In the stories of Franz Kafka we find the fantastical wearing the most ordinary, realist dress. Though haunted by abjection and failure, Kafka has come to embody the power and potential of literary imagination in the 20th century as it confronts the nightmares of modernity. In this episode, Marina Warner is joined by Adam Thirlwell to discuss the ways in which Kafka extended the realist tradition of the European novel by drawing on ‘simple forms’ – proverbs, wisdom literature and animal fables – to push the boundaries of what literature could explore, with reference to stories including ‘The Judgment’, ‘In the Penal Colony’ and ‘A Report to the Academy’.

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Further reading in the LRB:

Franz Kafka (trans. Michael Hofmann): Unknown Laws

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n14/franz-kafka/short-cuts

Rivka Galchen: What Kind of Funny is He?

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n23/rivka-galchen/what-kind-of-funny-is-he

Judith Butler: Who Owns Kafka?

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v33/n05/judith-butler/who-owns-kafka

J.P. Stern: Bad Faith

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v05/n13/j.p.-stern/bad-faith

Marina Warner is a writer of history, fiction and criticism whose many books include Stranger Magic, Forms of Enchantment and Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale. She was awarded the Holberg Prize in 2015 and is a contributing editor at the LRB.

Next episode: Jan Potocki’s The Manuscript Found at Saragossa and stories by Isak Dinesen.

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