Stephen D. Dowden Livres

Kafka's final, unfinished novel The Castle remains one of the most celebrated yet most stubbornly uninterpretable masterpieces of modernist fiction. Consequently it has been a lightning rod for theories and methods of literary criticism. In this chronological study of its fate at the hands of academic and non-academic critics, S. D. Dowden lays emphasis on the acts of critical imagination that have shaped our image and understanding of Kafka and his novel. He explores the historical and cultural contingencies of criticism: from the Weimar Era of Max Brod and Walter Benjamin to Lionel Trilling's Cold War to the postmodern moment of multiculturalism and its turn to "cultural studies." Dowden shows how and why The Castle became a contested site in the imaginative life of each succeeding generation of criticism. In addition, he accounts for those moments at which Kafka's novel escapes, or at least attempts to escape, the gravitational pull of historically anchored understanding. Forthright in its prose, Dowden's is a book essential for anyone, casual reader or professional critic, who hopes to grasp the peculiar difficulties and challenges of Kafka's prose in general and of The Castle in particular.

Exploring the interconnectedness of modernist fiction, painting, music, and poetry, the author presents a transformative perspective on mimesis, challenging the notion that modernism rejected it. Instead, it reveals a nuanced understanding that embraces simplicity and common culture, arguing that naïveté was a vital artistic principle. The text posits that modernism seeks to bridge the divide between subject and object, with mimesis facilitating this connection through elements of play and festivity, ultimately redefining the modernist experience as accessible rather than elitist.

Proceedings of the Brandeis conference on Jewish Germanists who fled Nazi Germany and their impact on Anglo-American German studies.

Volume offering a guide to and reassessment of Thomas Mann's famous novel.

The series Studien zur deutschen Literatur (Studies in German Literature) presents outstanding analyses of German-speaking literature from the early modern period to the present day. It particularly embraces comparative, cultural and historical-epistemological questions and serves as a tradition-steeped forum for innovative literary research. All submitted manuscripts undergo a double peer-review process. Please contact the editor Dr. Marcus Böhm (marcus. boehm [at] degruyter. com) for further information regarding manuscript submission and subsidies.