Excavating Kafka: the truth behind the myth
by James Hawes
(Quercus, R139,95)
Over the years, academia and the media have advanced a very specific image of Franz Kafka – the tortured dreamer, an angst-ridden paranoid trapped in an unfulfilling job, terrified of sex, his brilliant works neglected in his lifetime by an uncaring public.
In Excavating Kafka, Hawes has set himself the task of demolishing these myths and to present us with the “real” Kafka – a young man from a rich family, happily frequenting brothels and saloons, and enjoying a great deal of support and acclaim from the literary fraternity of his day.
The book is an easy read and serves as a fairly interesting introduction to Kafka’s life, but there are some problems.
While Hawes’ stated purpose is to dismantle the Kafka myth, at times he does seem more interested in dismantling the man himself. His fascination with Kafka’s love life and porn collection comes across as both prurient and scathing; and we are treated to a chapter-long dissection of the young author’s “locked bookcase” (not surprising-ly, it turns out that World War I pornography is fairly tame in comparison to what one can find on the internet today).
Ditto Kafka’s finances. Hawes is careful to state at first that, in the early 19th century, it was the norm for young, unmarried people to live with their parents until they married, only to start harping on how easy Kafka had it, living at home and never needing to pay rent.
Apparently, we are also meant to be shocked that Kafka was German-speaking.
Hawes has set out to prove that Kafka was just an ordinary man, and one can understand this urge in the face of the myth-making industry surrounding the celebrated author, but at the same time novels like The Castle, Amerika and The Trial more than demonstrate that he was anything but.
One can understand Hawes’ frustration with the academics responsible for placing Kafka on the “tortured artist” pedestal, but in his attempt to knock down this pedestal, more than a few blows seem aimed at Kafka himself.