Franz Kafka: A Question of Jewish Identity--Two Perspectives (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Franz Kafka: A Question of Jewish Identity—Two Perspectives Erlis Wickersham Franz Kafka: A Question of Jewish Identity—Two Perspectives, by Sara Loeb, translated by Sondra Silberston and Chaya Naor. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2001. 273 pp. $42.00. The author of this multi-faceted book holds an M.A. in French Literature and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Bar-Han University. The reader may assume that this title originally appeared in Hebrew, although we have no specific information about it. A translator’s preface would have been helpful, since there are other unanswered questions, for example, who translated the passages cited as quoted in Hebrew? Was an English version of the original text used or did the same people translate these quotations as the book itself? [End Page 131] There are other difficulties. The most egregious is the assertion that Gregor’s father in The Metamorphosis threw potatoes at him when actually it was apples. The reader will find typographical errors, especially at the ends of lines. Some words are omitted, others repeated out of order within the same sentence. The situation is intrusive enough to cast doubt on a few of the author’s interpretations. As the title suggests, Loeb offers two perspectives on Kafka, one by his contemporary, friend and executor, Max Brod, and one by the mid-twentieth-century French critic, Marthe Robert. The reasons for these choices are explained, yet remain somewhat random when one considers the enormous amount of secondary literature about Kafka. Happily, the text accomplishes many other tasks as well. The author begins by recounting the life of Kafka, following in the footsteps of many other critics. Her account is characterized by brevity and an emphasis on his Jewish family; thus, there is relatively little reference to the intimate aspects of his adult life. The book continues with the lives or philosophies of each critic, Brod and Robert. In an unusual step, Loeb takes time to discuss approaches to reading Kafka under the heading “Literary criticism—an overview” (pp. 99–107), then devotes a full chapter to each of her chosen authors’ vision of Kafka. The book ends with a brief summary, endnotes, a bibliography that does not contain all cited texts, and an index. A perishable paperback, its most redeeming physical feature is the small line drawings by Kafka embellishing many of its pages. Although no summary list of illustrations is provided, the drawings are wonderful. What a reader expects to gain from this text is insight into the nature of Kafka’s Jewish identity and a closer understanding of his attitude towards being a Jew at a pivotal time in history. The author accomplishes this well, without providing startling insights. Particularly for biographical aspects of his life, she uses excellent quotations from Kafka’s diaries and letters, also from the memoirs of his contemporaries. Her use of secondary sources for literary analysis is also commendable. She portrays Kafka as someone who began as a semi-assimilated Jew, typical of his age and social class. She gives readable summaries of the position of Jews in Prague and of Kafka’s circle in particular. She then traces the evolution of his desire to embrace some, but not all, elements of the Jewish faith. Finally, she demonstrates how belief serves as a comfort to him at the end of his life. Loeb obviously wishes to demonstrate that a Jewish perspective can improve understanding of the texts for which Kafka is famous. References to Jewish mystic writing could be more numerous but are always helpful. She makes it clear that the interpreters, Brod and Robert, bring their own view of Judaism and their social/intellectual perspectives to the task of exegesis, something we have always assumed, but which she concretizes to good effect. For example, she shows how and why Brod’s optimism or good will far exceeds that of his subject. These personal traits must then [End Page 132] distort his understanding of Kafka’s work. Thus Loeb substantiates the general opinion that Brod is not Kafka’s best interpreter. Loeb sentimentalizes Kafka throughout. She sees him as misunderstood, brooding, conflicted, tormented. In more concrete terms, she...