Constructing China: Kafka's Orientalist Discourse

Rolf J. Goebel

ISBN 10: 1571131442 / ISBN 13: 9781571131447

Published by Boydell and Brewer Ltd, US, 1997

About this Item

Kafka's interest in and use of China establish him as a principal commentator in Western discourse on the Orient.Goebel studies four representative works by Kafka that explore the problems of the Western representation of the Orient: his 'Description of a Struggle'; several letters to Felice Bauer, offering an interpretation of Chinese poetry in connection with the conflict between writing and Kafka's love for Felice; the canonical story 'The Great Wall of China', parodically appropriating sterotypes of China's stagnant history and authoritarian emperors for a refutation of colonialist ideas of progress; and the sequel 'An Old Manuscript', dramatising China's invasion by foreign powers and the breakdown of crosscultural communication. Elucidating these themes from a broadly comparative perspective, Goebel shows Kafka to be one of German modernism's most intriguing and self-reflective writers on the Orient.ROLF J. GOEBEL is Professor of German at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781571131447

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Constructing China: Kafka's Orientalist Discourse
• Publisher: Boydell and Brewer Ltd, US
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1571131442
• ISBN 13: 9781571131447
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 380 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Kafka's interest in and use of China establish him as a principal commentator in Western discourse on the Orient.

Goebel studies four representative works by Kafka that explore the problems of the Western representation of the Orient: his 'Description of a Struggle'; several letters to Felice Bauer, offering an interpretation of Chinese poetry in connection with the conflict between writing and Kafka's love for Felice; the canonical story 'The Great Wall of China', parodically appropriating sterotypes of China's stagnant history and authoritarian emperors for a refutation of colonialist ideas of progress; and the sequel 'An Old Manuscript', dramatising China's invasion by foreign powers and the breakdown of crosscultural communication. Elucidating these themes from a broadly comparative perspective, Goebel shows Kafka to be one of German modernism's most intriguing and self-reflective writers on the Orient.
ROLF J. GOEBEL is Professor of German at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

About the Author

ROLF J. GOEBEL is Distinguished Professor of German, Emeritus, at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.