Romanian Reception
Main approaches to Kafka’s work
1. Literary approaches in translations
The first translations of Franz Kafka’s work in Romanian appeared in 1947 in ”Secolul XX” 287-288 in the translation of Paul Celan(edited by Paul Solomon). It was in 1966 when M. Märkel and Vasile Stirbu published ” The Country Doctor” (“Der Landarzt”)
In 1966 Mihai Izbasescu translated the famous collection (at Fisher publishing house) of nine short stories: 1. “The Vedict”,2.The Methamorphosis, 3.The Country Doctor,4. "At the Gallery" 5. "Facing the law Eleven Sons, 6. "A Report to an Academy, 7.The Penal colony, 8."A Starvation Artist"
The same year Petre Forna translated an “imperial message”and Ion Potopin translated “Cold and sturdy is the horizon”.
In 1968 the reader was offered other translations which added new denotations and perspectives of interpretation for the Romanian reader. The first was “The Road Back Home” followed by the Bridge, Prometheus, ”The Driver” translated by Dumitru Tepeneag.
The next stories to come were “First Love” and “Distracted glare on the window” in the translation of Denis Negoescu6 in “Amfiteatru, No. 26, 1968, p.43.
In 1972 Peter Motzan and Aurel Sorobetea7 translated “The Knock at the Door”, “The Return Home” and “Aphorisms” in Steaua, No.25, 1972, p.16-17.
Fragments of the journal were translated by Mihaela Diaconu.
In 1983 Mircea Ivanescu translated “Knocking on the Door”, “An Imperial Message”,”The Trees”, ”Desire to become an Indian”, “Those Running Passers-by” etc.in “Transilvania”
In 1984 Paul Celan translated “An Imperial Message”, “Those Running Passers-by”, “The Excursion”, Facing in “ Secolul XX”, No.11-12, 1984,p.100-102.
In 1991 Vasiliu Scraba Isabela translated “Give it up” in ”Contemporanul, Ideea Europeana”, No.32 (69), 9 August 1991, p.510.
In 1996 we are offered the translation “Facing the Law”by Paul Celan in “Apostrof”, nr.11,1996,p.3.11.
In 2001 Dumitru Tepeneag translated ,,Te duci într-o doara pe fereastră” (Apostrof, No.1,2001,p.13)12.
In 2004 Grete Tartler translated “Little Fable” (Mica fibula, in ,,Luceafarul”, No.38,2004)13.
Therefore we have two variants of “facing the law” and three of “An imperial message”. The other works are just variants of his most well known short prose writings.
The writing ”A Trip by Tram” appears with a changed title as for instance ”Travelling by tram”. Mircea Ivanescu made some changes to his first translation of 1983.
Vagonul se apropie de o statie , o fata langa o scara , se pregateste sa urce. O vad atat de limpede, de parca as putea s-o ating intinzandu-mi mana.[1]
Paul Celan had a contribution to “Those Running Passers-by”(,,Die Vorüberlaufenden”):
Cand ne plimbam noaptea pe o strada si deodata un om, vizibil inca de departe –caci strada ne urca in fata si e luna plina-vine in fuga spre noi, atunci nu-l apucam de brat ca sa-l oprim, chiar daca e istovit si cu hainele in dezordine, chiar daca dupe el vine cineva in fuga si strigand, ci il lasam sa fuga mai departe.
Cand ne plimba noaptea pe o strada si deodata un om, vizibil inca de departe –caci strada se deschide in fata noastra si e luna plina-vine in fuga spre noi, atunci noi nu-l apucam de brat sa-l oprim, chiar daca pare epuizat si cu hainele in dezordine, chiar daca dupa el vine cineva in fuga....[2]
The short story “An imperial message” was translated 7 times and presents several variants:
Imparatul asa se spune – ti-a trimis tie singuraticului, lamentabilului sau supus umbrei marunte care a fugit pana in cea mai indepartata indepartare din fata soarelui imparatesc,tocmai tie ti-a trimis imparatul de pe patul sau de moarte un mesaj.
Se spune ca impăratul ti-a trimis tie simplului individ, jalnicului sau supus, umbrei infime fugita din fata soarelui imparatul pana in cele mai indepartate departari tocmai tie ti-a trimis cu limba de moarte solie imparatul.[3]
Eventually we can compare two versions of “Little Fable”: The first appeared in 1964 among the first translations to his work and the second in 2004 translated by Grete Tartler:
La inceput era atat de larg, incat mi-era frica, alergam inainte si eram fericit cand descopeream in fine la dreapta la stanga ziduri in departare; dar zidurile astea lungi grabesc unul spre altul atat de tare, ca am ajuns deja in ultima odaie si acolo in colt e capcana in care o sa nimeresc.
Trebuie numai sa schimbi directia, zise pisica si-l inghiti.[4]
The second translation uses modern language. Expressions like ”zidurile acestea veneuunul spre altul atatde repede” are replaced with ,,grabesc unul spre altul”. Thus, the second translation sound more poetic.
The story “Odradek” resembles the story “At the crossroads”(,,Eine Kreuzung”) as the main character is a uncommon being that that startles by its strange appearance.
2.The Literary Reception in Anthologies, Books and Volumes of Short- Prose
The monographs on Brecht and Kafka, Kafka and Wilde, Kafka and Dostoyevsky offered new perspectives and enlightening approaches to the writer’s life and work. Thus, the differenciesdifferences were stressed all along with the similarities between major works.What remains the core of this presentation is the importance Beckett and Kafka rendered to the role of language (poetic) as they chose to write in adopted languages.
Petras Irina translated an article by Peter Roth in which the latter focused more on the major events and love stories Kafka experienced all throughout the writing of his renowned diary.
They both wrote in a very new, unconventional style, their major approach to fiction writing being the improvement of the means of expression. We propose to focus to what an extent his workings are “open ended”. Then we analyze the new perspectives that the translation brought to the original and the degree at which they became original. The diachronically going approach offers a bird’s eye view of the entire body of translated works.
The remaining proof of the endurance in time of Kafka’s work. The most accomplished translation will be given special attention.
The narrative technique shall be offered special attention especially with regard to the degree of subjectivity and the rendering of the narrative point of view.
Thus the discourse and its unfolding are the main objectives to be followed when embarking on the task to describe how the narrative technique managed to render the artistic experience and the ideated horizon of Kafka as a experience writer at the beginning of the twentieth century. The function of the discourse has a great impact on the way we perceive the major themes that haunted Kafka’s world: the problem of fear, guilt and toward the end of his life the fascination with death.
Thus, it seems only appropriate to analyze each translation for itself and ponder upon the impact it had on the way it modified the reader’s perspective of receiving Kafka’s short prose writing.
Klaus Hemsdorf tried to capture some coordinates that are dominating in Kafka’s prose writing.
The composition of the novels and of the stories is marked by a sense of irregularity, disorder that is sometimes pushed towards incoherence.
The character and the irregularity of the composition are a reflection of the contradictory and chaotical realities.
It is not the rationalities of artistic composition that allow the reciprocal substitution of some particular chapters but the substantial structure of the artistic reality, the circular time and the unarticulated space that governs it. The fragmentary character of many of the writer’s creations is not due to some accidental exterior causes(as the author’s premature death)but it is the intrinsic inherent, consubstantial to his artistic view.
In a disparaged reality everything must remain unraveled unresolved, incomplete and in suspense. The world can not offer any responses to the problems and therefore these remain unsolved. Hence, the solution offered is violent, arbitrary destructive, more precisely the examination vital and the association spiritual.
The fragments possess a real epic independence not a relative one as any classical novel nevertheless.
Directly from its components and peculiarities some the most important common feature that their masterwork shares is that the open ending that leads to the perplexity of the reader and to a so called absurd feeling of existence.
Radu Enescu is one of the most reputed exegetes of Franz Kafka’s work. The definitions that he finds for Kafka’s writing and his signaling of the false approaches to his novels and short stories present Kafka’s creation in a whole new light from a different angle.
Each work of Kafka is only an element of a unique cycle in the tradition of “chanson de geste” of the Breton.
Albert Camus stated that the greatness of his work resides in the fact that his work offers everything and confirms nothing.
The biographical research of the monographs of Wagenbach, Richter and Emrich. Thus, the most important offered new perspectives in the decoding of the symbols encountered all through his short prose writing. The most difficult task is reserved to the problem of the symbol decoding in Kafka’s work.
Being considered to be more intuitive and artistic than Kierkegaard, Kafka’s writing demands a philosophical approach apart form/ besides the aesthetic one.
His place can be traced somewhere between the almost uncontrolled fantasy and the abstract concept filtered through a metamorphosis in a significant encoding.
The similarity with Kierkegaard could reside in the fact that both oscillate somewhere between the art of metaphor and the attempt to justify the human condition.
The conversations with Gustav Janouch are mentioned. The hermeneutic approach proves thus to be the most appropriate in the decoding of Kafka’s work.
It is true that we won’t read the aesthetic joy of reality unless we go without vanity through a moral experience. The ghostly vision of the Prague capital is common to the non-Tschechian Prague literature starting with Longfellow, Apollinaire, and continuing with Wilhelm Raabe to Gustav Meyrink.
In the renowned volume “Collected stories” Gabriel Josipovich offers an English version of Kafka’s complete short-prose writings. The volume contains the published prose writing during his lifetime alltogether with the posthumously published short stories.
The apparently common detail is isolated from its context, attains a special signification and represents totality. That is why the lack of detail can thus provoke immeasurable effects if not fatal ones.
The epic creation is therefore a summing up of many details with the aim of pointing out the complex nature of reality, thus possessing an autonomous status.
The detail is being thus captured in all its variants to stress the general human nature.
The microscopic photographing of a minimal object, the minimizing of giant things, the contradiction and the short circuit that capture the latent comic dimension in the tragic reality and the tragic depth in the hilarious detail are several procedures of the indictment of this epic writing that presents everything deformed, akward, nevertheless in a real current form.
The category of fragmentary is not methodical any more temporarily, annullable any time by the play of irony but existential, structural.
The fragment becomes for Kafka an ontological gift. He does not search for the fragmentary as his own being was shattered in a tragic manner, neither through a free nor spiritually superior game. Kafka did not strive towards totality and infinity because he knew that these categories are not be found anymore in the same way they were present in the romantic’s imagination.
He possessed a deep conscience of the limits and searched all his life for the indestructible element. He knew that this element is an indestructible category.
He knew that he could find it only in the form of a subjective experience projected outwardly under the guise of images, as a virtual reality. Faithful to himself he permanently placed himself to a risk. His life and his creation were a process in search of the indestructible. He kept the faith rather without detecting it. He remained anchored in the fragment his only consistency and limit.
The first person character is not always as it happens in the case of Josephine the singer or the mice folk, metamorphosis and the narration do not possess an absolute character.
”On the Avenue”
”The Confessions of the Country teacher”
”The Sudden Walk”
”Decision”
”Excursion in the mountains”
”Bad Luck”
”The Salesman”
”Distracted Glare on the Window”
Kafka’s work possesses an impressive homogeneousness in spite of its antinomies:
Ich bin der älteste Schakal, weit und breit. Ich bin glücklich, dich noch hier begrüßen zu können. Ich hatte schon die Hoffnung fast aufgegeben, denn wir warten unendlich lange auf dich; meine Mutter hat gewartet und ihre Mutter und weiter alle ihre Mütter bis hinauf zur Mutter aller Schakale. Glaube es! [6]
Sînt cel mai bătrân şacal de pe tot cuprinsul. Sînt fericit că am apucat să salut prezenţa ta aici. Aproape că pierdusem speranţa, căci te aşteptam de o groază de timp; au aşteptat mama mea şi mama ei şi toate mamele din veac, pînă la mama tuturor şacalilor. Crede-mă! [7]
There remained eventually a couple of short stories untranslated into Romanian, among which we can mention the following: ”The Star” [,,Der Stern”], “An Ancient Sword” [,,Ein altertümliches Schwert”], “New Lamps” [,,Neue Lampen”].
3. Conclusion
Sometimes we notice a disarming lack of wonder or indignation of the characters facing the absurdity of their own condition and a spontaneous tireless energy in the search of a solution is to be traced. Some kind of a centrifugal force projects them all the time towards the brink of the sphere of the absurd, thus enabling them to possess the tendency to pendulate between fantastic and real.Hence, they do not give up struggling, striving for their cause and keep their faith in a better future, altough this is very blurred with Kafka. However,indestructibility remains the central element all throughout Kafka's work.
Bibliography:
Primary Readings:
Kafka, Franz: Drucke zu Lebzeiten. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002.
Kafka, Franz: Nachgelassene Schriften I. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002.
Kafka, Franz: Nachgelassene Schriften II. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002. (Hsg. Jürgen Born, Gerhard Neumann, Malcolm Pasley und Jost Schillemeit unter Beratung von Nahum Glatzer, Reiner Gruente Paul Raabe und Marthe Robert)
Secondary Readings:
Anders, Günther. Kafka. Pro und Contra.München: Verlag C.H. Beck.1967.
Emrich, Wilhem und Bernd Goldmann. Franz Kafka Symposium.1983.
Fischer, Ernst. Von Grillparzer zu Kafka. 6 Essays. Berlin: Suhrkamp.1975.
Fisher, S. Kafka. Kritik und Rezeption zu seinen Lebzeiten.1912-1924.
Fisher, S. Kafka. Kritik und Rezeption zu seinen Lebzeiten.1924-193.
Grözinger, Karl Erich. Franz Kafka und das Judentum.1987.
Malancioiu, Ileana.Vina tragică.Iaşi:Cartea Românească.2004.
Pietro, Citato. Kafka.Verwandlungen eines Dichters.1990.
Das Kafka Buch. Eine innere Monographie in Selbstzeugnissen.1965.
Schlesak, Dieter. Proza austriacă modernă. Vol.1, Amurgul timpului.1970.
Schiltemeit, Jost. Deutsche Erzählungen von Wieland zu Kafka. 1966.
Stölzl, Cristoph. Kafka’s böses Böhmen. Zur Sozialgeschichte eines Prager Judens. .München: Ed.+Kritik. 1975.
Wagenbach, Klaus. Eine innere Monographie in Selbstzeugnissen. Reinbeck: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag. 1979.
Alberes, R.M. et Pierre de Boidesferre ,,Kafka’’. Viaţa Românească 1965 :3.
Antip, Felicia.”Cine-l urăste pe Kafka şi de ce?”. Adevărul literar şi artistic 663 (2003):15.
Branea, Dorian. . ”Franz. Kafka şi Marx”. Orizont 7 (1996):p.1.
Capusan Voda, Maria. ”Consonanţe.” Steaua (2)1984:pp.43-45.
Sârbu, Cristina. ”Castelul de Aribert Reimann după romanul lui Franz Kafka (1983 1924).”Contemporanul 19 (1996):15.
Cermac, I.”Kafka in cultura cehă I” (Marinescu, Ana) Luceafărul (34) 1999:p.23.
Cermac, I.”Kafka in cultura cehă II”(Marinescu, Ana). Luceafărul (36) 1999:p.23.
Ciocârlie, Livius. ”Franz Kafka. Procesograful” (31) 1973:12.
Enescu, Radu. ”Franz Kafka sau mistificarea negativă.” Familia (50)1983:16.
Enescu, Radu. ”Franz Kafka. America sau reîntoarcerea in copilărie.” Tribuna 3 (1983):8.
Manea, Norman. ”Foame şi autofagie la Kafka si Eugen Barbu.”Steaua 2(1992):14.
Kafka, Franz. ”Renunţă” Trans. Scraba, Isabela Vasiliu. Contemporanul. Ideea europeană 32-69(1991):5.
Nistor, Corneliu.”Franz Kafka.”Limba şi Literatura română 3(1983):31-33.
Kafka, Franz. ”Un mesaj imperial”. trans. Paul Celan. Secolul XX: 101.
Kafka, Franz.“Un mesaj imperial”. trans.Celan, Paul Secolul XX:101.
Kafka, Franz. ”Jurnale publicate de Franz Brod”
Kafka, Franz. ”Ein Besuch im Bergwerk.”Neuer Weg.(8) 1980:p.4.
Kafka, Franz. ”Fragmente din jurnal”. Presentation and trans. George Stănica. Ateneu (19)1982):p.14.
Kafka, Franz. ”Scrisori către Felice”. Tribuna (36) 1973.
Fuhrmann, Dieter.“Kafka“ Secolul XX.:187.
Gheorghiu, Mihai Dinu. Mălancioiu, Ileana. ”Cartea de teatru. Vina tragică”Convorbiri literare (1978):5.
Ghiu, Bogdan. ”Un vis al lui Kafka sau comunicarea făra sfârşit a ,,maşinii literare” .Luceafărul 15, (2003):23.
Dărăbuş, Carmen. ”Kafka şi Cărtărescu: Sensurile metamorfozei” Steaua 3-4 (1996): 48.
Kafka, Franz.”Bătaia în poartă, Întoarcerea acasă”. Aforisme translated Peter Motzan and Aurel Şorobetea. Steaua (15), 1972.
Kolf, Bernd. ”Confluenţe. Descrierea unei lupte.” Steaua. (2) 1973:18.
Libuse, Valentova. ”În sfârşit Kafka are o statuie”.România literară 3(2004):25.
Manea, Norman. Realitatea felice. Steaua 4 (1984):49.
Marin, Ileana. "Franz Kafka: Jurnal".Apostrof 10 (2006):5.
Melancu, Stefan. “Al treilea testament” Apostrof 11 (1996): 10,31.
Men, Boris Marian. ”Kafka si lumea contemporana”
Men, Boris Marian. ”Kafka si lumea contemporană.”Realitatea evreiască. 190/191 (2003):7.
Meyer, Michel. ”Kafka sau existenţialitatea intrebării”. Trad. Monica Broos Cronica 17(1995):16.
Moraru, Cornel. ”Vina tragica” Vatra. 34(1978):11.
Munteanu, Romul. ”Confluenţe.Însemnări despre Kafka”. Steaua 4(1997):46-49.
Paretea, Aurel. Cu toţii suntem datori cu o lege.
Petrescu, Liviu. ”Vina tragică. Categoria tainicului la Kafka. Geometrii imaginare”.Tribuna 5(1974):19.
R.M. Alberes et Pierre de Boidesferre ,,Kafka.’’ Viata Romaneasca 12(1965):3.
Roth, Philip. ”Privire asupra lui Kafka”.trans. Irina Petras. Apostrof 11 (1993): 23.
Scraba, Isabela Vasiliu. ”A fost Kafka un megaric?” Contemporanul.Ideea Europeană 43 (1992):6.
Simion, Eugen “Foame si autofagie la Kafka şi Eugen Barbu ’’.Steaua 2 (1992) :14.
Simion, Eugen. ”Jurnalul ca instrument al cunoaşterii pe sine.” Literatorul 36(1996):7.
Simion, Eugen. ”Jurnalul ca instrument al cunoasterii pe sine” Literatorul 36 (1996):7.
Sorianj, Octavian. ”Plimbări prin oraşul lui Kafka”. Apostrof (10-12),1994:p24-25.
Tartler, Grete. ”Retras pe tavan” România literară 19,2.
Vartic, Ion. ”Fişe de dosar la un verdict” Tribuna 13(1980):2.
Vartic, Ion.. ”Un epilog neprevăzut”. Apostrof 11(1996):6.
Vlad, Ion. ”Tragicul in interpretarea poetului’’ Tribuna 40,(1978):2.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
[1]At the transfer from writer to reader the extent of indeterminacy increases (although several purely personal alternatives are lost altogether) and eventually the information content increases.
[2]See Kafka, Drucke aus dem Nachlass I,p.326
[3]See Kafka, Opera antumă, trans. Mihai Izbăşescu, p.162.
[4]See Kafka, Opere complete vol.1, Proza scurtă, trans. Mircea Ivănescu, p.138
[5]Kafka in “Secolul XX“(În faţa legii) trans. Saşa Pană, p.97
[6]See Kafka, Drucke zu Lebzeiten,p.201.
[7]See Kafka, Opera antumă, trans. Mihai Izbăşescu, p.173.
------------
1. Literary approaches in translations
The first translations of Franz Kafka’s work in Romanian appeared in 1947 in ”Secolul XX” 287-288 in the translation of Paul Celan(edited by Paul Solomon). It was in 1966 when M. Märkel and Vasile Stirbu published ” The Country Doctor” (“Der Landarzt”)
In 1966 Mihai Izbasescu translated the famous collection (at Fisher publishing house) of nine short stories: 1. “The Vedict”,2.The Methamorphosis, 3.The Country Doctor,4. "At the Gallery" 5. "Facing the law Eleven Sons, 6. "A Report to an Academy, 7.The Penal colony, 8."A Starvation Artist"
The same year Petre Forna translated an “imperial message”and Ion Potopin translated “Cold and sturdy is the horizon”.
In 1968 the reader was offered other translations which added new denotations and perspectives of interpretation for the Romanian reader. The first was “The Road Back Home” followed by the Bridge, Prometheus, ”The Driver” translated by Dumitru Tepeneag.
The next stories to come were “First Love” and “Distracted glare on the window” in the translation of Denis Negoescu6 in “Amfiteatru, No. 26, 1968, p.43.
In 1972 Peter Motzan and Aurel Sorobetea7 translated “The Knock at the Door”, “The Return Home” and “Aphorisms” in Steaua, No.25, 1972, p.16-17.
Fragments of the journal were translated by Mihaela Diaconu.
In 1983 Mircea Ivanescu translated “Knocking on the Door”, “An Imperial Message”,”The Trees”, ”Desire to become an Indian”, “Those Running Passers-by” etc.in “Transilvania”
In 1984 Paul Celan translated “An Imperial Message”, “Those Running Passers-by”, “The Excursion”, Facing in “ Secolul XX”, No.11-12, 1984,p.100-102.
In 1991 Vasiliu Scraba Isabela translated “Give it up” in ”Contemporanul, Ideea Europeana”, No.32 (69), 9 August 1991, p.510.
In 1996 we are offered the translation “Facing the Law”by Paul Celan in “Apostrof”, nr.11,1996,p.3.11.
In 2001 Dumitru Tepeneag translated ,,Te duci într-o doara pe fereastră” (Apostrof, No.1,2001,p.13)12.
In 2004 Grete Tartler translated “Little Fable” (Mica fibula, in ,,Luceafarul”, No.38,2004)13.
Therefore we have two variants of “facing the law” and three of “An imperial message”. The other works are just variants of his most well known short prose writings.
The writing ”A Trip by Tram” appears with a changed title as for instance ”Travelling by tram”. Mircea Ivanescu made some changes to his first translation of 1983.
Vagonul se apropie de o statie , o fata langa o scara , se pregateste sa urce. O vad atat de limpede, de parca as putea s-o ating intinzandu-mi mana.[1]
Paul Celan had a contribution to “Those Running Passers-by”(,,Die Vorüberlaufenden”):
Cand ne plimbam noaptea pe o strada si deodata un om, vizibil inca de departe –caci strada ne urca in fata si e luna plina-vine in fuga spre noi, atunci nu-l apucam de brat ca sa-l oprim, chiar daca e istovit si cu hainele in dezordine, chiar daca dupe el vine cineva in fuga si strigand, ci il lasam sa fuga mai departe.
Cand ne plimba noaptea pe o strada si deodata un om, vizibil inca de departe –caci strada se deschide in fata noastra si e luna plina-vine in fuga spre noi, atunci noi nu-l apucam de brat sa-l oprim, chiar daca pare epuizat si cu hainele in dezordine, chiar daca dupa el vine cineva in fuga....[2]
The short story “An imperial message” was translated 7 times and presents several variants:
Imparatul asa se spune – ti-a trimis tie singuraticului, lamentabilului sau supus umbrei marunte care a fugit pana in cea mai indepartata indepartare din fata soarelui imparatesc,tocmai tie ti-a trimis imparatul de pe patul sau de moarte un mesaj.
Se spune ca impăratul ti-a trimis tie simplului individ, jalnicului sau supus, umbrei infime fugita din fata soarelui imparatul pana in cele mai indepartate departari tocmai tie ti-a trimis cu limba de moarte solie imparatul.[3]
Eventually we can compare two versions of “Little Fable”: The first appeared in 1964 among the first translations to his work and the second in 2004 translated by Grete Tartler:
La inceput era atat de larg, incat mi-era frica, alergam inainte si eram fericit cand descopeream in fine la dreapta la stanga ziduri in departare; dar zidurile astea lungi grabesc unul spre altul atat de tare, ca am ajuns deja in ultima odaie si acolo in colt e capcana in care o sa nimeresc.
Trebuie numai sa schimbi directia, zise pisica si-l inghiti.[4]
The second translation uses modern language. Expressions like ”zidurile acestea veneuunul spre altul atatde repede” are replaced with ,,grabesc unul spre altul”. Thus, the second translation sound more poetic.
The story “Odradek” resembles the story “At the crossroads”(,,Eine Kreuzung”) as the main character is a uncommon being that that startles by its strange appearance.
2.The Literary Reception in Anthologies, Books and Volumes of Short- Prose
The monographs on Brecht and Kafka, Kafka and Wilde, Kafka and Dostoyevsky offered new perspectives and enlightening approaches to the writer’s life and work. Thus, the differenciesdifferences were stressed all along with the similarities between major works.What remains the core of this presentation is the importance Beckett and Kafka rendered to the role of language (poetic) as they chose to write in adopted languages.
Petras Irina translated an article by Peter Roth in which the latter focused more on the major events and love stories Kafka experienced all throughout the writing of his renowned diary.
They both wrote in a very new, unconventional style, their major approach to fiction writing being the improvement of the means of expression. We propose to focus to what an extent his workings are “open ended”. Then we analyze the new perspectives that the translation brought to the original and the degree at which they became original. The diachronically going approach offers a bird’s eye view of the entire body of translated works.
The remaining proof of the endurance in time of Kafka’s work. The most accomplished translation will be given special attention.
The narrative technique shall be offered special attention especially with regard to the degree of subjectivity and the rendering of the narrative point of view.
Thus the discourse and its unfolding are the main objectives to be followed when embarking on the task to describe how the narrative technique managed to render the artistic experience and the ideated horizon of Kafka as a experience writer at the beginning of the twentieth century. The function of the discourse has a great impact on the way we perceive the major themes that haunted Kafka’s world: the problem of fear, guilt and toward the end of his life the fascination with death.
Thus, it seems only appropriate to analyze each translation for itself and ponder upon the impact it had on the way it modified the reader’s perspective of receiving Kafka’s short prose writing.
Klaus Hemsdorf tried to capture some coordinates that are dominating in Kafka’s prose writing.
The composition of the novels and of the stories is marked by a sense of irregularity, disorder that is sometimes pushed towards incoherence.
The character and the irregularity of the composition are a reflection of the contradictory and chaotical realities.
It is not the rationalities of artistic composition that allow the reciprocal substitution of some particular chapters but the substantial structure of the artistic reality, the circular time and the unarticulated space that governs it. The fragmentary character of many of the writer’s creations is not due to some accidental exterior causes(as the author’s premature death)but it is the intrinsic inherent, consubstantial to his artistic view.
In a disparaged reality everything must remain unraveled unresolved, incomplete and in suspense. The world can not offer any responses to the problems and therefore these remain unsolved. Hence, the solution offered is violent, arbitrary destructive, more precisely the examination vital and the association spiritual.
The fragments possess a real epic independence not a relative one as any classical novel nevertheless.
Directly from its components and peculiarities some the most important common feature that their masterwork shares is that the open ending that leads to the perplexity of the reader and to a so called absurd feeling of existence.
Radu Enescu is one of the most reputed exegetes of Franz Kafka’s work. The definitions that he finds for Kafka’s writing and his signaling of the false approaches to his novels and short stories present Kafka’s creation in a whole new light from a different angle.
Each work of Kafka is only an element of a unique cycle in the tradition of “chanson de geste” of the Breton.
Albert Camus stated that the greatness of his work resides in the fact that his work offers everything and confirms nothing.
The biographical research of the monographs of Wagenbach, Richter and Emrich. Thus, the most important offered new perspectives in the decoding of the symbols encountered all through his short prose writing. The most difficult task is reserved to the problem of the symbol decoding in Kafka’s work.
Being considered to be more intuitive and artistic than Kierkegaard, Kafka’s writing demands a philosophical approach apart form/ besides the aesthetic one.
His place can be traced somewhere between the almost uncontrolled fantasy and the abstract concept filtered through a metamorphosis in a significant encoding.
The similarity with Kierkegaard could reside in the fact that both oscillate somewhere between the art of metaphor and the attempt to justify the human condition.
The conversations with Gustav Janouch are mentioned. The hermeneutic approach proves thus to be the most appropriate in the decoding of Kafka’s work.
It is true that we won’t read the aesthetic joy of reality unless we go without vanity through a moral experience. The ghostly vision of the Prague capital is common to the non-Tschechian Prague literature starting with Longfellow, Apollinaire, and continuing with Wilhelm Raabe to Gustav Meyrink.
In the renowned volume “Collected stories” Gabriel Josipovich offers an English version of Kafka’s complete short-prose writings. The volume contains the published prose writing during his lifetime alltogether with the posthumously published short stories.
The apparently common detail is isolated from its context, attains a special signification and represents totality. That is why the lack of detail can thus provoke immeasurable effects if not fatal ones.
The epic creation is therefore a summing up of many details with the aim of pointing out the complex nature of reality, thus possessing an autonomous status.
The detail is being thus captured in all its variants to stress the general human nature.
The microscopic photographing of a minimal object, the minimizing of giant things, the contradiction and the short circuit that capture the latent comic dimension in the tragic reality and the tragic depth in the hilarious detail are several procedures of the indictment of this epic writing that presents everything deformed, akward, nevertheless in a real current form.
The category of fragmentary is not methodical any more temporarily, annullable any time by the play of irony but existential, structural.
The fragment becomes for Kafka an ontological gift. He does not search for the fragmentary as his own being was shattered in a tragic manner, neither through a free nor spiritually superior game. Kafka did not strive towards totality and infinity because he knew that these categories are not be found anymore in the same way they were present in the romantic’s imagination.
He possessed a deep conscience of the limits and searched all his life for the indestructible element. He knew that this element is an indestructible category.
He knew that he could find it only in the form of a subjective experience projected outwardly under the guise of images, as a virtual reality. Faithful to himself he permanently placed himself to a risk. His life and his creation were a process in search of the indestructible. He kept the faith rather without detecting it. He remained anchored in the fragment his only consistency and limit.
The first person character is not always as it happens in the case of Josephine the singer or the mice folk, metamorphosis and the narration do not possess an absolute character.
”On the Avenue”
”The Confessions of the Country teacher”
”The Sudden Walk”
”Decision”
”Excursion in the mountains”
”Bad Luck”
”The Salesman”
”Distracted Glare on the Window”
Kafka’s work possesses an impressive homogeneousness in spite of its antinomies:
Ich bin der älteste Schakal, weit und breit. Ich bin glücklich, dich noch hier begrüßen zu können. Ich hatte schon die Hoffnung fast aufgegeben, denn wir warten unendlich lange auf dich; meine Mutter hat gewartet und ihre Mutter und weiter alle ihre Mütter bis hinauf zur Mutter aller Schakale. Glaube es! [6]
Sînt cel mai bătrân şacal de pe tot cuprinsul. Sînt fericit că am apucat să salut prezenţa ta aici. Aproape că pierdusem speranţa, căci te aşteptam de o groază de timp; au aşteptat mama mea şi mama ei şi toate mamele din veac, pînă la mama tuturor şacalilor. Crede-mă! [7]
There remained eventually a couple of short stories untranslated into Romanian, among which we can mention the following: ”The Star” [,,Der Stern”], “An Ancient Sword” [,,Ein altertümliches Schwert”], “New Lamps” [,,Neue Lampen”].
3. Conclusion
Sometimes we notice a disarming lack of wonder or indignation of the characters facing the absurdity of their own condition and a spontaneous tireless energy in the search of a solution is to be traced. Some kind of a centrifugal force projects them all the time towards the brink of the sphere of the absurd, thus enabling them to possess the tendency to pendulate between fantastic and real.Hence, they do not give up struggling, striving for their cause and keep their faith in a better future, altough this is very blurred with Kafka. However,indestructibility remains the central element all throughout Kafka's work.
Bibliography:
Primary Readings:
Kafka, Franz: Drucke zu Lebzeiten. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002.
Kafka, Franz: Nachgelassene Schriften I. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002.
Kafka, Franz: Nachgelassene Schriften II. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002. (Hsg. Jürgen Born, Gerhard Neumann, Malcolm Pasley und Jost Schillemeit unter Beratung von Nahum Glatzer, Reiner Gruente Paul Raabe und Marthe Robert)
Secondary Readings:
Anders, Günther. Kafka. Pro und Contra.München: Verlag C.H. Beck.1967.
Emrich, Wilhem und Bernd Goldmann. Franz Kafka Symposium.1983.
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[1]At the transfer from writer to reader the extent of indeterminacy increases (although several purely personal alternatives are lost altogether) and eventually the information content increases.
[2]See Kafka, Drucke aus dem Nachlass I,p.326
[3]See Kafka, Opera antumă, trans. Mihai Izbăşescu, p.162.
[4]See Kafka, Opere complete vol.1, Proza scurtă, trans. Mircea Ivănescu, p.138
[5]Kafka in “Secolul XX“(În faţa legii) trans. Saşa Pană, p.97
[6]See Kafka, Drucke zu Lebzeiten,p.201.
[7]See Kafka, Opera antumă, trans. Mihai Izbăşescu, p.173.
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