Borges and Kafka : sons and writers / Sarah Roger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roger, Sarah Rachelle, 1981- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Borges, Jorge Luis, 1899-1986--Family.

Borges, Jorge Luis.

Borges, Jorge G. (Jorge Guillermo), 1874-1938--Influence.

Borges, Jorge G.

Kafka, Franz, 1883-1924--Influence.

Kafka, Franz.

Borges, Jorge Luis, 1899-1986--Criticism and interpretation.

Borges, Jorge Luis, 1899-1986.

Kafka, Franz, 1883-1924.

Criticism and interpretation.

Families.

Physical Description:

xiv, 180 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2017.

Summary:

Sarah Roger investigates Jorge Luis Borges's development as an author in light of Franz Kafka's influence, and in consideration of Borges's relationship with his father, Jorge Guillermo Borges (Borges pere, a failed author). Borges believed that much of Kafka's writing derived from his personal experiences, particularly his relationship with his father. This book looks at how reading Kafka helped Borges mediate and make productive use of his own relationship with his father, and it offers a thorough analysis of Borges pere's writing, which is supplemented by an appendix that reprints Borges pere's poetry for the first time. Borges and Kafka also provides extensive analysis of Kafka's presence in Borges's critical writing, his translations, and the stories that he modelled on Kafka. Particular attention is paid to the concepts that Borges identified as Kafka's obsessions: subordination, infinity, and hierarchical relationships, which Borges referred to as the 'patria potestad.' Roger's analysis is accompanied by an annotated bibliography documenting every mention of Kafka in Borges's writing and a list of every Kafka text Borges read. Kafka's influence is especially evident in the stories where Borges was openly imitating Kafka-'La loteria en Babilonia' (1941), 'La biblioteca de Babel' (1941), and 'El Congreso' (1971)-but it features throughout Ficciones. Reading Borges's writing in light of his interest in Kafka demonstrates his focus not just on the individual's subordinate place in an infinite hierarchy but also on the repercussions these circumstances had for a struggling author like Borges, who was seeking to define himself through his writing.

Contents:

1 Biographical Predecessors and Literary Precursors 1

1.1 Reading and Biography 2

2 Borges Père and Borges Fils 12

2.1 Father and Son 13

2.2 Death and Near Death 19

2.3 Borges Père, Author 22

3 Reading, Translating, and Writing about Kafka 34

3.1 Borges Reads Kafka 34

3.2 Borges Translates Kafka 37

3.3 Borges Writes about Kafka 42

3.4 History and Biography 46

3.5 Father and Son, Subordination and Infinity 49

3.6 Kafka and the Model Short Story 60

4 Emulating Kafka in Babylon and Babel 67

4.1 'La lotería en Babilonia' 67

4.2 'La biblioteca de Babel' 74

5 Kafkian Fictions 79

5.1 From 'El acercamiento a Almotásim' to 'Las ruinas circulares' 80

5.2 Between the Lottery and the Library: 'Examen de la obra de Herbert Quain' 96

5.3 From 'El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan' to 'El milagro secreto' 101

6 The Congress of the World 112

6.1 Kafka: Problems and Paradoxes 113

6.2 Borges Pèe: Father and Son 117

6.3 Chesterton: God and Man 121

7 Writing about Kafka, Writing about Writing 127.

ISBN:

9780198746157

0198746156

OCLC:

954426106