LitWiki - User contributions [en]

Kafka

2006-04-17T17:08:09Z

Ewertz: /* Biography */

== Biography ==

Franz Kafka was born in Prague on July 3,1883. Like most authors he was over looked during his short life. He was raised in a middle class Jewish family and had a very strict father, Hermann. Hermann owned a dry-goods wholesale store, he was an uneducated but industrious Czech who had married Julie Loewy, an urbane, German-speaking Jew from a slightly higher social class. “Hermann's domineering manner greatly distressed young Kafka, who found his father loud, impatient, unsympathetic, and, consequently, overwhelming and intimidating” (Contemporary). “Kafka’s most remembered childhood memory was of an incident in which he repeatedly cried from his bed for water, where then his father took him to the balcony and locked him outside” (Contemporary). Many years later this event still haunted Kafka, and in one of his later works he criticized him for his crude methods. “’For years thereafter,’ Kafka wrote, ‘I kept being haunted by fantasies of this giant of a man, my father, the ultimate judge, coming to get me in the middle of the night, and for almost no reason at all dragging me out of bed onto the pavlatch--in other words, that as far as he was concerned, I was an absolute Nothing’” (Contemporary). In 1901-1906 Kafka studied German literature and received a law degree at a German University in Prague. Kafka then goes to work for the law office of Richard Lowy in Prague and goes back to college for his doctorate degree. "In his brief lifetime, Kafka wrote some of the most orginal and influential works of the 20th century, including "The Metamorphosis" (1915), "A Hunger Artist" (1924), "The Trial" (1925), "The Castle" (1926), and "The Man Who Diseappeared" (aka "Amerika"; 1927) (Dachslager). Still not satisfied he began looking for another job and found one in 1908 at the semi-govermental Worker's Accident Insurance Institute where he remained until he retired in 1922. His works were never published until his tragic death. Kafka was a very sick man most of his life. He contacted tuberculosis which made him very weak and feable, it eventually took his life in a sanatorium near Vienna on June 3, 1924, one month short of his 41st birthday.

==List of Works==
Amerika

The Trial

The Castle

The Metamorphosis

In the Penal Colony

Meditation

The Judgment

The Country Doctor

A Hunger Artist

Description of a Struggle

Wedding Preparations in the Country

The Urban World

A Perfect Fool

Temptation in the Village

Memoirs of the Kalda Railroad

The Village Schoolmaster

Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor

The Warden of the Tomb

The Hunter Gracchus

The Great Wall of China

Letter to his Father

The Refusal

Investigations of a Dog

The Burrow

Diaries 1910-1923

Letters

The Blue Octavio Notebooks

==Works Cited==

Nowack, Jeff and Ruch, Allen B. "The Modern World-Franz Kafka". 26 June 2004.17 April 2006 <www.themodernworld.com>.

Dachslager, Earl L. "A man 'made of literature'; Biography tries to pin down the elusive Franz Kafka." The Houston Chronicle 2nd STAR EDITION:12 Feb 2006: 18. Lexis Nexis. Galileo. Macon State College Libary, Macon, GA. 17 Apr. 2006 <http://www.galileo.usg.edu>

Kafka

2006-04-17T17:06:36Z

Ewertz: /* Works Cited */

== Biography ==

Franz Kafka was born in Prague on July 3,1883. Like most authors he was over looked during his short life. He was raised in a middle class Jewish family and had a very strict father, Hermann. Hermann owned a dry-goods wholesale store, he was an uneducated but industrious Czech who had married Julie Loewy, an urbane, German-speaking Jew from a slightly higher social class. “Hermann's domineering manner greatly distressed young Kafka, who found his father loud, impatient, unsympathetic, and, consequently, overwhelming and intimidating” (Contemporary). “Kafka’s most remembered childhood memory was of an incident in which he repeatedly cried from his bed for water, where then his father took him to the balcony and locked him outside” (Contemporary). Many years later this event still haunted Kafka, and in one of his later works he criticized him for his crude methods. “’For years thereafter,’ Kafka wrote, ‘I kept being haunted by fantasies of this giant of a man, my father, the ultimate judge, coming to get me in the middle of the night, and for almost no reason at all dragging me out of bed onto the pavlatch--in other words, that as far as he was concerned, I was an absolute Nothing’” (Contemporary). In 1901-1906 Kafka studied German literature and received a law degree at a German University in Prague. Kafka then goes to work for the law office of Richard Lowy in Prague and goes back to college for his doctorate degree. "In his brief lifetime, Kafka wrote some of the most orginal and influential works of the 20th century, including "The Metamorphosis" (1915), "A Hunger Artist" (1924), "The Trial" (1925), "The Castle" (1926), and "The Man Who Diseappeared" (aka "Amerika"; 1927). Still not satisfied he began looking for another job and found one in 1908 at the semi-govermental Worker's Accident Insurance Institute where he remained until he retired in 1922. His works were never published until his tragic death. Kafka was a very sick man most of his life. He contacted tuberculosis which made him very weak and feable, it eventually took his life in a sanatorium near Vienna on June 3, 1924, one month short of his 41st birthday.

==List of Works==
Amerika

The Trial

The Castle

The Metamorphosis

In the Penal Colony

Meditation

The Judgment

The Country Doctor

A Hunger Artist

Description of a Struggle

Wedding Preparations in the Country

The Urban World

A Perfect Fool

Temptation in the Village

Memoirs of the Kalda Railroad

The Village Schoolmaster

Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor

The Warden of the Tomb

The Hunter Gracchus

The Great Wall of China

Letter to his Father

The Refusal

Investigations of a Dog

The Burrow

Diaries 1910-1923

Letters

The Blue Octavio Notebooks

==Works Cited==

Nowack, Jeff and Ruch, Allen B. "The Modern World-Franz Kafka". 26 June 2004.17 April 2006 <www.themodernworld.com>.

Dachslager, Earl L. "A man 'made of literature'; Biography tries to pin down the elusive Franz Kafka." The Houston Chronicle 2nd STAR EDITION:12 Feb 2006: 18. Lexis Nexis. Galileo. Macon State College Libary, Macon, GA. 17 Apr. 2006 <http://www.galileo.usg.edu>

Kafka

2006-04-17T16:56:17Z

Ewertz: /* Biography */

== Biography ==

Franz Kafka was born in Prague on July 3,1883. Like most authors he was over looked during his short life. He was raised in a middle class Jewish family and had a very strict father that he looked up to. 1901-1906 Kafka studied German literature and received a law degree at a German University in Prague. Kafka then goes to work for the law office of Richard Lowy in Prague and goes back to college for his doctorate degree. "In his brief lifetime, Kafka wrote some of the most orginal and influential works of the 20th century, including "The Metamorphosis" (1915), "A Hunger Artist" (1924), "The Trial" (1925), "The Castle" (1926), and "The Man Who Diseappeared" (aka "Amerika"; 1927). Still not satisfied he began looking for another job and found one in 1908 at the semi-govermental Worker's Accident Insurance Institute where he remained until he retired in 1922. His works were never published until his tragic death. Kafka was a very sick man most of his life. He contacted tuberculosis which made him very weak and feable, it eventually took his life in a sanatorium near Vienna on June 3, 1924, one month short of his 41st birthday.

==List of Works==
Amerika

The Trial

The Castle

The Metamorphosis

In the Penal Colony

Meditation

The Judgment

The Country Doctor

A Hunger Artist

Description of a Struggle

Wedding Preparations in the Country

The Urban World

A Perfect Fool

Temptation in the Village

Memoirs of the Kalda Railroad

The Village Schoolmaster

Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor

The Warden of the Tomb

The Hunter Gracchus

The Great Wall of China

Letter to his Father

The Refusal

Investigations of a Dog

The Burrow

Diaries 1910-1923

Letters

The Blue Octavio Notebooks

==Works Cited==

Nowack, Jeff and Ruch, Allen B. "The Modern World-Franz Kafka". 26 June 2004.17 April 2006 <www.themodernworld.com>.

The Metamorphosis

2006-04-15T06:14:03Z

Ewertz: /* Characters */

==Summary==
Gregor Samsa is a traveling salesman that financially supports his family. He wakes up in the morning to find out he has been transformed into a insect resembling a roach. He is in shock after his reality sets in and tries to figure out how is going to get to work. His family is horrified and keeps Gregor locked in his room. His sister Grete is still kind to him. She is the only one that will bring him food. Finally his father throws an apple which gets stuck in Gregor's back. The apple begins to rot and becomes infected which eventually kills Gregor.

== Themes ==

==Characters==

'''''Gregor Samsa'''''

A traveling salesman that is responsible for providing for his family. His metamorphosis into a insect leaves a stuggle between his human mind and insect needs.

'''''Mother'''''

'''''Father'''''

'''''Grete'''''

==Study Questions==

2006-04-15T02:14:07Z

Ewertz: /* Anglo-Saxon */

Mostly dealing with Western World Literature, the following resources address mostly the [[Epic Poetry|epic genre]] and [[tragedy]] so far. More should be forthcoming.

== Anglo-Saxon ==
* [[Beowulf]]

== Czech Republic ==
* [[Kafka]]

== French ==
* [[Molière]]: [[Tartuffe]]
* [[Voltaire]]: [[Candide]]
* [[Baudelaire]]: [[Poet]]
* [[Mallarme]]: [[French Poet]]
* [[Verlaine]]: [[Symbolist Poet]]

== German ==
* [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]: [[Faust]]
** [[Faust Summary, Commentary, Notes]]

== Greek ==
* [[Euripides]]: [[Medea]]
* [[Homer]]: [[The Iliad]] and [[The Odyssey]]
* [[Sophocles]]: [[Oedipus Rex]]

== Italian ==
* [[Machiavelli]]: [[The Prince]]

== Russian ==
* [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]]

== Sumerian ==
* The epic of [[Gilgamesh]]

== Relevant Links ==
* [[Literary Terms]]

== Additional External Links ==
* [http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/bailey/worldlit.htm LitWeb] — San Antonio College’s World Literature outlines.
* [http://www.zeroland.co.nz/literature.html Literature on the Web] — Links to various world literature resources.
* [http://dmoz.org/Arts/Literature/World_Literature/ World Literature] — from Open Directory.
* [http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/worldlit/ World Literature Online] — from Bedford/St. Martin’s Press.

==Works Cited==
"Stéphane Mallarmé." ''Books and Writers.'' http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/mallarme.htm

[[Category:World Literature]]

Baudelaire

2006-03-28T03:00:15Z

Ewertz: /* Her Hair */

==Biography==
Charles Baudelaire was called both the "first modern poet" and the "father of modern criticism." Baudelaire is the most widely read French poet around the world. Baudelaire was born in Paris on April 9, 1821. His mother, Caoline Archimbaut-Dufays gave birth to Charles when she was twenty-eight and his father was Francois Baudelaire was sixty-one. His father was an artist and Charles often watched him paint. His father died when he was only six. A year after his father died his mother married Jacques Aupick. He was a strict discipliarian and sent Charles to a boarding school. He didn't fit in there and often picked fights with students and even his teachers. In 1839 the family moved back to Paris. This was the year Baudelaire was going to get his baccalaureate, but he fell short and was expelled. In 1841 he was sent on a voyage to the Indies and after ten months called it quits and requested to go home to Paris. When he turned twenty-one he inherited a small fortune from his father. His mother and step father obtained a court order to watch how he spent his money. Charles was enraged that his mother would only give him a small allowance every month. In 1842 Charles had an affair with Jeanne Duval. She was a mixed race of black and white, or other wise known as Creole in New Orleans. Charles often used his talents of writing to shock and astonish society. He is well known for his immoral, cynical,and beauty style of writing. In 1857 Charles work was seized by the French police and he was forced to omit six of his poems and to pay a hefty fine. After he realized that he had the advantage of soceity he published his work as a critic in 1845,1846 and 1859. This work would be called Salons. Throughout his career he struggled with an Opium and hash addiction. He also was infatuated with sex and its pleasures. This is basically how he died. In 1862 he had a minor heart attack due to his syphillis. While he was in Belgium Charles contracted hemiplegia and aphasia. His final resting place is where he died in Paris on August 31, 1867.

==Her Hair==

==Themes==

==Study Questions==

==Work Cited==

Baudelaire

2006-03-28T02:59:06Z

Ewertz: /* Biography */

Baudelaire

2006-03-28T02:58:23Z

Ewertz: /* Work Cited */

2006-03-02T19:48:00Z

Ewertz: /* Questions */

==Summary==

When Faust becomes smitten with Margarete, he can think of nothing more than having her. Mephistopeles has a plan for Faust in gaining Margarete’s affection. In order to seduce her however, Faust must be untruthful with her. This has him torn between the acts of good and evil. Mephistopeles scorns Faust and tells him that if he really wants her than he must not be honest with her, and what difference does it make anyway. He does this in saying to Faust, “Man and the way his emotions and thoughts take place, Have you not given downright definitions Of these with an iron breast and a brazen face” (Macneice 93)?

==Commentary==
Thus, Faust takes another step on the road to Hell (Montgomery 45). Mephisto has convinced Faust to lie once again. Doing good means exerting oneself on its behalf, but evil is one of the driving forces behind the effort to attain good (Wolfman 184). This will only lead to more lies and evil acts later on in the play.

==Questions==
Why does Faust lie to Gretchen?
Why does Faust want to go to Padua?

==Work Cited==
Dieckmann, Liselotte. ''Goethe’s Faust: A Critical Reading''. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1972.

Macneice, Louis. ''Goethe’s Faust''. New York: Oxford UP, 1971.

Montgomery, Paul. ''Goethe's Faust: Critiques of Literature''. New York: Monarch Press, 1963.

Smeed, J.W. ''Faust in Literature''. New York: Oxford UP, 1971.

Wolfman, Yoffa ''The Devil and the Good Lord''. Satre Studies International:Vol 10 Issue 2 (2004):182-194.

Faust: A Garden

2006-03-02T19:34:44Z

Ewertz: /* Commentary */

==Summary==
At Faust first encounter with Margarete, he is immediately drawn to her. He speaks to her in a way that a man would speak to a woman, rather than a man to a child. Margarete is immediately taken by him, in the fact that he would do such a thing. Faust being the older gentleman and she the child. Immediate attraction takes place on Margarete’s part. Margarete tells Faust this by saying, “In my heart that began to make me change my view, But indeed I was angry with myself because I could not be angrier with you”(Macneice 99). Faust falls deeper in love with Margarete and becomes even more infatuated with her.

==Commentary==
On the one hand, Faust, though at first rejuvenated, is subject to the laws of maturing and aging (Dieckmann 21). This has no effect on Gretchen's love for him. It seems to me that Faust is an old man butis still able to munipulate her into loving him. Both Faust and Don Juan have benefited from an increasing sujectivity and individualism, and hence an increasing relativity in matters of morals, in modern times (Smeed 194).

==Questions==

==Work Cited==
Dieckmann, Liselotte. Goethe’s Faust: A Critical Reading. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1972.

Macneice, Louis. Goethe’s Faust. New York: Oxford UP, 1971.

Smeed, J.W. Faust in Literature. New York: Oxford UP, 1971.

Faust: A Garden

2006-03-02T19:26:43Z

Ewertz: /* Notes */

==Summary==
At Faust first encounter with Margarete, he is immediately drawn to her. He speaks to her in a way that a man would speak to a woman, rather than a man to a child. Margarete is immediately taken by him, in the fact that he would do such a thing. Faust being the older gentleman and she the child. Immediate attraction takes place on Margarete’s part. Margarete tells Faust this by saying, “In my heart that began to make me change my view, But indeed I was angry with myself because I could not be angrier with you”(Macneice 99). Faust falls deeper in love with Margarete and becomes even more infatuated with her.

==Commentary==
On the one hand, Faust, though at first rejuvenated, is subject to the laws of maturing and aging (Dieckmann 21). This has no effect on Gretchen's love for him. It seems to me that Faust is an old man but able to munipulate her into loving him.

==Questions==

==Work Cited==
Dieckmann, Liselotte. Goethe’s Faust: A Critical Reading. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1972.

Macneice, Louis. Goethe’s Faust. New York: Oxford UP, 1971.

Smeed, J.W. Faust in Literature. New York: Oxford UP, 1971.