Two quotes 165Brief summary of the most representative

interpretations

The religious aspect in literary criticism of Franz Kafka by Meno Spann (59)

Freudian psychoanalytical approach (Greenberg)

Take a step back (concession) and move forward

“While these arguments are certainly interesting, it is more natural to consider Kafka’s fiction as reflecting his life, especially his relations with his father” (165).

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Extrinsic approaches:

Place the subject matter, topic/theme or the artist you write about in a historical/ biographical/psychological/social context;

Most criticisms are content-based, approaching a topic from the outside;

Intrinsic (form-based) approaches: Work with precision and get down to details related to some specific art form.

This approach requires you work with field-specific conventions and regulations.

Parallel Structure in Karen DiYanni’s Essay

Karen holds her central theme steadily in her analysis and applies it to three examples in Kafka’s prose fiction.

Schematized, and well laid out Beauty in its structural balance…

Sequence & Order

Chronological “The Judgment”

1912 “The

Metamorphosis” 1915

The Trial 1925

Climactic order Progressive Arranged by

intensity

Franz Kafka3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924

one of the most influential fiction writers of the early 20th century; a novelist and writer of short stories whose works, only after his death, came to be regarded as one of the major achievements of 20th century literature.

Birth

He was born to middle class German-speaking Jewish parents in Prague, Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The house in which he was born, on the Old Town Square next to Prague's Church of St Nicholas, today contains a permanent exhibition devoted to the author.

His Works Kafka's work—the novels The Trial (1925), The

Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927), as well as short stories including The Metamorphosis (1912) and In the Penal Colony (1914)—is now collectively considered to be among the most original bodies of work in modern Western literature. Much of his work, unfinished at the time of his death, was published ‘posthumously.

The writers' name has led to the term or ‘eponym "Kafkaesque" being used in the English language.

“A Hunger Artist"

“A Hunger Artist" (Ein Hungerkünstler), also translated as "A Fasting Artist" and "A Starvation Artist", is a short story by Franz Kafka published in Die Neue Rundschau in 1922. The protagonist is an archetypical creation of Kafka, an individual marginalized and victimized by society at large.

Best of Kafka "A Hunger Artist" is often considered one of Kafka's best

works. It was first published in the periodical Die Neue Rundschau in 1922 and subsequently included as the title piece in the short story collection that was the last book published by Kafka during his lifetime.

"A Hunger Artist" explores the familiar Kafka themes of death, art, isolation, a’sceticism, spiritual poverty, futility, personal failure, and the corruption of human relationships. Some critics have argued that it is one of Kafka's most autobiographical works, viewing the story as a depiction of the isolation and alienation of the modern artist, a condition keenly felt by Kafka himself.

Writing style Kafka often made extensive use of a trait special to the

German language allowing for long sentences that sometimes can span an entire page. Kafka's sentences then deliver an unexpected impact just before the full stop—that being the finalizing meaning and focus. This is achieved due to the construction of certain sentences in German which require that the verb be positioned at the end of the sentence. Such constructions cannot be duplicated in English, so it is up to the translator to provide the reader with the same effect found in the original text.

Kafka’s Letter to His Father

"Dearest Father,• You asked me recently why I maintain that I am afraid

of you. As usual, I was unable to think of any answer to your question, partly for the very reason that I am afraid of you, and partly because an explanation of the grounds for this fear would mean going into far more details than I could even approximately keep in mind while talking. And if I now try to give you an answer in writing, it will still be very incomplete...“

• Kafka, Franz. Letter to His Father. New York: Schocken Books, 1966. 7.