*Here is my powerpoint: Kafka’s Existential Posture

My dear peers,

So, The Castle (Kafka’s third and final novel) is quite long, so I will not attach the novel but I will recommend certain passages (vs) chapters. I hope you’ll keep the themes of Melancholy, Delay, Subordination and Infinity in mind.  It would truly take the entire novel to capture the mood and environment of the novel, so I think focusing on short stories will be best for now.

Firstly, to give context to Kafka’s work (specifically, the mood and posture of his work…as existence precedes essence after all…) please read pages (15-32) of Kafka’s Letter to my Father

The Castle passages:

pp.13

But K. was distracted, fretting at this conversation. For the first time since his arrival he felt real weariness. At first the long journey here had not seemed to affect him at all—and he had walked for days, step after step, on and on!—but now all that physical strain was claiming its due, and at just the wrong time. He was irresistibly drawn to seek new acquaintances, but every new acquaintance left him wearier than ever. If he forced himself to walk at least as far as the entrance to the castle, that was more than enough in his present state. So he walked on, but it was a long way. For he was in the main street of the village, and it did not lead to Castle Mount but merely passed close to it before turning aside, as if on purpose, and although it moved no further away from the castle, it came no closer either. K. kept thinking that the road must finally bring him to the castle, and, if only because of that expectation, he went on. (pp.13)

pp.106

And now when after finishing his work in the stable, the coachman walked straight across the courtyard with his slow, swaying gait, closed the large gate, then came back, all this slowly and meticulously, focusing only on his own tracks in the snow, then locked the stable behind him, and all the electric lights went out –for whom should they have shone?–and only the opening above in the wooden gallery remained bright and briefly arrested one’s wandering gaze, it seemed to K. as if they had broken off all contact with him, but as if he were freer than ever and could wait as long as he wanted here in this place where he was generally not allowed, and as if he had fought for this freedom for himself in a manner nobody else could have done and as if nobody could touch him or drive him away, or even speak to him, yet–and this conviction was at least equally strong–as if there were nothing more senseless, nothing more desperate, than this freedom, this waiting, this invulnerability. 

pp. 236

With the loquacity of the happy man, we must explain it all. Without sparing ourselves in the slightest, we must show at length what has happened and why, how extraordinarily rare and uniquely great the opportunity is, we must show how the member of the public who, with all the helplessness of which only a member of the public can be capable, has walked by chance into his opportunity, we must show him, Mr Land Surveyor, how the member of the public can now control everything if he wants to, and 236 The Castle need do nothing but somehow or other make his request, there is a document for granting it already prepared, we say, ready to be handed to him—we must go into all that. It is a dark hour for an official. But when you have done that, Mr Land Surveyor, what’s most necessary has been done, and you must possess your soul in patience and wait

I hope that you will read the following short stories (less than a few pages per story) that capture the essential Kafka spirit

Story 1:  The Excursion to the Mountains 

Story 2: Unhappiness

Story 3: The Trees

Story 4: The Bucket Rider

A recording of me reading the Bucket Rider (excuse the white noise)

Story 5:  The Window on The Street 

Another…The Window on The Street

I’d like to start out by apologizing for the very late upload–I’ve been struggling with how to transition between the fragmented ideas I’ve had for this and ended up changing the structure quite a bit. It’s turned out to be a bit longer than I’d hoped, too, so it might be a longer read than most of the others.

I’ve written something in the style of Invisible Man’s prologue, trying my best to incorporate Ralph Ellison’s musical, dreamlike style while focusing on an aspect of invisibility that we haven’t talked about in class–condemnation. The invisibility of Ellison’s protagonist is not just a willful aspect, but a condition that plagues the protagonist and many others. Just like how in Chapter 1, the protagonist finds himself taking the responsibility and burden for a condition that was not his own (race), I have chosen to write a creative piece on the arbitrariness of responsibility.

I’ve also taken thematic and literary influences from Nietzsche, Sartre, Kierkegaard, and Dostoevsky in the writing, so it may be a bit more like these authors than Ellison himself was.

Here is the approximately 3,400 word short story, “I dreamed that I was in Hell.”

Hi everyone,

This week I will be presenting on Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man. This is a very heavy novel, filled with powerful themes and ideas, so I found it a little difficult to narrow my analysis down to just one main idea. In spite of this I decided to go with the idea presented about social identity and conformity. In an ironical way Ellison describes how becoming an invisible man is the process of  freeing oneself  from the expectations and opinions of others, and in doing so finding one’s personal identity despite the drive to conform within a group. I found this ironical because in being individual and realizing oneself, Ellison shows how this doesn’t cause a person to stand out, as might be expected, but rather causes them to lose their social value, and thus become invisible. The excerpts I chose highlight this point made throughout the novel, and I hope they give you an insight into the main themes presented by Ellison.

I am new to Ellison’s work, so my interpretations might be a little naive, but I tried to find as much textual evidence as I could to support my topic, all I can hope is that I do his brilliant novel justice.

As a side note I wanted to point out the similarity between Ellison’s ideas and those of Camus in his book The Stranger. Both novels show men who are unable to conform to society, and who are on a journey to self realization. However, Ellison’s protagonist is continually fighting to be part of something, a social group or organization, because this is how he believes he can find his identity and purpose. On  the other hand Camus’ protagonist unknowingly exists outside of any classification because he doesn’t know how to conform to what society believes is his role and his identity. In the end both men find their meaning in freedom, or as Ellison claims, in invisibility.

prologue

epilogue  

chapter 25

Nietzsche is perhaps the best example of crossing over literary methodology and philosophical engagement. Though he isn’t the first to do so, certainly Plato was a master at using story to display philosophical concepts, Nietzsche stands as an example of what philosophical prose can do. He became wildly popular, especially with this book, and solidified his place in Continental Philosophy forever. He is absolutely inescapable when talking about Existentialism. His insights and historical presence carry through to almost all authors and philosophers we will be studying on heretofore.

1. Please read the “TSZ Notes (introduction), it gives a brief and wonderfully concise historical account of Nietzsche’s, often disputed, life.
2. I would recommend reading the prologue because he brings up concepts essential for the rest of Zarathustra sermons.
3. Then, read some/or all of the other pieces and choose one to focus in on. Be prepared to give a brief explanation of ideas presented within. Be aware that Nietzsche is often purposefully contradictory, ironic, sarcastic, and underhandedly humorous. Therefore, I would recommend going to outside sources to establish what might be going.
4. Please bring at least one well thought out discussion question to help us work through the texts together.

TSZ Notes (Introduction)

TSZ Prologue

TSZ Despisers of the Body
TSZ Joys and Passion
TSZ Preachers of Death
TSZ Self-Surpassing
TSZ The Thousand and One Goals
TSZ The Three Metamorphoses

Also, Melissa found this great article connecting Dostoevsky to Nietzsche. She will be speaking about it briefly. More material for papers and discussion.

(Optional Reading): SToeber Dostoevsky’s devil

Thanks for your continued participation!