Franz Kafka, a unique writer

Preface. - Franz Kafka, a unique writer

without successors.

               

A strong irony of a peculiar kind finds its place in Kafka´s literary works. Kafka´s irony is of a particular kind because it is based upon a split in its structural, literary form: This in turn is based upon a division which is based upon Kafka´s conception of Sigmund Freud´s views and theories around dream and consciousness, a conception that Kafka from 1912 and onwards used as a literary method. This split, in the works of Kafka, the irony which is its effect and “the Kafkaesque” which is the trademark of this effect and the other consequences of the division of the narrative universe, is what this book mainly is about. This book is a very technical one, and it does not speculate on the meaning of Kafka´s technique. It concentrates on what can be laid out before us, if we take a closer look at what is “kafkaesque” in the works of Kafka.

Kafka´s authorship is – on that many agree - very subtle, and wholly unique. There is, at the same time, nothing artificial in it. People sees it as subtle, but often cannot say why. They say it is unique, but cannot specify on that either. It is also a coherent authorship, and the beauty and truth of these literary works spring from a very rare sensibility and excellent craftsmanship. The uniqueness is of such a kind, that Kafka is without actual predecessors, as well as successors. There is no ”Kafka-school.” Kafka is one of a kind. There will most probably never materialize any successor. We might not even see any traces from Kafka in books written later than Kafka´s. Kafka obviously also, in this splendid isolation, has, grown to become a concept of his own:

 “It was quite a kafka scenario.”; ”Almost Kafkaesque!” ;“ It certainly  was a bit kafka.”

 

It is absolutely rare for an author to have an impact like Kafka, because his impact is not only due to his style, but also to the alleged content, and the mood of his works.

He presents something new, and when he was gone ( which he in fact already had been when his major works were published ), he vanished together with the ability to write such stories. Such stories, with that kind of irony and that kind of “Kafkaesque scenes”.