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Germanic Collections

English Readings

Assigned Texts

Kafka, Franz. The Castle. Trans. Mark Haman. New York: Schocken Books, 1998.

PT2621. A26S33 1998

Kafka, Franz. Amerika. Trans.Willa and Edwin Muir. New York: Schocken Books, 1996.

PT2621. A26A2313 1996

Kafka, Franz. The Complete Stories. Trans. Willa and Edwin Muir. New York: Schocken Books.

PT 2621. A26A284 1983

 

Bibliographies and Databases

These resources can help you identify books and articles on a specific subject.

MLA International Bibliography, 1921+

1963+ via Web & Folio; earlier vols. Info.Center Z7006.M64

The most comprehensive listing of works on writers and literature.The database provides access to books, journal articles and book reviews.

Contemporary Women's Issues

This electronic database provides full-text access to journals, newsletters, research reports, government reports, book and media reviews, and other sources. Disciplines include sociology, psychology, health, education and political science. It will be helpful in researching gender criticism relating to Kafka.

Gender Watch

Gender Watch is a full-text database of publications that focus on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas: education, literature and the arts, health sciences, history, political science, public policy, sociology and contemporary culture, gender and women's studies. It might include literary criticism that is not necessarily found in the mainstream bibliographies (MLA).

Anthologies

Bloom, Harold, ed. Franz Kafka. New York: Chelsea House, 1986.

A collection of critical essays on Kafka and his work arranged in chronological order of publication.

PT2621.A26 Z7166 1986

Hughes, Kenneth, ed. Franz Kafka: An Anthology of Marxist Criticism. Hanover: Clark University Press, 1981.

This is a collection of addresses, essays and lectures from the point of view of dialectic materialism

PT2621.A26 Z7167

 

Secondary Literature on Franz Kafka

Adorno, Theodor. "Franz Kafka." In Prisms, trans. Samuel and Shierry Weber. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1981.

HM101 .A4513 1981

Adornos famous essay first appeared in 1953 in "Die Neue Rundschau". He points out parallels between Freud and Kafka. Kafka's prose reflects the phase of late capitalism. It is a description of the world seen as it is - not an explanation. Adorno finds that Kafka foresaw the Third Reich.

Arendt, Hannah. "Franz Kafka: A Revaluation." In Essays in Understanding, 1930-1945, ed. Jerome Kohn. New York: Harcourt, Brace &Co., 1994.

The great political writer examines the figure of the pariah in Kafka's writings. Her essay is a plea for humanity: torn between the forces of past and future man can only live as man as part of a community of people.

B908 .A741 1994

Beck, Evelyn Torton. Kafka and the Yiddish Theater: Its Impact on His Work. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1971.

Kafka had a strong interest in Yiddish theater. Style, themes and character development in his prose reflect this influence. Beck also investigates the Yiddish sense of irony in Kafka's prose.

PT2621 .A26 Z585

Benjamin, Walter. "Franz Kafka on the Tenth Anniversary of His Death". In Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken Books, 1986.

PN37 .B4413 1986

Benjamin's view of Kafka circles around the insight that consistency of the truth about the world has been lost. The beauty of Kafka's work is one of failure. He compares Kafka to Paul Klee, whose work in painting is just as solitary as Kafka's is in literature.

Boa, Elizabeth. Kafka: Gender, Class and Race in the Letters and Fictions. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.

PT2621 .A26 Z5963 1996

Boa analyses the intricate ways in which gender, class and race form complex conspiracies both in the fiction and in the letters of Franz Kafka. Boa places Kafka's images of the male body and female sexuality in context with the militaristic, racist, gender, and class ideologies of the early twentieth century. Post-Freudian, psychoanalytic, and poststructuralist approaches, along with reader response criticism inform this study.

Canetti, Elias. Kafka's Other Trial. Trans. Christopher Middleton. New York: Schocken Books, 1974.

PT2621 .A26 Z6713

Canetti discusses Kafka's letters to Felice Bauer and interprets the novel "The Trial" as a consequence of his experience with Felice. The central conflicts are: marriage versus writing/creativity, power versus humiliation/defeat.This is a sensitive examination of Kafka's letters to Felice showing his difficulties with love, duty and the tragic relationship with Greta Bloch.

Corngold, Stanley. Franz Kafka: The Necessity of Form. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1988.

PT2621 .A26 Z664 1988

Corngold examines Kafka's structure and technique in writing: his formal concerns and how his stories exemplify these formal concerns. He further explores how Kafka's work demands interpretation while resisting it by dramatizing and rejecting various prospective methods of interpretation.

Deleuze, Giles, and Felix Guattari. Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature, Trans. Dana Polan. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986.

PT2621. A26 Z67513 1986

The authors assert that Kafka's work is not able to be interpreted through anthropology or psychology. They also assert that, contrary to most opinions, Kafka utterly rejects failure and negation. Kafka's work will become a model or a new type of literature, a minor literature, that is not related to preexisting genres and carries its own methods of interpretation in the work itself.

Emrich, Wilhelm. Franz Kafka:A Critical Study of his Writings. Trans. Sheema Zeben Buehne. New York: Ungar, 1968.

PT2621. A26 Z6833

A radical interpretative approach that attempts to turn Kafka's apparent nihilism to optimism, isolation to a sense of responsibility toward the world, his allegories into statements of fact, psychological interpretations of personal attitudes into a philosophy of cosmic proportions.

Gršzinger, Karl Erich. Kafka and Kabbalah. Trans. Susan H. Ray. New York: Continuum, 1994.

PT2621 .A26 Z74614513 1994

To understand Kafka, Gršzinger argues, one must consider him foremost as a Jewish writer. He considers the influence on Kafka of the Kabbalah, which is both the dominant source of Eastern Jewish thought and Hasidism. Virtually all that has come to be called Kafkaesque has its origin and foundation in the Kabbalah.

Politzer, Heinz. Franz Kafka: Parable and Paradox. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell UP, 1966.

PT2621 .A26 Z817 1966

Politzer focuses on Kafka's style and imagery, showing their relevance today. He stresses the insoluble paradox of Kafka's parables, the labyrinth as the essential image, opposing scholars who suppose they must solve the riddles at any cost. The study includes a comparison to Camus.

Rolleston, James. Kafka's Narrative Theater. University Park: Pennsylvania UP, 1974.

PT2621 .A26. Z864

The author focuses on the theatrical elements in Kafka's stories and in the first chapters of the three novels. Kafka challenges the traditional concepts of "hero", "structure" and "reality". Rolleston analyses the relationship between society and the marginal figure.

Sokel, Walter Herbert. Franz Kafka. New York: Columbia UP, 1966.

PT2621 .A26 Z868

Sokel's early critical essay interprets Kafka's works as pieces of an autobiography in metaphoric disguise. His approach has been categorized as a psychoanalytical reading: Kafka's writings become a symbol of the anxiety and alienation that pervade 20th century society.

Web Resources

Britannica.com

http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/1/0,5716,45321+1+44295,00.html

This encyclopedia article gives a good overview of Kafka's life, works and literary importance.

Constructing Franz Kafka

http://info.pitt.edu/~kafka/intro.html

This ambitious site started as a graduate student project in the spring of 1996. Dr. Clark Muenzer at the German department of the University of Pittsburgh taught a Kafka class and inspired his students to start a website as an exchange forum. It includes a Kafka biography, bibliographies and links to other Kafka sites.

Little Blue Light

http://www.littlebluelight.com/kafkamain.html

This site provides an introduction into Kafka's works, an annotated bibliography of Kafka criticism and links to other web resources. It is maintained by Evan Goodwin.

The Kafka Project

http://www.kafka.org

The site was initiated in 1998 and is maintained by Mauro Nervi. It provides English and German online texts of Kafka's works and some information on the different editions. It is a virtual place for scholars and Kafka fans to share opinions, essays and translations.

Web Resources: Organizations

The Kafka Society of Amerika

http://www.temple.edu/kafka/

The Kafka Society of America was founded in 1975 as the first society exclusively devoted to scholarly exchange in the field of international Kafka studies. The site is maintained by Marie-Luise Caputo Mayr at Temple University, who is the editor of the most comprehensive Kafka bibliography.

Dutch Franz Kafka Circle

http://huizen.dds.nl/~nfkk

The foundation aims at promoting the study of the author Franz Kafka. Abstracts of the foundation's quartely, the Kafka Katern, can be found on this site. It also contains information about activities of the foundation, bibliographies, and related links. In English, Dutch and German.

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German Readings

Electronic Critical Edition (German)

Kafka's Werke

Kritische Kafka Ausgabe des S.Fischer Verlages bei Chadwyck-Healey

The electronic edition allows to search Kafka's complete works for terms and keywords using differentiated search tools. The development of themes, terms and motifs can be traced throughout the literary works and Kafka's diaries. It also enables researchers to create individualised concordances.

Bibliographies (German)

Caputo-Mayr, Maria-Luise and Herz, Julius M. Franz Kafka: Internationale Bibliographie der PrimŠr- und SekundŠrliteratur: Eine EinfŸhrung. MŸnchen: K.G.Saur, 2000.

The second edition of the annotated bibliography consists of two volumes. Volume I documents primary literature between 1907 and 1980. Volume II covers international, secondary literature on Franz Kafka from 1955-1997. Additional entries for the time period of 1955-1980 (first edition) are included. The text is partly in English.

XX (4522340.1)

Caputo-Mayr, Maria Luiseand Herz, Juluis M.. Franz Kafka. Eine kommentierte Bibliographie der SekundŠrliteratur (1955-1980, mit Nachtrag 1985), Bern: Francke, 1987.

This is an annotated bibliography of international, secondary literature on Franz Kafka published between 1955-1980.The bibliography is subdivided in bibliographies, anthologies, dissertations, journal articles and monographs. With several indices(author, subject and individual works) it is a helpful resource for scholars and students.

Z8459.28. C35 1987

Kšttelwesch, Clemens, ed. Bibliographie der deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft, Frankfurt am Main: V. Klostermann, 1969-present.

This is an extensive bibliography of German and foreign literary criticism dealing with German literature. It is published annually and includes books and monographs, but no dissertations.

Z2231 B5 BD.39

Secondary Literature on Franz Kafka (German)

Sokel, Walter Herbert. Franz Kafka - Tragik und Ironie. MŸnchen: A. Langen, 1964.

PT2621 .A26 Z87

Sokel places Kafka's writings in a very large cultural context by fusing Freudian and Expressionist perspectives and incorporating more theoretical approaches, linguistic theory, Gnosticism, and aspects of Derrida, into his synthesis.

Web Resources (German)

Franz-Kafka-Website

http://www.geo.uni-bonn.de/members/pullmann/kafka/index.shtml

This site is maintained by the German Department of the Rheinische Wilhelms UniversitŠt Bonn. It addresses special subjects of Kafka criticism (i.e. symbolism), includes bibliographies of primary and secondary literature and a searchable database of Kafka materials by the journal "Germanistik". A list of movies (1948-2000) based on Kafka's writings is also included.

Movies

Look up "Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life" on the Internet Movie Database

Look up Steven Soderbergh's "Kafka" on the Internet Movie Database

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Last modified: June 27, 2005