Jie Han Produktive Aneignung – Zur literarischen Kafka-Rezeption in der DDR und in China

About this book

Franz Kafka is one of the most important authors of literary modernism. His works have been read and interpreted worldwide. However, the reception of Kafka has not been the same everywhere. It depended heavily on the respective cultural and political context. In the communist world, Kafka’s reception was long shaped by Marxist and socialist realist perspectives and displayed peculiar characteristics. This study takes exactly this point as ist starting point. It examines how writers in the GDR and China received and creatively engaged with Kafka. The focus is on authors such as Anna Seghers, Christa Wolf, Klaus Schlesinger, as well as Zong Pu, Mo Yan, and Shen Rong. Kafka was not only interpreted but also imaginatively transformed. His texts offered new possibilities of expression for writers navigating between realism and modernism. Through concrete literary examples, the study demonstrates how Kafka’s work contributed to expanding and enriching the boundaries of socialist realist writing. The study combines literary analysis, cultural history, and comparative perspectives, offering new insights into the international reception and impact of Kafka.