The Law and the Void: Hans Christian Andersen and Franz Kafka. Two Modern Parabolists

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

RIV/00216208:11210/19:10404918 - isvavai.cz

Výsledek na webu

https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=yyg4QZYa9i

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

—

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

The Law and the Void: Hans Christian Andersen and Franz Kafka. Two Modern Parabolists

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

Of Franz Kafka, Walter Benjamin aptly wrote: 'everything he describes makes statements about something other than itself'. Indeed, we are constantly challenged to decipher what Kafka's meticulous prose is pointing at, though the story itself works on its own premises. The inherent polysemy of 'Eine kaiserliche Botschaft' ('An Imperial Message') or 'Ein Hungerkunstler' ('A Hunger Artist') suggests, instead, the ancient parable tradition. But Kafka's modern parables diverge radically from the tradition. They obey a law, yet it is elusive, hence they are examples of the modern parable. In this article I take as my starting point Gila SafranNaveh's claim that Kafka is chronologically the first in the modern parable tradition. I assert that Hans Christian Andersen's much earlier fairytales 'Skyggen' ('The Shadow'), 'Ole Lukoie' and 'Hjertesorg' ('Heartache') can legitimately be interpreted as modern parables as well, because there is a striking structural similarity between them and the Kafka stories. In my article I focus on the parabolic character of Andersen's tales since - unlike in Kafka's stories - this topic has not yet been discussed by scholars exhaustively. Kafka's short stories serve merely as a benchmark of the modern parable. Generally, I suggest reading many of Andersen's stories as literature that sabotages the didactic parable.

Název v anglickém jazyce

The Law and the Void: Hans Christian Andersen and Franz Kafka. Two Modern Parabolists

Popis výsledku anglicky

Of Franz Kafka, Walter Benjamin aptly wrote: 'everything he describes makes statements about something other than itself'. Indeed, we are constantly challenged to decipher what Kafka's meticulous prose is pointing at, though the story itself works on its own premises. The inherent polysemy of 'Eine kaiserliche Botschaft' ('An Imperial Message') or 'Ein Hungerkunstler' ('A Hunger Artist') suggests, instead, the ancient parable tradition. But Kafka's modern parables diverge radically from the tradition. They obey a law, yet it is elusive, hence they are examples of the modern parable. In this article I take as my starting point Gila SafranNaveh's claim that Kafka is chronologically the first in the modern parable tradition. I assert that Hans Christian Andersen's much earlier fairytales 'Skyggen' ('The Shadow'), 'Ole Lukoie' and 'Hjertesorg' ('Heartache') can legitimately be interpreted as modern parables as well, because there is a striking structural similarity between them and the Kafka stories. In my article I focus on the parabolic character of Andersen's tales since - unlike in Kafka's stories - this topic has not yet been discussed by scholars exhaustively. Kafka's short stories serve merely as a benchmark of the modern parable. Generally, I suggest reading many of Andersen's stories as literature that sabotages the didactic parable.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

60205 - Literary theory

Projekt

EF16_019/0000734: Kreativita a adaptabilita jako předpoklad úspěchu Evropy v propojeném světě

Návaznosti

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)
O - Projekt operacniho programu

Rok uplatnění

2019

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Scandinavica

ISSN

0036-5653

e-ISSN

—

Svazek periodika

58

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

1

Stát vydavatele periodika

GB - Spojené království Velké Británie a Severního Irska

Počet stran výsledku

37

Strana od-do

31-67

Kód UT WoS článku

000474505400002

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85070225599