KAFKA AND “KAFKAISM” IN THE NOVELS BY SZILÁRD BORBÉLY, MIRO GAVRAN, BORIS PERIĆ AND GÁBOR T. SZÁNTÓ

Abstract

Kafka’s life and work are a phenomenon that induces a lot of interpretations which have become paradigmatic in many ways. Since the beginning of the last century, a large number of scientific and literary works have continuously dealt with the “Kafka phenomenon”. In recent times, we seem to be witnessing an even stronger “Kafka conjuncture”: after the classical writings, recently mostly scientific-essayistic writings dealing with Kafka’s personality and works have appeared one after the other. This paper deals with the literary aspect of “Kafkaism”: it compares the most recent Croatian and Hungarian Kafka novels, focusing on the aspects of the nature of the narration and the explicit or implicit, actual or imaginative relationship between the authors and Kafka (and his works). The examined novels are Miro Gavran’s Kafkin prijatelj (Kafka’s Friend) Boris Perić’s Kafkin podrum (Kafka’s Cellar), Szilárd Borbély’s Kafka fia (Kafka’s Son) and Gábor T. Szántó’s Kafka macskái (Kafka’s Cats).