GE214-15 The Strange World of Franz Kafka's Short Stories
Introductory description
N/A
Module aims
The module will analyse Kafka's short stories and short prose with reference to German modernism.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
Week 1: Introduction to the module and the author
Week 2: Kafka's 'Auf der Galerie' and Walser's 'Ovation'
Week 3: Patriarchal Power in 'Das Urteil'
Week 4: Performance Art or Art as Sham? 'Ein Hungerkünstler'
Week 5: Kafka's Animals: The Ape and his Audience in 'Ein Bericht für eine Akademie'
Week 6: READING WEEK
Week 7: Kafka's Animals: 'Kleine Fabel' and Aesop's 'Der Löwe und die Maus'
Week 8: Kafka's Animals: Narrative Perspective and Gender in 'Josefine, die Sängerin oder das Volk der Mäuse'
Week 9: Mysterious Messages: 'Eine kaiserliche Botschaft' and 'Vor dem Gesetz'
Week 10: Module Summary: The Strange World of Kafka's Short Stories
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- critically assess the formal aspects of Kafka’s short pros
- place Kafka’s stories in their socio-historical context
- critically assess Kafka’s contribution to modern German literature through engagement with secondary sources
Indicative reading list
Franz Kafka, Erzählungen. Stuttgart: reclam 1995.
Alt, Peter-André, Franz Kafka. Der ewige Sohn (Munich: Beck, 2005)
Anderson, Mark (1989) (ed.), Reading Kafka: Prague, Politics and the Fin-de Siècle New York:
Schocken.
Anderson Mark (1992), Kafka’s Clothes: Ornament and Aestheticism in Habsburg Fin de Siècle.
Oxford: Clarendon.
Boa, Elizabeth (1991), Kafka's Auf der Galerie. A Resistant Reading. DVjs 65: 486-501.
Boa, Elizabeth (1996), Kafka. Gender, Class and Race in the Letters and Fictions. Oxford:
Clarendon.
Bridgwater, Patrick: Kafka. Amsterdam: Rodopi 2003.
Dodd, Bill (1995) (ed.), Kafka. The Metamorphosis, The Trial and the Castle. London: Longman.
Fuchs, Anne (2002), Why Smallness Matters. Smallness, Attention and Distraction in Franz Kafka's
and Robert Walser's Short Prose. In: Kafka und die kleine Porsa der Moderne/and Short
Modernist Prose. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2010, pp. 167-181.
Gelber, Mark (2004) (ed.), Kafka, Zionism and Beyond. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
Gross, Ruth (2002), Kafka's Short Fiction. In: The Cambridge Companion to Kafka. Cambridge: CUP: 2002, pp. 80-95.
Gross, Ruth (1985), ‘Of Mice and Women. Reflections on a Discourse in Kafka’s Josefine, die Sängerin oder das Volk der Mäuse. The Germanic Review 60 (1985): 56-68.
Henel, Ingeborg (1964), Ein Hungerkünstler. DVjs 38: 230-247.
Herrmann, Elisabeth (2019), Dialog, Movement, and World Entanglement: Towards a Reconceptualization of World Literature. In: Vergleichende Weltliteraturen / Comparative World Literatures. Eds. Dieter Lamping and Galin Tihanov. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, 2019, 59-79.
Jahraus, Oliver (2006), Kafka: Leben, Schreiben, Machtapparate. Stuttgart: Reclam. Minden, Michael (2009), Kafka's Josefine, die Sängerin oder das Volk der Mäuse. German Life& Letters 62 (2009): 297-310.
Pascal, Roy (1982), Kafka’s Narrators: A Study of His Stories and Sketches. Cambridge: CUP, 1982. Politzer, Heinz (1966), Franz Kafka: Parable and Paradox (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.
Preece, Julian (2002) (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Kafka. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Robertson, Ritchie (1985), Kafka: Judaism, Politics and Literature. Oxford: Clarendon.
Robertson, Ritchie (2004), Kafka: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP.
Stern, J.P. (1985), Franz Kafka on Mice and Men. In: J. P. Stern and J. J. White (eds), Paths and Labyrinths: nine papers read at the Franz Kafka symposium held at the Institute of Germanic Studies on 20 and 21 October 1983. London: Institute of Germanic Studies: 141-155.
Zilcosky, John (2003), Kafka’s Travels. Exoticism, Colonialism, and the Traffic of Writing. Houndmills: Palgrave 2003.
View reading list on Talis Aspire
International
All modules delivered in SMLC are necessarily international. Students engage with themes and ideas from a culture other than that of the UK and employ their linguistic skills in the analysis of primary materials from a non-Anglophone context. Students will also be encouraged to draw on the experiences of visiting exchange students in the classroom and will frequently engage with theoretical and critical frameworks from across the world.
Subject specific skills
This module will develop students’ linguistic skills through engaging with primary materials in the target language. It will build students’ capacity to engage with aspects of German culture through analysis of this primary material and through seminar discussion aimed at deeper critical thinking. In particular, students’ awareness of Franz Kafka's short stories will be enhanced through lectures and seminars which engage in scholarship in the field.
Transferable skills
All SMLC culture modules demand critical and analytical engagement with artefacts from target-language cultures. In the course of independent study, class work and assessment students will develop the following skills: written and oral communication, creative and critical thinking, problem solving and analysis, time management and organisation, independent research in both English and their target language(s), intercultural understanding and the ability to mediate between languages and cultures, ICT literacy in both English and the target language(s), personal responsibility and the exercise of initiative.
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 9 sessions of 45 minutes (4%) |
| Seminars | 9 sessions of 1 hour 15 minutes (6%) |
| Online learning (independent) | 10 sessions of 2 hours (12%) |
| Private study | 22 hours (13%) |
| Assessment | 110 hours (65%) |
| Total | 170 hours |
Private study description
No private study requirements defined for this module.
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group D1
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
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| Critical review of a secondary source or statement (in German) | 20% | 30 hours | Yes (extension) |
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Students will engage with a secondary source related to class material and write a critical review. The review is to be written in German. Language and grammar will not be graded as long as the content is explicit and can be clearly understood. |
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Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| Class Participation | 10% | 30 hours | No |
|
Students will be encouraged and are expected to actively participate in class discussions by asking questions, volunteering an answer and responding to other students' contributions or questions. The aim of assessing class participation is to encourage students to share their ideas and knowledge with the group, and to motivate students to engage with background reading and preparation for each learning session. In addition to assessing students’ disciplinary knowledge and understanding, assessing class participation will also be used to encourage and reward development of communication skills and group skills such as interacting and cooperating. There is a clear difference between attendance and participation. |
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Reassessment component |
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| Reflective piece of writing | Yes (waive) | ||
|
Students will be encouraged and are expected to actively participate in class discussions by asking questions, volunteering an answer and responding to other students' contributions or questions. The aim of assessing class participation is to encourage students to share their ideas and knowledge with the group, and to motivate students to engage with background reading and preparation for each learning session. In addition to assessing students’ disciplinary knowledge and understanding, assessing class participation will also be used to encourage and reward development of communication skills and group skills such as interacting and cooperating. There is a clear difference between attendance and participation. Contributions may be submitted in written form. |
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Assessment component |
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| Online Examination | 70% | 50 hours | No |
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~Platforms - AEP
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Reassessment component is the same |
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Feedback on assessment
Feedback will be provided in the course of the module in a number of ways. Feedback should be understood to be both formal and informal and is not restricted to feedback on formal written work.
Oral feedback will be provided by the module tutor in the course of seminar discussion. This may include feedback on points raised in small group work or in the course of individual presentations or larger group discussion.
Written feedback will be provided on formal assessment using the standard SMLC Assessed Work feedback form appropriate to the assessment. Feedback is intended to enable continuous improvement throughout the module and written feedback is generally the final stage of this feedback process. Feedback will always demonstrate areas of success and areas for future development, which can be applied to future assessment. Feedback will be both discipline-specific and focused on key transferrable skills, enabling students to apply this feedback to their future professional lives. Feedback will be fair and reasonable and will be linked to the SMLC marking scheme appropriate to the module.
Pre-requisites
N/A
Courses
This module is Core option list B for:
- Year 2 of UGEA-R2V1 Undergraduate German and History
- Year 2 of UGEA-RW24 Undergraduate German and Theatre Studies
This module is Core option list C for:
- Year 3 of ULNA-R4RG Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and German
- Year 3 of UFRA-R900 Undergraduate Modern Languages
This module is Option list B for:
- Year 3 of ULNA-R9Q2 Undergraduate Modern Languages with Linguistics
- Year 3 of UPOA-M164 Undergraduate Politics, International Studies and German