TY - JOUR
TI - Kafka is Reading: The Body, Reading and his Literary Canon in The Diaries
AU - Balbierz, Jan
TI - Kafka is Reading: The Body, Reading and his Literary Canon in The Diaries
AB - This article explores the themes of reading, corporality and the literary canon in Kafka’s Diaries, one of the most important paratexts surrounding the works of the Prague-born author. The subject of corporality and the connection of bodily experiences – primarily diseases – with literary creation runs through the entirety of the diaries. In the article, I argue that while writing about pain and disease, Kafka, on the one hand, fits into the conventional picture, typical for the turn of the century, of a nervous and hypersensitive middle-class male writer; yet on the other hand, he constantly experiences genuine pain and suffering associated primarily with tuberculosis. The article also highlights the various modes of reading that appear in The Diaries (such as reading aloud and co-reading) and describes how Kafka formed his own personal and eccentric literary canon.
VL - Early Access
IS - Issue 4 (62) 2024
SN - 1897-1962
C1 - 2084-395X
UR - https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/wieloglos/article/kafka-czyta-cialo-lektura-i-kanon-literacki-w-dziennikach
KW - reading
KW - diaries
KW - somatopoetics
KW - literary canon
KW - culture around 1900
KW - Central European literature