Kafka's Social Discourse: An Aesthetic Search for Community
In this complex study of Franz Kafka's (literary) social engagement, Blum (European intellectual history, Univ. of Louisville) takes on the Kafka critical establishment. Drawing from phenomenological discourse, the author counters prevailing notions about the intrinsic openness of Kafka's quixotic fiction. Rather than leading readers into paradox and interpretative aporia, Blum contends that Kafka was driven by a didactic idealism meant to 'hew a new path for self-critical human development' by imparting lesson[s] to his fellow authors whom he explicitly held accountable ... as cultural messengers. Blum promotes a kind of inverse reading: Kafka's world of anxiety, alienation, and absurdity transform into its opposite—utopic vision of the way things ought to be. Focusing on Kafka's three novels, the author tracks the development of Kafka's social discourse in relation to his complex, intertextual 'conversation with past and present authors.' His probing analysis of Kafka's 'iconic' repertoire results in evocative readings that provide invaluable insights into Kafka's rich allusive language....He sheds light on intriguing allusions buried in Kafka's multilayered prose.Summing Up:Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.(CHOICE)