The Kafkaesque: Bugs in the Modern Condition

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Imagine that you wake up one morning before a big game, only to realize you’ve been transformed into a giant insect, unable to roll out of bed. Or imagine that two strangers come to your dorm room to notify you that you are under arrest, but you’ll still be allowed to attend classes as usual. Or imagine that your student status has been erroneously revoked, but every time you try to schedule a meeting with the registrar to fix the mistake, you are denied because appointments are only for registered students. This course explores the “Kafkaesque”—the nightmarish, inscrutable, darkly comedic realm described in the writings of Franz Kafka (1883-1924). Born in Prague, Kafka was trained as a lawyer and worked for an insurance agency while writing prolifically in his spare time. His influential novels and short stories (which he intended to be burned upon his death) later earned him the epithet “the Dante of the 20th Century.” We will enter into Kafka’s world of grotesque transformations, absurd reactions, and abject failures in order to reflect on the Kafkaesque ways of knowing the modern condition that we recognize and encounter today: infinite spools of red tape, increasingly cryptic communications, appearances that are not as they seem. Starting with some of Kafka’s classics (e.g. Metamorphosis, The Trial) as well as lesser-known pieces (e.g. “In the Penal Colony,” “A Country Doctor”), we will also consider other writers, artists, filmmakers, and composers who have been inspired by Kafka and the Kafkaesque, ranging from opera to K-pop, from radio to virtual reality, from Us to The Fly. We will take a field trip into Chicago to explore how contemporary playwrights and musicians have internalized the Kafkaesque. The various modalities of course work will include shorter blog posts and discussion threads as well as research papers and creative projects.