THINK ABOUT IT ON VIDEO: Franz Kafka, with Vivian Liska (University of Antwerp / Hebrew University)

The Kafka most known today is a writer of existential despair embarked on a futile quest for meaning in the 20th century's nightmare of humans trapped in inhuman bureaucracies or situations of absolute terror. Being arrested without ever being told why, or waking up to discover one has been transformed into a giant insect but retained one's human consciousness: these are the powerful images we have of Kafka still today. Vivian Liska explains how Kafka is actually a writer of human connection who shows that we can create the fragile bonds needed to sustain community. In Kafka's short parables and prose conundrums, some as taut as a Buddhist koan and some as knotted as moral dilemma, we can find a way out of the challenges of modern existence: the tribalism, polarization, fear of difference, and defensive retreat into identities that are defined by shutting out others. Liska's Kafka is a writer of exquisite faith in the human capacity of community and renewal, a champion of humor instead of despair, and a man of faith who foregoes all formal religion. 

I've known Vivian Liska since 1999, when my doctoral advisor, the late and dearly missed Geoffrey Hartman, introduced us. I've marveled at her intellect, linguistic dexterity, precision of thought and infectious humor ever since. Liska was born in New York and is a widely published Professor of German Literature and Director of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Since 2013 she is also Distinguished Visiting Professor at Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Among her books are: When Kafka Says We. Uncommon Communities in German-Jewish Literature and German-Jewish Thought and Its Afterlife.

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Uli Baer.

Видео THINK ABOUT IT ON VIDEO: Franz Kafka, with Vivian Liska (University of Antwerp / Hebrew University) канала Ulrich Baer