Philosophy and Kafka

Several readings are illuminating. ... Philosophy and Kafka contains many valuable insights. ... The illuminating moments of Philosophy and Kafka will reward curious fans of Kafka's work. * Jewish Review of Books *
These illuminating essays explore some of the ways in which the ideas of philosophers such as Socrates, Spinoza, Kierkegaard, and Kant are at play in Kafka's writing, and the ways in which more recent philosophers such as Adorno, Agamben, Arendt, and Benjamin have considered Kafka's work. What is more, many of the essays collected here shed light on the ways in which Kafka's own thinking can contribute to on-going philosophical debates about issues such as the conditions for identity, the nature of animality, the requirements of justice, and the moral implications and promise of certain forms of writing. Philosophy and Kafka is an important and long overdue contribution to Kafka scholarship as well as to philosophical reflection on a range of pressing issues. -- Marc Lucht
This essay collection – the first of its kind – explores a rich variety of ways in which Kafka’s writings are bound to philosophical concerns. It bridges the gap between the philosophical and the literary, highlighting how the two coexist and illuminate one another. From Socrates to Agamben, from Kierkegaard to Wittgenstein, ethics and aesthetics, logic and literature, Kafka’s prose resonates, reflects and provokes. By bringing together scholars from different disciplines, "Philosophy and Kafka" establishes fascinating new paths of enquiry into Kafka’s thinking and philosophers’ engagement with it. It allows us to understand why we continue to be captured by Kafka’s writing, standing as a testament to its relevance, and attesting to the vitality of the research it inspires. -- Uta Degner, University of Salzburg