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Understanding Franz Kafka (Understanding Modern European and Latin American Literature) Kindle Edition

by Allen Thiher (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

5.0 3 ratings

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An analysis of the life of the eccentric author of The Trial, and his quest for meaning in his work.

Franz Kafka is without question one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century despite the fact that much of his work remained unpublished when he died at a relatively young age in 1924. Kafka’s eccentric methods of composition and his diffident attitude toward publishing left most of his writing to be edited and published after his death by his literary executor, Max Brod.

In Understanding Franz Kafka, Allen Thiher addresses the development of Kafka’s work by analyzing it in terms of its chronological unfolding, emphasizing the various phases in Kafka’s life that can be discerned in his constant quest to find a meaning for his writing. Thiher also shows that Kafka’s work, frequently self-referential, explores the ways literature can have meaning in a world in which writing is a dubious activity.

After outlining Kafka’s life using new biographical information, Thiher examines Kafka’s first attempts at writing, often involving nearly farcical experiments. The study then shows how Kafka’s work developed through twists and turns, beginning with the breakthrough stories “The Judgment” and “The Metamorphosis,” continuing with his first attempt at a novel with Amerika, and followed by Kafka’s shifting back and forth between short fiction and two other unpublished novels, The Trial and The Castle.

Thiher also calls on Kafka’s notebooks and diaries to help demonstrate that he never stopped experimenting in his attempt to find a literary form that might satisfy his desire to create some kind of transcendental text in an era in which the transcendent is at best an object of nostalgia or of comic derision. In short, Thiher contends, Kafka constantly sought the grounds for writing in a world in which all appears groundless.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Allen Thiher is Curators' Distinguished Professor of Romance Languages Emeritus at the University of Missouri–Columbia and is a permanent fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge University. His books include Understanding Marcel Proust and Understanding Robert Musil, both published by the University of South Carolina Press, as well as studies of Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Raymond Queneau, an earlier study of Kafka, and books on French cinema, literary theory, and science and literature. He lives in retirement with his wife in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B06ZZGSJFQ
Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of South Carolina Press (January 15, 2018)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 15, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1530 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 294 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #2,229,802 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #39 in Surrealism Literary Criticism
- #106 in Jewish Literary Criticism (Kindle Store)
- #153 in German Literary Criticism (Kindle Store)

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5.0 3 ratings

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Vernon Coombs

Kafka Simplified

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is undoubtedly a very erudite book. Franz Kafka was a very difficult author to understand, which is why I bought the book. However his works are presented, we are still faced with divergent views on Kafka's "message". I applaud the way the author Allen Thiher has successfully woven these various shades of opinion together, to present us with a comprehensive and enjoyable work of reference.

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