The Issue of Repetitiveness in Kafka

• Authors: Müller Richard
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The paper inquires into the phenomenon of repetition in the works of Franz Kafka and in what ways it might characterize his way of writing (and his understanding of writing). I begin by making a distinction between three different planes of repetition, or repetitiveness: (1) as a ‘method’ of production; (2) as a symptom of the characters’ situations; and (3) as a representation technique. First, there are different versions of the same text, equivalent in terms of finality, but perhaps also a certain existential rhythm (as exemplified by Kafka’s famous ‘schedules’). I suggest that a comparative reading of Heinrich von Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas (1810) could provide an insight into this feature of ‘productivity’. Second, repetitive characters’ situations create certain patterns and beg the question of their complex reader effects. Finally, and in addition to ‘classical’ discursive repetitions, there are minor textual recurrences (as in his ‘breakthrough’ story, “The Judgment”) and the question whether these can be related to an analogy in technical reproduction. Are they part of an experimental narrative method? Is there a ‘sense’ to repetition in Kafka and can these provisional distinctions help us understand it? How should their entanglement be described?

Keywords

EN

Repetition; Franz Kafka; writing; disorientation; technical reproduction

• Publisher: Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Czech Republic
• Journal: Svět literatury – Časopis pro novodobé literatury (World of Literature – Journal for Modern Literatures)
• Year: 2024
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 69
• Pages: 32-46

Contributors

author

Müller Richard

• Ústav pro českou literaturu AV ČR