A REPORT TO AN ACADEMY

Franz Kafka -1883-1924 -Born in Prague into a middle-class, Jewish family -Lawyer in Workers' Insurance Company but loved to write German short stories. 1917: ‘A report to an academy’ was written 1919: Published in A Country Doctor, a collection of short stories

Associated with JM Coetzee- Elizabeth Costello Other famous literary works: The Metamorphosis. The Trial. The Castle. All dwell on physical and psychological brutality, parent-child conflict, characters on a terrifying quest, and mystical transformations. Kafkaesque has entered the English language to describe surreal situations like those in his writing.

A Report to an Academy Ein Bericht für eine Akademie The story is a satirization of Jews assimilation into Western culture WW1 ended in 1918 Franz Kafka was part of the Prague Circle, a group of German-Jewish writers who contributed to the culturally fertile soil of Prague during the 1880s until after World War I. Kafka was above all Jewish

A Report to an Academy Ein Bericht für eine Akademie Western Jewry — people who were largely emancipated from their specifically Jewish ways and yet not fully assimilated into the culture of the countries where they lived For his recurring theme of human alienation, Kafka is deeply indebted to his situation there as a social outcast, a victim of the friction between Czechs and Germans, Jews and non-Jews.

The Story of Red Peter A three-sided cage nailed to a locker. My face was turned toward the locker while the bars of the cage cut into my flesh behind. How Red Peter came to being

There was no attraction for me in imitating human beings; I imitated them because I needed a way out, and for no other reason. He wanted to find a way out. Not freedom

Or not? Chose to perform on variety stage

How did Kafka imagine Red Peter 1. Written from the perception of an ape. Of course what I felt then as an ape I can represent now only in human terms, and therefore I misrepresent it, but although I cannot reach back to the truth of the old ape life, there is no doubt that it lies somewhere in the direction I have indicated.' (P253) 2. Wild beasts should be placed in captivity. The place for apes was in front of the locker. Well then I had to stop being an ape. (P253)

How did Kafka imagine Red Peter 3. Animals did not possess the faculty to think. A fine, clear train of thought, which I must have constructed somehow with my belly, since apes think with their bellies. (P253) 4. Red peter could only imitate humans. And not truly act like the way humans do. 5. Aversion to human beings that requires self control to overcome.

How did Kafka imagine Red Peter 6. Still preserves his innate animality. I take comfort in her as apes do. (P259) 7. Does an animal want to be human? Or acquire human traits? To cast off apehood in five years and gallop through the whole evolution of mankind It's a great deal, I know, and sometimes it surpasses even my understanding. In tranquil moments, however, I feel less exuberant about it. (P261)

To you also, honored Members of the Academy, I have only made a report.

Discussion questions Red Peter mentioned that he was able to reach the "cultural level of an average European" (p. 258) after five years. What were some examples of how Red Peter mimicked  humans in order to gain their recognition? How do these illustrations highlight anthropocentrism in humans' evaluation of animals? Regarding the transformation of the protagonist from an ape to a 'human' well adapted to city life, what was the defining line that he identified and had to cross? What are some of the ironies present in this story, and how are they demonstrated in Red Peter's transformation with reference to the way he had to perform to find a "way out"?  What does this suggest about the underlying assumption(s) in regard to the relation between the animal and the human?  Red Peter was able to act like a human, communicate and in essence "cast off apehood in five years and gallop through the whole evolution of mankind." Does this not bear a striking resemblance to Caesar? Since both Kafka and the Rise of the Planet of the Apes center upon animal experimentation, to what extent might we see Red Peter as the product of an experiment? If so, what are the consequences of that experiment? Please discuss this with reference to the line 'Caesar is home'.