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Synopsis
"One should either be a work of art, or wear one," proclaimed Oscar Wilde at the end of the nineteenth century; "I am made of literature, I am nothing else, and cannot be anything else," Franz Kafka declared a decade later. Between these two claims lies the largely unexplored region in which the European decadent movement turned into the modernist avant-garde. In this original historical study, Anderson explores Kafka's early dandyism, his interest in fashion, literary decadence and the "superficial" spectacle of modern urban life as well as his subsequent repudiation of these phenomena in forging a literary identity as the isolated, otherworldly "poet" of modern alienation. Rather than posit a break between these two personae, Anderson charts the historical continuities between the young Kafka and the author of The Metamorphosis and The Trial. The result is a startlingly unconventional portrait of Kafka and Prague at the turn of the century, involving such issues as Jungendstil aesthetics, Otto Weininger's "egoless" woman, the Viennese critique of architectural ornament, the clothing reform movement, anti-Semitism, and the question of Jewish-German writing.
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About the Author
Mark M. Anderson, Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literature, Columbia University.
Review
"An innovative study of Kafka's search for literature, cogent and elegantly argued throughout."--Choice
"A fascinating and insightful reading of Kafka, which places the Czech writer's attitude to the body, and his engagement with theories of body culture, art and adornment of his period, at the centre of his work."--The Guardian
"Spritely, innovative, and provocative....It is a book about Kafka worth reading."--London Times Saturday Review
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- PublisherOxford University Press
- Publication date1992
- ISBN 10 0198151624
- ISBN 13 9780198151623
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages244
- Rating
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Kafka's Clothes: Ornament and Aestheticism in the Habsburg Fin de Si?cle
Published by
Oxford University Press, USA, 1992
ISBN 10: 0198151624
ISBN 13: 9780198151623
Used
Hardcover
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 1.05. Seller Inventory # G0198151624I3N00
Quantity: 1 available
Seller Image
Kafka's Clothes: Ornament and Aestheticism in the Habsburg Fin de Siècle
Published by
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1992
ISBN 10: 0198151624
ISBN 13: 9780198151623
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Bookworks [MWABA, IOBA], Beloit, WI, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hard Cover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Style, body culture, aesthetics, and literature in Prague, and "the largely unexplored region in which the European decadent movement turned into the modernist avant-garde." Navy hardcover, gilt titling. Light wear to book & jacket, but some ink marginalia & underlining on a few pages. [14], 231 pages; index, bibliography, b/w plates. Size: Octavo. Seller Inventory # r0910
Quantity: 1 available