The Cambridge Companion To Kafka

Professor Milada Polisenska

5 June, 2008Tyrone Schiff

I have decided to summarize some of the explanations and scholarly work thatwas published in the Cambridge Companion to Kafka, which was published in 2006. Thetext is written in English, and goes through a host of various writings by the famousauthor, Franz Kafka. Franz Kafka, a Jew born into a middle-class family in Prague, isconsidered one of the most prolific and important authors of the 20

century and of Western Culture in particular. Most of Kafka’s writing was only published after his deathin 1924. Kafka was the eldest of six children in his family, however, his parents hardlytook part in bringing the children up, as they had to work very hard during the week. As aresult, Kafka was mainly reared by servants. Academically, Kafka went to the GermanCharles-Ferdinand University in Prague. He started out studying chemistry, but switchedto law after a short time. While at University, Kafka joined a literary group called

Lese-und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten,

which gave him an outlet to both read and write.As time progressed, Kafka began to suffer from tuberculosis, which he was veryembarrassed about and tried very hard to cover this up by impressing others with hisgood looks, intelligence, and demeanor. Aside from tuberculosis, it is agreed that Kafkasuffered from clinical depression, social anxiety, suffered from headaches and migrainesconstantly, and was plagued by insomnia.Kafka published only very few writing during his lifetime, most of which were published after his death, and he hardly ever finished his writing, with the exception of “The Metamorphosis.” Most of the posthumous publication was done by Kafka’s goodfriend, Max Brod. Kafka’s work has been looked at through a variety of different lenses,including existentialism, modernism, and magical realism. All of his works display some2

sort of these characteristics, but scholars are still struggling to find a specific train of thought that they can attribute his writings to.As for the Cambridge Companion to Kafka, the book is split up and summarizesthe most influential works of Kafka in a brilliant and organized fashion. Specifically, the book looks at the following pieces by Kafka: The Man Who Disappeared, The Trial, andThe Castle. Amidst these particular readings, the book outlines various perspectives onKafka and ideas that relate to his writing. There are chapters that discuss, Kafka andGender, Kafka and Popular Culture, Kafka and Political Reading, and Kafka and JewishLife. All of these are most important in fully understanding and drawing conclusionsabout the work that Kafka has done in his lifetime. All of the contributors to this book areextremely well versed in the life and writings of Kafka as their brief biographies explaintowards the beginning of the book. Most have written entire books about Kafka as theyrelate to various topics in the modern world. Another really helpful aspect of this book isthat it begins with a chronology of events. This helps put various events in Kafka’s life in perspective and thus makes it quite easy and logical to navigate through the rest of the book as it is presented.The book begins with a summary of the life and times in which Kafka came tolive. It is entitled, “Kafka’s Europe.” This is an appropriate title, because Europe isconstantly changing and evolving, especially during the 20

century, and it is critical to provide the right context to gain a greater and richer understanding of his texts. Thechapter also talks about his family life, and how his penmanship was not unexpected ashis father and family in general were terrible skilled in language and writing. Apparently,his father was trilingual. The first chapter also does a good overview of the texts that are3