Franz Kafka and China

Abstract

The article is devoted to insufficiently studied in local literature aspect in the work of Franz Kafka (1883-1924), the German speaking writer, representative of “the Prague circle,” one of the outstanding masters of European literature. In the context of the changed geopolitical situation, the problem of the relationship between East and West is in need of further interpretation in the light of the world literary experience. The material is Kafka’s short fiction, which is devoted to the topic of China. It is shown that the personal Kafka’s “Chinese discourse” is ambivalent to the image of China, which was formed in the early 20^th century in the European consciousness. Special attention is paid to the story “How the Chinese wall was built” (1917). Various approaches to the interpretation of the work were involved in consideration. The article focuses on intertextual comprehension of the story. The relevance of the study is seen in that by the material of short fiction of Kafka it is possible to trace the evolution of the image of China in Europe and to determine Kafka’s contribution in the formation of the European “Chinese discourse” the first half of the 20^th century.