Constructing China: Kafka's Orientalist Discourse (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture) - Hardcover

Goebel, Professor Emeritus Rolf J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1571131442 ISBN 13: 9781571131447

Publisher: Camden House, 1997

Synopsis

Goebel studies four representative works by Kafka that explore the problems of the Western representation of the Orient: his 'Description of a Struggle'; several letters to Felice Bauer, offering an interpretation of Chinese poetry in connection with the conflict between writing and Kafka's love for Felice; the canonical story 'The Great Wall of China', parodically appropriating sterotypes of China's stagnant history and authoritarian emperors for a refutation of colonialist ideas of progress; and the sequel 'An Old Manuscript', dramatising China's invasion by foreign powers and the breakdown of crosscultural communication. Elucidating these themes from a broadly comparative perspective, Goebel shows Kafka to be one of German modernism's most intriguing and self-reflective writers on the Orient.
ROLF J. GOEBEL is Professor of German at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

About this title

Review:

''An essential contribution dedicated to unearthing the references to political contexts hidden in Orientalist texts." INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MODERNISM
Goebel's convincing analysis establishes Franz Kafka as one of modernism's most articulate and intriguing writers on the Orient. GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW
Goebel's astute analyses [are] an essential contribution. His thought-provoking, exemplary study should inspire further investigations. SEMINAR 'With this well-documented study of Kafka's excursion into the mysteries ... of the Asian continent, Goebel has opened up a pathway for further exploration of an aspect of Kafka's work which will interest and enlighten readers.' GERMANIC NOTES AND REVIEWS ''A solid overview of other critics' analyses of Kafka's stereotypes of the Orient.'' AUSTRIAN HISTORY YEARBOOK

About the Author:

Professor of German at University of Alabama, Huntsville

About this edition

• Publisher: Camden House
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1571131442
• ISBN 13: 9781571131447
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144