GERM 411 - Kafka and the Kafkaesque

FC ARHU CD WADV

4 credits
This seminar will focus on the major prose works of one of the greatest authors of the twentieth century: Franz Kafka. As we endeavor to delineate the “Kafkaesque,” touching on the absurdity, despair, and alienation that defines Kafka’s work, we will consider the malleability of this descriptor. Thus, in addition to close study of his prose, the seminar will include discussion of major critical approaches to Kafka and the Kafkaesque. What insights do we gain by reading Kafka through the lens of critical theory, psychoanalysis, or gender theory, or from the perspective of Jewish studies, music history, or communication studies? What makes Kafka’s works so amenable to such varied forms of inquiry, and why do they continue to hold our attention today?

Prerequisites: GERM 204 or equivalent proficiency.

Undergraduate Research Intensive