Fr. 86.50

Kafka's Travels - Exoticism, Colonialism, and the Traffic of Writing

English · Hardback

Shipping usually within 3 to 5 weeks (title will be specially ordered)

Description

Read more

In 1916, Kafka writes of The Sugar Baron , a dime-store colonial adventure novel, '[it] affects me so deeply that I feel it is about myself, or as if it were the book of rules for my life.' John Zilcosky reveals that this perhaps surprising statement - made by the Prague-bound poet of modern isolation - is part of a network of remarks that exemplify Kafka's ongoing preoccupation with popular travel writing, exoticism, and colonial fantasy. Taking this biographical peculiarity as a starting point, Kafka's Travels elegantly re-reads Kafka's major works ( Amerika , The Trial , The Castle ) through the lens of fin-de siecle travel culture. Making use of previously unexplored literary and cultural materials - travel diaries, train schedules, tour guides, adventure novels - Zilcosky argues that Kafka's uniquely modern metaphorics of alienation emerges out of the author's complex encounter with the utopian travel discourses of his day.

List of contents

Introduction: Kafka's Travels? Transcending the Exotic: Nostalgia, Exoticism, and Kafka's Early Travel Novel, Richard and Samuel The "America" Novel: Learning How to Get Lost Travelling at Home: The Trial and the Exotic Heimat Savage Travel: Sadism and Masochism in "In the Penal Colony" Surveying the Castle: Kafka's Colonial Visions The Traffic of Writing: Technologies of Verkehr in the Letters to Milena Epilogue: Kafka's Remains: Travel, Death, and the Exotic Journey Home

About the author

JOHN ZILCOSKY teaches German and Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto, Canada. He has published articles on Kafka, Schopenhauer, Paul Auster, Botho Strauss, and literary theory.

Summary

In 1916, Kafka writes of The Sugar Baron , a dime-store colonial adventure novel, '[it] affects me so deeply that I feel it is about myself, or as if it were the book of rules for my life.' John Zilcosky reveals that this perhaps surprising statement - made by the Prague-bound poet of modern isolation - is part of a network of remarks that exemplify Kafka's ongoing preoccupation with popular travel writing, exoticism, and colonial fantasy. Taking this biographical peculiarity as a starting point, Kafka's Travels elegantly re-reads Kafka's major works ( Amerika , The Trial , The Castle ) through the lens of fin-de siecle travel culture. Making use of previously unexplored literary and cultural materials - travel diaries, train schedules, tour guides, adventure novels - Zilcosky argues that Kafka's uniquely modern metaphorics of alienation emerges out of the author's complex encounter with the utopian travel discourses of his day.

Additional text

'[T]here is much to be said for [Zilcosky's] new, postcolonial Kafka.' - Times Literary Supplement

Report

'[T]here is much to be said for [Zilcosky's] new, postcolonial Kafka.' - Times Literary Supplement

Product details

Authors J Zilcosky, J. Zilcosky, John Zilcosky
Publisher Springer Palgrave Macmillan
 
Languages English
Product format Hardback
Released 01.01.2003
 
EAN 9780312232818
ISBN 978-0-312-23281-8
No. of pages 289
Dimensions 147 mm x 224 mm x 20 mm
Weight 507 g
Illustrations XVII, 289 p.
Subjects Fiction > Narrative literature
Humanities, art, music > History > Modern era up to 1918

Customer reviews

No reviews have been written for this item yet. Write the first review and be helpful to other users when they decide on a purchase.

Write a review

Thumbs up or thumbs down? Write your own review.

For messages to CeDe.ch please use the contact form.

The input fields marked * are obligatory

By submitting this form you agree to our data privacy statement.