Kafka's Narrative Theater

James Rolleston

Published by Penn State University Press 1974

Kafka's Narrative Theater

James Rolleston

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271072838

Overview
Contents

About this book

Can one speak of Kafka's heroes as "characters"? If so, why is it so hard to define their characteristics? If not, how is the reader persuaded to accompany them on their existential journeys, accepting their behavior as falling within the realm of human logic? This study argues that Kafka's fiction has two conflicting premises: the subjective impossibility of human existence, foreclosing all hope of "meaning" in individual actions; and the ordered structure of human thoughts which assign meaning to the smallest event and analyze endlessly the behavior of other people. Kafka's characters are always, either potentially or actually, moving in both directions at once, earnestly building up a continuous logic to their actions while skeptically dismantling their own pretensions to existence. The device of the circumscribed narrator, congruent with the hero, knowing only what the hero knows, yet not identical with him, enables Kafka to contain both fundamental tendencies in a single sentence.

Although Kafka is widely read, his works seem to give rise very easily to misconceptions; this study is designed primarily to facilitate an intelligent reading of Kafka. Without imposing answers of its own, it seeks to foster an awareness of the problems of perspective and presentation which Kafka engages.

Author / Editor information

Rolleston James :

James Rolleston is Associate Professor of German at Yale University, where he received his PhD in 1966. He has also written Rilke in Transition: An Exploration of his Earliest Poetry.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
1 "Description of a Struggle" Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Open Structure: "The Stoker" Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
3 "The Urban World": The Experience of the Theater Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
4 "The Judgment" Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	42
5 "The Metamorphosis" Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
6 Closed Structure: The Trial Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
7 Closed Structure: "In the Penal Colony" Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	88
8 The Functional and the Arbitrary: "The Village Schoolteacher" and "The Great Wall of China" Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
9 Reopened Structure: The Castle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	112
10 Historical Structure: "Josefine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
11 The Making of Kafka's Heroes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
Sources Consulted Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Index of Kafka's Works and Characters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Index of Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	168

Language: English
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Copyright year: 1974
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 228

eBook

Published: May 26, 2021
ISBN: 9780271072838