The eight papers in this volume were originally presented at the centennial conference on Franz Kafka held at the University of Calgary in October 1983. As diverse in approach and methodology as these papers are âthe general drift of the volume is away from Germanistik towards âstate-of-the-artâ methods.â
The opening articles by Charles Bernheimer and James Rolleston both deal with the similarities and contrasts between Kafka and Flaubert, with Bernheimer focusing on the âIâ and the dilemma of narration in Kafkaâs early story, âWedding Preparation in the Country,â and Rolleston on the time-dimensions in the Kafkaâs work that link him to the Romantics. Other articles in the volume deal with the complex interrelationships between author and narrator, and implied author and implied reader; with Kafkaâs place in the European fable tradition and in classic and Romantic religious traditions; with Kafkaâs diaries; and with his female protagonists.