Topics in Prose Fiction: Kafka and the Powers of Modernity

This seminar will explore the enigmatic world of Franz Kafka, from his stories to his unfinished novels, with some attention to his posthumously published diary and letters. We will pay special attention to the role of the law, machine, animals, objects, and the family. In addition to a close reading Kafka’s major literary text, we will engage with pertinent philosophical texts by thinkers as Benjamin, Blanchot, Deleuze and Guattari, Foucault, and Nietzsche.