Constructive Destruction

Kafka's Aphorisms: Literary Tradition and Literary Transformation

Richard T. Gray

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9783484180918
• eBook ISBN: 9783110920093
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Jewish History
• Index: Literature

The study presents a thorough investigation of Kafka's aphoristic writings, examining them in terms of the history of the aphorism in Germany, and paying special regard to Kafka's contemporary Austrian aphorists. Emphasis is placed on the role of the aphorism in the development of Kafka's literary creativity. Aphoristic discourse presented itself to Kafka as a possible manner of resolving specific conflicts in his life and art, above all the crisis of communication the individuality of the self. Aphoristic structure provides the transitional link between Kafka´s early perspectivistic narratives and the parables of the later period.

Table of contents

• Introduction
• CHAPTER ONE: History, Tradition, and Structure of the Aphorism
• I. The History of the Aphorism
• II. The German and French Models of Aphoristic Expression
• III. The Text-Internal Dialectic of the Aphorism
• IV. Aphorism and Hermeneutics: The Text-External Dialectic
• V. Aphorism and Linguistic Scepticism
• CHAPTER TWO: Aphorism and Aphorists in Turn-of-the-Century Austria
• I. Aphorism and Zeitgeist
• II. From Impression to Epiphany: The Aphorism in the Austrian Jahrhundertwende
• III. Aphorism and Sprachkrise in Turn-of-the-Century Austria
• CHAPTER THREE: Kafka: Aphoristic Text and Aphoristic Context
• I. Kafka and Turn-of-the-Century Austria
• II. Kafka's Inclination Toward Aphoristic Utterances
• III. Kafka and “Aphoristics”
• IV. Kafka's Aphorisms and the Crisis of Communication
• CHAPTER FOUR: Kafka and his Aphoristic Precursors
• I. Aphorism and Autobiography: Self-Observation and Self-Projection
• II. Pascal and Kierkegaard: Scepticism and Critical Method
• III. Aphorism and Polemics: Karl Kraus
• CHAPTER FIVE: Kafka's Aphorisms: Intratext and Intertext
• I. Compositional History and Compositional Strategies of Kafka's Aphorisms
• II. Form and Structure of Kafka's Aphorisms
• CHAPTER SIX: Aphorism and Met-Aphorism: The Relationship of Aphorism and Parable in Kafka's OEuvre
• BIBLIOGRAPHY