How Did Kafka's Jewish Identity Influence His Works?

Abstract

Kafka and his interpreters - Kafka's works are, undoubtedly, loaded with hidden symbols and meanings. A text like this calls for many interpretations, yet often enough; the interpreter uses his interpretation as a lever for his own ideas. Moreover, the more the interpreter - the more dangerous will his interpretation be. Therefore, in writing this paper I felt the need to stay well away from the works of certain interpreters, mainly Max Brod and Martin Buber.Obviously, no interpretative approach should be underestimated, yet one should not attempt to drop the whole weight of interpretation on a single point of view. Doing so, beyond mistaking and misleading others - will be a against Kafka, whose personality and writings are multi-dimensional, and abound in meanings. From the moment the multi-meaning of Kafka's writings is limited, their most important values are destroyed (Weidla, in: Kurzweil, 1973).About what I purport, and what I do not in this paper - in this work, being too short to contain the multitude of words and interpretations said and written about Kafka, I will not attempt to attribute the whole load of work to his Jewish identity and complex mental state, resulting from this identity.I do am not arguing that the ideas in my paper are the absolute truth. They are more of a point of view, which I find fascinating, when reading Kafka's works.I tried, intentionally, and as much as possible, to reduce the amount of bibliographic origins, and chose to cite, corroborate and base my paper on the initial source - Kafka's books and diaries, not out of disrespect for the interpretations, but rather because of my belief that this is my duty to the writer and his works.In addition, I wish to examine how Kafka's Jewish identity helped him capture so acutely and profoundly the problem of the modern man.