Colleagues working on modernist literature, photography or visual culture
may be interested in the following new publication:
Carolin Duttlinger
Kafka and Photography
Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2007
294 pages, 22 illustrations
ISBN: 978-0-19-921945-2
£55.00
http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199219452
Throughout his life, Franz Kafka was fascinated by photography, a medium
which for him came to encapsulate both the attractions and the pitfalls of
modern life. Kafka's personal engagement with the medium - as a keen viewer
and collector of photographs as well as an amateur photographer - is
reflected in his writings, which explore photography from a variety of
different perspectives By far the most frequently and extensively discussed
visual medium in Kafka's texts, photography is paradigmatic of his
relationship to visuality more generally. This study not only explores
photography's recurrence as a theme within his texts but it is also the
first to take systematic account of Kafka's use of photographs as literary
source material.
Kafka and Photography presents one of the most important modern writers
from an entirely new perspective; it sheds new light on familiar works and
uncovers unexplored aspects of Kafka's engagement with his time and
context. Providing a chronological account of key prose works, as well as
the personal writings, this study is accessible to students and lay
readers. It will be of interest not only to literary scholars but also to
those working in photography, media, and cultural studies. Its detailed
textual analyses are set against a richly documented historical context
which illustrates Kafka's interest in contemporary culture through a range
of visual material taken from public as well as private sources - some of
which has only recently become available. As this book demonstrates,
photography had a profound impact on Kafka's literary imagination and as
such helps to explain the mesmerizing intensity of enigmatic visual detail
which is a hallmark of his narratives.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Kafka and photography: History of a theoretical configuration
2. From film to photography: Constructing the viewer in the early diaries
3. Der Verschollene: Visions of the New World
4. Photographic metamorphoses: Die Verwandlung
5. Fetishistic exchange: Kafka's letters to Felice Bauer
6. Der Proceß: The criminological gaze
7. Optics of Power: 'Blumfeld', 'Ein Hungerkünstler', and Das Schloß
Conclusion: Kafka the photographer?
Bibliography
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