Kafka and the Universal / / edited by Arthur Cools and Vivian Liska.

• Superior document: Interdisciplinary German Cultural Studies, Volume 21
• Author: Cools, Arthur
• TeilnehmendeR: Cools, Arthur,; Liska, Vivian,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin, [Germany] ;, Boston, [Massachusetts] : : De Gruyter,, 2016.; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Interdisciplinary German cultural studies ; Volume 21.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (334 p.)
• Notes: Includes index.

Kafka's work has been attributed a universal significance and is often regarded as the ultimate witness of the human condition in the twentieth century. Yet his work is also considered paradigmatic for the expression of the singular that cannot be subsumed under any generalization. This paradox engenders questions not only concerning the meaning of the universal as it manifests itself in (and is transformed by) Kafka's writings but also about the expression of the singular in literary fiction as it challenges the opposition between the universal and the singular. The contributions in this volume approach these questions from a variety of perspectives. They are structured according to the following issues: ambiguity as a tool of deconstructing the pre-established philosophical meanings of the universal; the concept of the law as a major symbol for the universal meaning of Kafka's writings; the presence of animals in Kafka's texts; the modernist mode of writing as challenge of philosophical concepts of the universal; and the meaning and relevance of the universal in contemporary Kafka reception. This volume examines central aspects of the interplay between philosophy and literature.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Kafka and the Universal: Introduction / Cools, Arthur / Liska, Vivian -- Section 1: The Ambiguity of the Singular -- The Singular Accident in a Universe of Risk: An Approach to Kafka and the Paradox of the Universal / Corngold, Stanley -- Philosophy and Ambiguity in Benjamin's Kafka / Moran, Brendan -- The Logic of the "Swamp World": Hegel with Kafka on the Contradiction of Freedom / Rosendal, Søren -- The Necessary Revision of the Concept of the Universal: Kafka's "Singularity" / Villani, Arnaud -- Section 2: Before the Law -- Am-ha'aretz: The Law of the Singular. Kafka's Hidden Knowledge / Schonfeld, Eli -- Desire and Responsibility: The Case of K. / Cools, Arthur -- Derrida-Reads-Kafka / Ben-Naftali, Michal -- Section 3: Animals -- Of Mammoth Smallness: Franz Kafka's "The Village Schoolmaster" / Gasché, Rodolphe -- Irreducible Pluralities: The Jewish Legacy of Franz Kafka / Suchoff, David -- Kafka's Cat-Lamb: Hybridization of Genesis and Taxonomy / Glazova, Anna -- Section 4: Modernism -- Kafka's Anti-Epiphanies / Rabaté, Jean-Michel -- Modernism's Particulars, Oscillating Universals, and Josefine's Singular Singing / Markotic, Lorraine -- The Alarm Clock: The Times of Gregor Samsa / Shahar, Galili -- Section 5: After Kafka -- Reading Kafka: A Personal Story / Sandbank, Shimon -- Kafka, Pro and Contra: Günther Anders's Holocaust Book / Gellen, Kata -- Dis/Placing Thought: Franz Kafka and Hannah Arendt / Erdle, Birgit R. -- Notes on Contributors -- Name Index