Sander L. Gilman

In this contribution to the Critical Lives series, Sander Gilman explores the life and writings of Franz Kafka. Chapter 1 ("My Family and My Body as a Curse) explores Kafka's life, including his family and on his identity as a (German- speaking) Jew in central Europe during the late 1800s through 1920. Kafka's written record is explored in Ch.2 ("Writing"), in which the author considers his fiction and correspondence through a psychoanalytic lens, and (again) in terms of Kafka's Jewish identity. Chapter 3, "A Life Ill" focuses on his later life, including the role played by his long-term illness with tuberculosis. Ch. 4, "A Life After Life" considers his literary legacy, including the massive Kafkaology industry that sprang up around his work. (He quotes Hanna Arendt: "Though during his lifetime he could not make a decent living, he will now keep generations of intellectuals both gainfully employed and well- fed."

Despite having read much about Kafka, I found several little nuggets of intriguing information in this work (notes below). However, the continued focus of Jewishness and "the body" seems somewhat labored/ artificial. In fact, a quote from the author (in specific reference to "The Judgment") applies to his own work: "it has always been possible to read the tale in many ways, filling in the cultural references based on those approved by the interpretive community in which one found oneself." Likewise, the author makes assertions about what Kafka and members of his family were feeling and thinking, without corroborative evidence. Further, he presents as factual the story that he (unknowingly) fathered a child with Grete Bloch =-- a story rebutted in Reiner Stach's major biography.

Overall, this short (160 page) book offers a semi-useful introduction to the life and work of Franz Kafka. However, I would recommend other works above this one, including Ritchie Robertson's "Kafka: A Very Short Introduction" (of the Very Short Introduction series).
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Among the nuggets of miscellaneous information that appealed to me were the following:

Gilman reproduces an extended quote from Vladimir Nabokov (who was an entomologist well as a novelist), who argued that from Kafka's description, Gregor Samsa was no cockroach, but rather, a winged beetle, who had not discovered that he had wings -- wings to escape with!.

Orson Welles (who produced a film version of "The Trial") opines that Kafka "is a good writer... but not the extraordinary genius that people see in him" (a view with which I am inclined to agree).

Jews of South Africa (I was interested to learn) were not classified as "white" until the 20th century when they became an economically successful minority. Europeans were defined by the alphabet of their language; therefore, Hebrews (who spoke in Yiddish and used a different alphabet) were classified as "coloured".… (mehr)

Dr. Hugh Diamond's innovative work with photography early in its history pointed to both artistic and practical uses. And, because accuracy of visual recording is one of the medium's prime characteristics, it also explores the question of what can we know from what we seen in detailed photography of a person. For his work with inmates in a lunatic asylum, Diamond explored the use of photography in three ways: as a way to study the mentally ill, as a way to communicate to the mentally ill about their condition, and to identify particular individuals who might go in and out of treatment. This is the 1850's, leading to continuing use of photography as a psychiatric tool.

The extent to which we can ascertain internal and emotional states from external likeness, from portraiture, has been a central question through the history of photographic discussion. There is more to be gained for an answer in considering such work as Diamond's and its extension to many other scientific studies, outside the normal attention of photography and is typical critics.… (mehr)