Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature (Theory and History of Literature)

In Kafka Deleuze And Guattari Free Their Subject From His (mis)intrepreters. In Contrast To Traditional Readings That See In Kafka's Work A Case Of Oedipalized Neurosis Or A Flight Into Transcendence, Guilt, And Subjectivity, Deleuze And Guattari Make A Case For Kafka As A Man Of Joy, A Promoter Of Radical Politics Who Resisted At Every Turn Submission To Frozen Hierarchies. Gilles Deleuze And Félix Guattari ; Translation By Dana Polan ; Foreword By Réda Bensmaïa. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. [89]-98. In this classic of critical thought, Deleuze and Guattari challenge conventional interpretations of Kafka's work. Instead of exploring preexisting categories or literary genres, they propose a concept of 'minor literature' the use of major language that subverts it from within. They contend, that Kafka, writing as a Jew in Prague, made German 'take flight on a line of escape; and joyfully became a stranger within it. His work therefore serves as a model for understanding all critical language that must operate within the confines of the dominant language and culture. - from back cover In Kafka Deleuze and Guattari free their subject from his (mis)interpreters. In contrast to traditional readings that see in Kafka's work a case of Oedipalized neurosis or a flight into transcendence, guilt, and subjectivity, Deleuze and Guattari make a case for Kafka as a man of joy, a promoter of radical politics who resisted at every turn submission to frozen hierarchies