On The Representation of ‘Worst Case Scenarios’ in Kafka’s Short Stories “Metamorphosis” And “A Hunger artist’’

Abstract

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Franz Kafka's death, this document presents some reasons why this author is still one of the most fascinating writers in the German-speaking world. The document examines the general principles of Franz Kafka's literary work together with some fundamental questions such as the relationship between literary representation and reality in two of his most-read stories, “Metamorphosis” and “A Hunger Artist”. Some important aspects of literary reception are considered and the theoretical approach is complemented by a more historical and descriptive section, in which Kafka's biography and his works (literary history) are presented. The focus is on the evaluation and interpretative approaches to the two works selected for our analysis, in particular on the progressive description of catastrophes (literary criticism). The sequence of negative events for the protagonists described in Kafka's stories are systematically recorded and processed to provide additional arguments that characterize Kafka today, one hundred years after his death, as an important modern author.