Excavating Kafka [Hardcover]

 

 

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It seems to me that what the reviewers above have done is to actually fixate upon the media furore about James Hawes book rather than actually read it for what it is. In my opinion, as an academic working in the field and who teaches Kafka at undergraduate level, this book deals a double-headed blow to both the "death of the author" dogmatists on the one side and those who reduce the texts simply to the psychological workings-out of some pre-existing psychological trauma within Kafka himself on the other. Now, this is a hard line to tread and Hawes does it very successfully, so that at the end of the book one feels that one has had certain prejudices undermined, been informed further about both the historical and intellectual context of the work but also had the quasi-saintly and untouchable status of Kafka healthily rebuked. This kind of "search for the historical Jesus" approach is long overdue and very welcome. Of course there are exaggerations and problems with it but the porn issue is actually a very minor part of the book. I find it interesting that those who protest so much about it have elevated it to the central point. I wonder why? This is a great and valuable addition to the literature on Kafka and should be welcomed as such.

This is a fascinating and infuriating book that adds to our understanding of Kafka in places and massively over eggs its own pudding in others. Its central discoveries are that Kafka kept a collection of pornography and that his use of prostitutes was more regular throughout his life than had been realized. Moreover, Hawes maintains it would have been easy enough for earlier biographers to find all this out but they preferred not to because it would have contradicted what Hawes calls the K-myth - namely that Kafak was an otherworldly, over-sensitive recluse. So far so good. Unfortunately Hawes then gets carried away. He lists other parts of the `K-myth' - that Kafka ordered all his work destroyed in his will, that he was unknown in his lifetime, terrified of his brutal father, crushed by a bureaucratic job, crippled for years by TB, too honest for his own good about his feelings in his relationships with women, was a minority within a minority as a German speaking Jew in Prague, that his work is based on his experiences as a Jew, that his works predict Auschwitz and that his works were burned by the Nazi's - and then dismisses them all as `rubbish'(page 7).Let's see

Kafka did indeed write one letter for his best friend Max Brod (who became editor of Kafka's work after his death) asking him to destroy all his works. However, Hawes is right that there is doubt about how serious Kafka was. Kafka was respected as a writer by people who mattered in Prague and further afield but, compared to his rightful position as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century whose books are in print, he was indeed virtually unknown in his lifetime. To say Kafka was terrified of his brutal father is an exaggeration but he was afraid of his father throughout his life. Kafka's job was a very responsible one - as many biographers have made plain - and was certainly not a dead end. However, insofar as Kafka really wanted to be a writer, it was crushing. Re the TB, given that he was pensioned off from his job in his late 30's and dead at 42, I would say that part of the myth is sound. In relationships with women, he was, apart from his excessive anxieties, very like other people and markedly better than a lot. As for the Jewish thing, I don't know of anyone who says he literally predicted Auschwitz, rather its is a matter of him having his finger on the pulse of the twentieth century, capturing its Zeitgeist, so to speak. Being a Jew was bound to have an influence on his writings but that is not the same as saying that they are about being Jewish. As for Kafka's work being burned by the Nazi's, in the 1930's the Nazi's raided the flat of Dora Dymant with whom Kafka lived until his death in 1924 and confiscated many papers that had belonged to Kafka. As there is no subsequent evidence of what happened to these papers, there is no wayof knowing whether they were burned or not.

Hawes has written a useful book that makes a couple of important discoveries. However, if he had calmed down and looked dispassionately at the K-myth to see which bits - if any - need modifying in the light of his important discoveries rather than dismissing it all as rubbish, this would've been a markedly better book

I agree that Hawes does overdo the "revelations" a bit but this book does make worthwhile reading to any lover of Kafka.
I hadn't read Kafka for 30 years but after reading this I do want to go back and read him again to try and put his writing into context of the time as described in this book. I was also surprised by some of the influences on Kafka's writing which are both social and literary. Too many of the biographies are influenced by Brod's interpretation of the great man and too much emphasis placed on the relationship between Kafka and his father.
The use of footnotes is somewhat irritating: the book tries to be a piece of academia which it isn't. The book is actually written in a very chatty "Daily Mail" sort of style which I suppose is intended to add to the drama of the revelations. Prior to reading this it does help to be aware of some of Kafka's life and how history has perceived him. What we conclude at the end is that Kafka wasn't such an enigma after all but he was a great writer.

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1.0 out of 5 stars A review by Dr. Joseph Suglia
A REVIEW OF EXCAVATING KAFKA BY JAMES HAWES

by Dr. Joseph Suglia

My goodness! Kafka was an onanist! Alert the presses! Read more

Published 7 months ago by Pen Name

2.0 out of 5 stars Warning!!
This book is "Frequently bought together" with Hawes' 'Why Read Kafka before you Waste your Life'. Amazon should stop this: they are the same book! Read more

Published on 15 Sep 2008 by John Frawley

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