2. Franz KafkaFranz Kafka Born in Prague in 1883 Middle Class Jewish Family Wrote in German Lawyer employed in an insurance company Brotberuf = day job Died in 1924 Complications from laryngeal tuberculosis

3. Kafka’s FamilyKafka’s Family  Parents: Julie and Hermann  Defined by a complex, difficult relationship with his father  Theme in his writing: A son’s struggle with a domineering father.  Three sisters (Elli, Vallie, and Ottla), with whom he was very close.  All three sisters died in the Holocaust

4. Plots and ThemesPlots and Themes  “Kafkaesque”  An absurd, endless, illogical bureaucracy  Surreal and nightmarish  Claustrophobic  The Trial ( Der Process )  Josef K. is arrested by an inaccessible and remote body. Neither he nor the reader knows his crime.

5. Magical RealismMagical Realism  Kafka himself does not identify as a “magical realist,” but he is an important predecessor  The insertion of a magical event into realist fiction  The “real” and the “fantastic” are treated in the same way.  Goal: Reveal a deeper truth about reality or existence

6. Magical RealismMagical Realism  Often used for political commentary and social satire, esp. by women and postcolonial writers  Finding power within powerlessness  Challenging the dominant “Western” ideology of linear logic and time.  Revolution against a Capitalist order.  “De-centering” a hegemonic view of the world  Hegemony = dominance of one social group or order over another