Słowa kluczowe

Franz Kafka |Erich Fromm |freedom |individual

Streszczenie

Erich Fromm points to a tendency whereby the numerous freedoms gained by the citizens of modern democracies have been accompanied by widespread feelings of loneliness and disconnection. The loosening of traditional social structures leads some individuals to seek out restrictions, for example in order to counteract the feelings of being alone. This essay uses Fromm’s thesis as a lens through which to examine two of Franz Kafka’s novels in which the protagonists exemplify the “fear of freedom” proposed by Fromm. Society in these novels is perceived as a prison cell in which one must comply with social regulations, but also a fortress to which one can retreat from the chaos of the outside world, albeit at the cost of one’s psychological health.

Słowa kluczowe

phenomenology |Ingarden |ontology |Schematized Aspects |Indeterminacy

Streszczenie

Kafka’s presentation of Gregor Samsa in Metamorphosis is explicable using Ingarden’s ontology of the literary work of art. The common heritage of Kafka’s and Ingarden’s theoretical commitments (Franz Brentano) might explain the conceptual parallel. More importantly, an Ingardenian analysis of Gregor Samsa demonstrates that (1) Kafka is at least implicitly aware of some of the central tenets of later phenomenology and uses them to literary advantage; and (2) Ingarden’s ontology of the literary work of art works particularly well in the case of Kafka’s novel, which provides an example of some of the analysis’ more obscure aspects (in particular, Ingarden’s concept of spots of indeterminacy).

Słowa kluczowe

metaphor |Franz Kafka |Gilles Deleuze |short stories |metamorphosis

Streszczenie

In my paper, I discuss the Deleuzian reading of Franz Kafka. I argue that Deleuze perceives Kafka’s works through the prism of his own criticism of metaphor and that in this case one cannot dismiss the use of metaphorical language as Deleuze and Guattari attempt to do in Kafka. Toward A Minor Literature. Analyzing the narration of Kafkian animal stories, I claim that metaphors do appear in Kafka’s works but they are broken, dysfunctional metaphors: more a metaphormosis than a metaphor itself.

Słowa kluczowe

Franz Kafka |freedom |Søren Kierkegaard |meaning

Streszczenie

I argue that Kafka’s writings express the idea that our sense of freedom is deceptive. It is deceptive because we cannot discern any proper purpose or destination that would allow us to make truly meaningful choices. Kafka’s thought here relates to the existentialist view of Kierkegaard, but it radicalizes that view by depriving it of its teleological dimension.

Słowa kluczowe

Arendt |Kafka |Banality of Evil |Eichmann |Crimes against Humanity

Streszczenie

Arendt’s account of Adolf Eichmann as acting only out of banal intentions remains controversial. I supplement our understanding of the “banality of evil” by demonstrating that Arendt also meant it to describe a factual social arrangement characterized by a form of false consciousness. I apply an original interpretation of Kafka’s The Trial to Eichmann in Jerusalem, and I show that Eichmann’s trial was “before” him in the same way as the Kafkian man from the country is “before” the Law.

Słowa kluczowe

Franz Kafka |Richard Wagner |Philosophy of Music |transcendence |Acousmatic Sound |silence

Streszczenie

This essay exposes an anti-Wagnerian philosophy of music in Franz Kafka’s “Researches of a Dog” and “The Silence of the Sirens.” Themes of music, sound, and silence are overwhelmingly powerful in these stories and cannot be divorced from corporeal and visual aspects. These aspects are articulated in the selected texts in a manner that stands in stark opposition to Richard Wagner’s philosophy of music as presented in the composer’s seminal 1870 “Beethoven” essay.