“Read a little of Goethe's Diaries.
Distance now holds his life tight and sedated,
these diaries set it alight.”
Kafka’s diary, 19th December 1910
Franz Kafka was not only a 'poet of shame and guilt', to use Saul Friedländer's term, and one of the first to diagnose the bureaucratic state, but also an experimenter deeply rooted in the literary tradition. As an avid and omnivorous reader, Kafka constantly comments on his readings, but also adopts narrative patterns and motifs borrowed from world literature, ranging from the Classics and the Old Testament to, among others, Shakespeare, Kleist, Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky. Just as importantly, the Prague author, whose position in the canon of world literature shifted rapidly from the margins to the very centre, still remains a constant reference point for successive generations of writers in Europe and around the world.
To commemorate the centenary of Kafka’s death, Studia Litteraria Universitatis Iagiellonicae Cracoviensis is planning a thematic issue devoted to his work, under the guest editorship of Jan Balbierz and Natalia Palich. We welcome articles on Franz Kafka in a broad comparative perspective and in the context of world literature.
The deadline for the final papers is 31 December 2023. Please, send them to Jan Balbierz (jan.balbierz@uj.edu.pl), and/or Katarzyna Bazarnik (k.bazarnik@uj.edu.pl), and/or Natalia Palich (natalia.palich@uj.edu.pl).