COURSE DESCRIPTION

Franz Kafka plays a major role in the construction of the modern and postmodern literary canon of the twentieth century.  His novels, stories, parables, letters, and diaries continue to intrigue literary critics, writers of fiction, and readers with their rich texture of allegorical, dreamlike, extremely personal, grotesque, comic, and visionary qualities.  We will read Kafka's novels, several short stories and parables, selections from his diaries and letters in the contexts of his biography, the Prague German and Jewish minority communities, and European culture and politics.  We will trace "the Kafkaesque" in the narrative fictions of selected modernist and postmodernist authors, such as Albert Camus, Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, and in other cultural productions such as film and comics.
 

COURSE OBJECTIVES

During the course of the semester
- we will become familiar with the works of Franz Kafka in the context of his culture
- we will acquire the ability to discuss literary and critical texts, and cultural productions of "Kafka" and "the Kafkaesque"
- we will learn to analyze how elements of modern consciousness and "the Kafkaesque" reappear in selected texts of later modern and postmodern writers and become familiar with works of these writers
- we will gain a practical knowledge of various critical and theoretical apporaches to Kafka and to modern and postmodern narrative fiction
- we will improve our skills for writing analytical essays on literature and its cultural contexts.
 

FORMAT

Our class will be a combination of lectures, discussions, group work, and individual or group presentations.  Read the assigned texts and come prepared with notes on any assigned study questions.
 

 COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Regular class attendance, with prepared notes, and participation in discussions: 20%
Short responsive papers and/or creative writing (keep a loose-leaf journal on your reactions to the readings and/or try to write your own short stories or parables; 1 page typed or 2 pages hand written, due on 8 of the 15 Tuesdays, your choice of dates): 10%
First paper (5 pages): 10%
Second paper (10 pages): 20%
Midterm: 20%
Final exam: 20%

For all typed work: use 1inch margins and type font size 12.

German Minor Option: Write one of the papers in German, using a German edition of Kafka and some German sources.

Audit Only Option: Attend all class meetings until the end of the semester; be prepared for class (read, take notes) and participate in discussions. You will not have to hand in written work or take exams, but may do so, if you wish.
 

REQUIRED TEXTS

Kafka, Franz. Amerika. Willa and Edna Muir, trans. New York: Schocken, 1974.
_____. The Trial. Breon Mitchell, trans. New York: Schocken, 1998.
_____. The Castle. Mark Harman, trans. New York: Schocken, 1998.
_____. The Complete Stories. Nahum  N. Glatzer, ed. New York: Schocken, 1971.
Camus, Albert. The Fall. Justin O’Brien, trans. New York: Random House, 1984.
 

FILMS

Franz Kafka's Prague
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1919)
The Trial (Orson Wells, 1962)
Franz Kafka (David Thomas, 1980; The Modern World: Ten Great Writers)
The Golem (Paul Wegener and Cor Boese, 1920)
Kafka (Steven Soderbergh, 1992)

SYLLABUS
 

Introduction: Kafka, Family, Prague, Fin-de-Siècle Culture

Tue, Jan. 11 Introduction to the course
Th, Jan. 13 Artistic portrait/portrait of an artist: Video Franz Kafka's Prague (30 min.) and critique; "Poseidon" (CS 434), "The Bridge" (CS 411-412) "Give It Up!" (CS 456), "My Neighbor" (CS 424-425), "The Departure" (CS 449)
Tue, Jan. 18 no class
 

Fathers and Sons:

Th, Jan. 20 "Letter to His Father" (in Franz Kafka, Dearest Father 138-196; on reserve), "The Judgment" (CS 77-88), Diary entry Sep. 23, 1912 (Diaries 1910-13, 275-276; on reserve);
Tue, Jan. 25 cont.
Th, Jan. 27 "The Metamorphosis" (CS 89-139)
Tue, Feb. 1 "The Metamorphosis"; Nabokov, “Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis” in Lectures on Literature, 251- 283 (on reserve); Video: Nabokov lectures on “The Metamorphosis” (30 min.)
Th, Feb. 3 Expressionist film: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1919), 52 min., discussion
 

Setting Out:

Tue, Feb. 8  Amerika
Th, Feb.10  Amerika
 

Trials and the Idea of Judgment:

Tue, Feb. 15 The Trial, "The Judgment" revisited (CS 77-88), "A Fratricide" (CS 402-404)
Th, Feb. 17 The Trial
 DRAFT OF FIRST PAPER DUE
Th, Feb. 17 4-6 p.m., Media Center, D.H. Hill Library: Film: The Trial (Orson Wells, 1962)
 

The Body Inscribed:

Tue, Feb. 22 "A Country Doctor" (CS 220-225), "In the Penal Colony" (CS 140-167), "A Hunger Artist" (CS 268-277)
Th, Feb. 24 "A Country Doctor" (CS 220-225), "In the Penal Colony" (CS 140-167), "A Hunger Artist" (CS 268-277)
Th, Feb. 24 4-5 p.m., Media Center, D.H. Hill Library: Film: The Golem (Paul Wegener and Cor Boese, 1920)
 

Identities:

Tue, Feb. 29 "A Report to an Academy" (CS 250-262), "Jackals and Arabs" (CS 407-411), "A Crossbreed" (CS426-427), "Investigations of a Dog" (CS 278-316)
Th, March 2 "The Wish to Be a Red Indian" (CS 390), "The Cares of a Family Man" (CS 427-429), "The Hunter Gracchus" (CS 226-234)
 FIRST PAPER DUE
Tue, March 7 "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" (CS 360-376), "An Introductory Talk on the Yiddish Language" (in Franz Kafka, Dearest Father, 381-386; on reserve)

Th, March 9 MIDTERM

Tue, March 14  Spring break
Th, March 16  Spring break
 

Struggles:

Tue, March 21 "Description of a Struggle" (CS 9-51), "A Little Fable" (CS 445), "The Bucket Rider" (CS 412-414), "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" (CS 183-205), "The Burrow" (CS 325-359)
Th, March 23 cont.
 

Taking on Authority:

Tue, March   28 The Castle
Th, March 30 The Castle
Tue, April 4 The Castle
 

Guilt and Judgment, differently?:

Th, April 6 Camus, The Fall; "Hope and the Absurd in the Work of Franz Kafka" (copy, on reserve)
Tue, April 11 The Fall
 

Topographies of History and Subjectivity:

Th, April 13 "The Great Wall of China" (CS 235-248), "The City Coat of Arms" (CS 433-434), "The Next Village" (CS 404), "An Imperial Message" (CS 4-5);
Calvino, Invisible Cities, (on reserve, only pp. 27-29)
  DRAFT OF SECOND PAPER DUE
Tue, April 18 “Prometheus” (CS 432), “The Silence of the Sirens” (CS 430-432);
Borges, Labyrinths: "The Lottery in Babylon" 30-35, "The Library of Babel" 51-58, "The Wall and the Books" 186-189, "Kafka and His Precursors" 199-202 (on reserve)
Th, April 20 no class
Tue, April 25 Kuper, Give It Up! (on reserve)
Mairowitz/Crumb, Introducing Kafka (on reserve)
Tue, April 25 4-6 p.m., Media Center, D.H. Hill Library: Film: Kafka (Steven  Soderbergh, 1992)
 

The Never-Ending Kafka Industry: Some Recent Cultural Productions of Kafka and the "Kafkaesque":

Th, April 27  Discussion of Soderbergh film
 SECOND PAPER DUE
Tue, May 2 Who was Kafka?  Who and what is Kafka? Who and what will Kafka be?; Kundera “Somewhere Behind” (copy, on reserve) and “The Castrating Shadow of Saint Garta” (in Testaments Betrayed, 35-53, on reserve)
Th, May 4 Concluding discussion.
________________________________________________________________________
Th, May 11  8-11 p.m. FINAL

BOOKS ON RESERVE

in English

Anderson, Mark. Kafka's Clothes: Ornament and Aestheticism in the Habsburg Fin de Siècle. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1992.
_____, ed. Reading Kafka: Prague, Politics, and the Fin de Siècle. New York: Schocken, 1989.
Bauer, Johann. Kafka and Prague. New York: Praeger, 1971.
Bloom, Harold, ed. Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. New York: Chelsea, 1988.
Borges, Jorge Luis. Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings. New York: New Directions, 1964.
Brod, Max. Franz Kafka: A Biography. New York: Schocken, 1960.
Brooker, Peter, ed. Modernism/Postmodernism. London: Longman, 1992.
Calvino, Italo. Invisible Cities. San Diego, New York, London: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1984.
Cerna, Jana. Kafka's Milena. Chicago: Northwestern UP, 1993.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari. Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1986.
Emrich, Wilhelm. Franz Kafka. New York: Ungar, 1968.
Gilbert, Felix. The End of the European Era: 1890 to the Present.  New York: Norton, 1991.
Gilman, Sander. Franz Kafka, the Jewish Patient. New York: Routledge, 1995.
Gray, Richard T. Approaches to Teaching Kafka's Short Fiction. New York: MLA, 1995.
Gray, Ronald, ed. Kafka: A Collection of Contemporary Essays. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1962.
Gross, Ruth V. Critical Essays on Franz Kafka. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1990.
Janouch, Gustav. Conversations with Kafka. New York: New Dimensions, 1971.
Kafka, Franz. The Complete Stories. New York: Schocken, 1983.
_____. Dearest Father and Other Writings. New York: Schocken, 1954.
_____. The Diaries of Franz Kafka, 1910-1913. New York: Schocken, 1988.
_____. The Diaries of Franz Kafka, 1914-1923. New York: Schocken, 1987.
_____. Letters to Felice. New York: Schocken, 1988.
_____. Letters to Friends, Family & Editors. New York: Schocken, 1990.
_____. Letters to Ottla. New York: Schocken.
_____. Letters to Milena. New York: Schocken, 1953.
_____. The Castle. New York: Schocken, 1992.
_____. The Trial. New York: Schocken, 1968.
_____. The Metamorphosis: Translation, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism.  Ed. and trans. Stanley Corngold. New York: Norton, 1996.
Karl, Frederick R. Franz Kafka, Representative Man: Prague, Germans, Jews, and the Crisis of Modernism. New York: Ticknor, 1991.
Kundera, Milan. Testaments Betrayed. New York: Harper Collins, 1995.
Kuper, Peter. Give It Up! and Other Short Stories by Franz Kafka. New York: NBM Publishing, 1995.
Mairowitz, David Zane, and Robert Crumb. Introducing Kafka. Cambridge, England: Totem Books, 1993.
Nabokov, Vladimir. Lectures on Literature. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980.
Neumayer, Peter F., ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Castle. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1969.
Pawel, Ernst. The Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka. New York: Farrar, 1984.
Politzer, Heinz. Franz Kafka: Parable and Paradox. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1962.
Robert, Marthe. As Lonely as Franz Kafka. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1982.
Schorske, Carl E. Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture. New York: Knopf, 1980.
Wagenbach, Klaus. Kafka's Prague. Overlook Press, 1996.
 

in German

Beicken, Peter. Franz Kafka: Leben und Werk. Stuttgart: Klett, 1986.
Dietz, Ludwig. Franz Kafka. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1975.
Kafka, Franz. Erzählungen. Frankfurt: Fischer, 1967.
_____. Das Schloss. Frankfurt: Fischer, 1967.
_____. Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande und andere Prosa aus dem Nachlaß. Frankfurt: Fischer, 1966.
_____. Briefe an Milena. Frankfurt: Fischer, 1965.
_____. Amerika. Frankfurt: Fischer, 1966.
_____. Der Prozess. New York: Schocken, 1946.
Wagenbach, Klaus. Franz Kafka in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten. Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1964.
 

COPIES ON RESERVE

Camus, Albert. "Hope and the Absurd in the Work of Franz Kafka"
Kundera, Milan. “Somewhere Behind”