des Autobiographischen (Stuttgart:
Metzler, 1976), p. 366.
vii
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INTRODUCTION
A collection of conference papers inevitably contains a certain
arbitrariness. One encounters a number of individually conceived
propositions and interpretations involving diverse methodologies often
based on fundamentally different premises, and approaches ranging
from biography to textual analysis. Readers must expect not an
integral, synoptic illumination of the subject, but rather a number of
imperfect insights enabling them to obtain a more systematic perspec-
tive.
In the case of Kafka, attempts at attaining a fuller picture
include those classical studies of Kafka's oeuvre by Wilhelm Emrich,
Heinz Politzer, and Walter Sokel which to this day represent unique
accomplishments and without which Kafka scholarship would not have
progressed to where it is now. They set the tone and the direction
for the further studies of this author. Emrich applied the philosophy
of existence in his approach to Kafka. Politzer focussed on Kafka as
a creator of unresolvable paradoxes, disguised as parables, but
concentrated on his artistry as well. And Sokel, using biography,
the insights of psychoanalysis, and Nietzsche's philosophy of the will
to power constructed an integral portrait of the writer. This is not
the place to present a review of Kafka scholarship; a number of able
and critical accounts of its history are available for that purpose.
What is important, however, is that Kafka scholarship has, quite
deliberately, I think, abandoned grandiose projects in favour of
studies devoted to thematics, comparisons, structure, language,
narrative techniques, and so on. The days of heady speculation have
given way to a new sobriety which has resulted in the critical edition
of Kafka's writings and generally intensified biographical research, at
times leading to positivistic scholarship, closely relating biography
and writing. Much of this newer research has called into question
certain views and speculation, myths and hypotheses advanced by
earlier interpreters. It has put him more firmly in his place and
time, both as a person and a product of historical forces. We now
know a great deal about Kafka's rather mundane life and about his
reading which made some questionable speculations less acceptable.