Franz Kafka: Narration, Rhetoric, and Reading

by Jakob Lothe (Editor), Beatrice Sandberg (Editor), Ronald Speirs (Editor)

Overview

Franz Kafka: Narration, Rhetoric, and Reading presents essays by noted Kafka critics and by leading narratologists who explore Kafka’s original and innovative uses of narrative throughout his career. Collectively, these essays by Stanley Corngold, Anniken Greve, Gerhard Kurz, Jakob Lothe, J. Hillis Miller, Gerhard Neumann, James Phelan, Beatrice Sandberg, Ronald Speirs, and Benno Wagner examine a number of provocative questions that arise in narration and narratives in Kafka’s fiction. The arguments of the essays relate both to the peculiarities of Kafka’s story-telling and to general issues in narrative theory. They reflect, for example, the complexity of the issues surrounding the “somebody” doing the telling, the attitude of the narrator to what is told, the perceived purpose(s) of the telling, the implied or actual reader, the progression of events, and the progression of the telling. As the essays also demonstrate, Kafka’s narratives still present a considerable challenge to, as well as a great resource for, narrative theory and analysis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814251775
Publisher:	Ohio State University Press
Publication date:	01/27/2011
Series:	THEORY INTERPRETATION NARRATIV
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jakob Lothe is professor of English literature at the University of Oslo. Beatrice Sandberg is professor of German literature at the University of Bergen, Norway. Ronald Speirs is professor emeritus of German at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Abbreviations ix

Introduction: Narration and Narratives in Kafka Jakob Lothe Beatrice Sandberg Ronald Speirs 1

1 Progression, Speed, and Judgment in "Das Urteil" James Phelan 22

2 The Human Body and the Human Being in "Die Verwandlung" Anniken Greve 40

3 "Lightning no longer flashes": Kafka's Chinese Voice and the Thunder of the Great War Benno Wagner 58

4 The Abandoned Writing Desk: On Kafka's Metanarratives, as Exemplified by "Der Heizer" Gerhard Neumann 81

5 Therese's Story in Der Verschollene Gerhard Kurz 94

6 The Sense of an Un-ending: The Resistance to Narrative Closure in Kafka's Das Schloβ J. Hillis Miller 108

7 Starting in the Middle? Complications of Narrative Beginnings and Progression in Kafka Beatrice Sandberg 123

8 The Narrative Beginning of Kafka's "In der Strafkolonie" Jakob Lothe 149

9 Musical Indirections in Kafka's "Forschungen eines Hundes" Stanley Corngold 170

10 The Dynamics of Narration in Betrachtung, "Das Urteil," and Kafka's Reflections on Writing Ronald Speirs 196

Contributors 233

Index 237

Editorial Reviews

The editors of this volume have brought together a group of internationally acclaimed specialists in cutting-edge narrative theory and eminent Kafka scholars from a number of countries. Franz Kafka offers a ground-breaking textual exegesis of often enigmatic texts and reveals the light that can be cast on interpretive problems by rigorous, state-of-the-art narrative theory. The book is a model of high calibre collaborative work undertaken by leading Kafka experts.” —John J. White, emeritus professor of German and comparative literature, King's College London

From the Publisher