In Kafka and Wittgenstein, Rebecca Schuman undertakes the first ever book-length scholarly examination of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language alongside Franz Kafka’s prose fiction. In groundbreaking readings, she argues that although many readers of Kafka are searching for what his texts mean, in this search we are sorely mistaken. Instead, the problems and illusions we portend to uncover, the important questions we attempt to answer —Is Josef K. guilty? If so, of what? What does Gregor Samsa’s transformed body mean? Is Land-Surveyor K. a real land surveyor?— themselves presuppose a bigger delusion: that such questions can be asked in the first place. Drawing deeply on the entire range of Wittgenstein’s writings, Schuman cannily sheds new light on the enigmatic Kafka.
Author(s): Rebecca Schuman
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Year: 2015
Language: English
Commentary: Based on the author’s dissertation.
Pages: ix, 220
City: Evanston
Tags: Kafka, Franz, 1883–1924 -- Criticism and interpretation; Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1889–1951; Literature -- Philosophy; German Literary Criticism; Modernism Literary Criticism
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 8
List of Abbreviations......Page 10
Introduction: Why Kafka and Wittgenstein?......Page 14
Part One: Logical Modernism: Kafka and the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus......Page 24
Preface to Part One. Logic, Skepticism, and Mysticism......Page 26
Chapter 1. The Trial and the Law of Logic......Page 50
Chapter 2. The Metamorphosis and the Limits of Metaphorical Language......Page 66
Chapter 3. “The Judgment,” Ethics, and the Ineffable......Page 96
Part Two: Analytic Skepticism: Kafka and the Philosophical Investigations......Page 118
Preface to Part Two. Wittgenstein’s Transition and a More Analytic Kafka......Page 120
Chapter 4. The Castle and the Paradox of Ostensive Definition......Page 124
Chapter 5. Rule-Following and Failed Execution: “In the Penal Colony”......Page 148
Chapter 6. The Private Language Argument and the Undermining of “Josefine the Singer”......Page 178
Concluding Thoughts: The Problem with (Critical) Progress......Page 204
Notes......Page 208
Works Cited......Page 224
Index......Page 230
