Comparative Literature / German

Hybrid: The session will be held in-person but a few remote presentations may be included.

Adam Hartman-Whitfield (Binghamton University, SUNY)

Lisa Timmermann (Binghamton University, SUNY)

Marking a century since the posthumous publication of The Man Who Disappeared [Der Verschollene], this panel aims to explore the enduring currency of Franz Kafka's writings. His work continues to feel uncanny: we read about characters trapped in complex bureaucratic systems, symbols and signs with no easy interpretation, and enigmatic configurations of law and justice that seem both absurd and accurate—all of which is described by Kafka with equal measure cruelty and black humor. Stories, and a style, that seem to resonate more and more each day.

While any engagement with Kafka's work and its afterlives are welcome additions to this panel, we are especially interested in approaches that extend beyond disciplinary boundaries and those addressing this year's theme of "Empowering Communities." Some potential generative approaches could include:

• Close and/or theoretical readings of Kafka's work

• Adaptations of Kafka's work into other media

• Translations of Kafka’s work

• Teaching Kafka

• Kafka and community in the 21st century

• The Kafkaesque in contemporary literature

• Kafka’s creatures

• Postcolonial approaches to Kafka

Marking a century since the posthumous publication of The Man Who Disappeared [Der Verschollene], this panel aims to explore the enduring currency of Franz Kafka's writings. We want to consider what Kafka might mean in 2027—a particularly Kafkaesque moment—from a variety of inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives.