The Cambridge Companion to Kafka

by Julian Preece (Editor)

Overview

This Companion of specially-commissioned essays offers a comprehensive account of his life and work, providing a rounded contemporary appraisal of Central Europe's most distinctive Modernist. Contributions cover all the key texts, and discuss Kafka's writing in a variety of critical contexts such as feminism, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, Marxism, and Jewish studies. The essays are enhanced by supplementary material including a chronology of the period and detailed guides to further reading. They will be of interest to students of German, European and Comparative Literature, and Jewish Studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521663915
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/21/2002
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Literature
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Julian Preece is Senior Lecturer at the School of European Culture and Languages at the University of Kent at Canterbury. He is the author (with Waldemar Lotnik) of Nine Lives: Ethnic Conflict in the Polish-Ukrainian Borderlands and The Life and Work of Günter Grass: Literature, History, Politics (2001).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Chronology; Notes on Contributors; Introduction: Kafka's Europe Julian Preece; 1. Kafka's writing and our reading David Constantine; 2. A psychoanalytic reading of The Man Who Disappeared Anne Fuchs; 3. The exploration of the modern city in The Trial Rolf J. Goebel; 4. The Castle Elizabeth Boa; 5. Kafka's short fiction Ruth V. Gross; 6. Kafka's later stories and aphorisms Stanley Corngold; 7. The letters and diaries Julian Preece; 8. The case for a political reading Bill Dodd; 9. Kafka and Jewish folklore Iris Bruce; 10. Kafka and gender Dagmar C. G. Lorenz; 11. Myths and realities in Kafka biography Anthony Northey; 12. Editions, translations, adaptations Osman Durrani; 13. Kafka adapted to film Helen Hughes and Martin Brady; 14. Kafka and popular culture Iris Bruce; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...a welcome addition to Kafka scholarship." Germanic Notes and Reviews

"This collection of essays holds true to the promise of its title: it is a trustworthy and helpful companion for those, be they scholar or afficianado, who seek up-to-date and well-considered observations on the writings of one of the 20th century's greatest but most enigmatic writers.... [A]ll of the contributions are first-rate: they are written clearly and persuasively with authority and sophistication, and they represent a broad specturm of critical approaches." Choice

"The Cambridge Companions to Literature series enjoys a well-deserved reputation for scholarly excellence. The volume on Kafka, happily, is no exception to the rule.... The single best thing about the volume, indeed, is the willingness (and the ability) of almost all of its contributors to break away from comfortably traditional critical judgments.... This excellent volume does not claim to present us with any master keys that might serve to unlock [Kafka's] secrets; rather, it challenges us, as the best criticism always does, to return to the text with new eyes, new expectations, and a willingness to see things differently." German Studies Review

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