Varieties of Influence: On Kafka's Indebtedness to Dostoevskii

This article is a slightly revised version of a paper given at the "Kafka '83" Symposium at the Institute of Germanic Studies in the University of London in October 1983. The following abbreviations are used to refer to works of primary literature: Kafka: T Tagebucher 1910-1923, ed. by M. Brod (1951). P Der Prozeβ, ed. by M. Brod (1951). S Das Schloβ, ed. by M. Brod (1951). BrF Briefe an Felice, ed. by E. Heller and J. Born (1967). All S. Fischer Verlag, Lizenzausgabe, Shocken Rooks (New York and Frankfurt). Dostoevskii: RR Rodion Raskolnikov (Schuld und Suhne), Piper Verlag (Munich and Leipzig , 1908), 2 vols. The Double: Notes from Underground. The Double, Penguin Books (Harmondsworth , 1981 ).

Nina Hoffmann , F.M. Dostojewski , Eine Biographishe Studie (Munich, 1899 ).

Cf H. Binder , Kafka Kommentar zu den Romanen, Rezensionen, Aphorismen, und zum Brief an den Vater (Munich, 1976), 189ff.

W.J. Dodd , "Dostoyevskian Elements in Kafka's Penal Colony", in German Life and Letters, xxxvii ( 1983), 11-23.

Mark Spilka , "Kafka's Sources for The Metamorphosis" in Comparative Literature, xi ( 1959), 289-307.

Ibid, 289.

Ibid.

H. Binder (ed.), Kafka-Handbuch II: Das Werk und seine Wirkung (Stuttgart, 1979), 307.

Cf Hoffmann , op. cit. (ref. 2), esp. 131-7, 170.

I have argued this in some detail for In der Strafkolonie, cf. Dodd, op. cit. (ref. 4), 22. The more general point might be made here that Das Urteil can be seen to participate in a literary, tradition which is not just 'Dostoevskian' but is also a St Petersburg tradition — Gogol and Pushkin also come to mind here. It is as if Kafka in writing this story is embarking on a vicarious pilgrimage to St Petersburg and so acknowledging a line of literary inheritance.

Mark Spilka , Introduction to F. M. Dostoyevsky. The Double, trans. by G. Bird ( Bloomington, 1958), 6.

Martin Walser Bescheribung einer Form ( Munich, 1961), 92.

Binder, however, has some pertinent observations on this topic, in his Kommentar (ref. 3), of. 202f., 209.

The Castle, trans. by W. and E. Muir (Harmondsworth , 1968), 101.

Margaret Church , "Dostoeffsky's Crime and Punishment and Kafka's The Trial", in Literature and Psychology, XIX (1969), parts 3/4, 47-55.

H. Siefken. kafka . Ungeduld und Lassigkeit Zu den Romanen der Prozeβ und das Schloβ' (Munich, 1977), 13-16.

H. Binder , especially in the Kommentar (ref. 3).

J. Starobinski , "Kafka et Dostoievski", in Les Cahiers du Sud, no. 304 (1950 ), 466-75.

These sketches explore a common motif, that of the unexpected visitor : cf. T, 306, 320f., 322f., 326, 333f., 340, 346f., 363f., 369, 370, 372.

Compare, for example, Part II, chap. 3 of Dostoevskii's novel.

The relationship of inverted parallelism also extends to the positioning of the figures in the two scenes: Raskolnikov sees Sonya in the courtyard from his window, Josef K sees the figure at the window from the quarry.

P. Rahv , The Myth and the Powerhouse (New York, 1965), 113.

Church , op. cit. (ref. 15). Though I cannot agree with Church's interpretation of the data, I am indebted to her for her thorough and generally persuasive attempt to relate the plot structures of the two novels.

The phrase is Dostoevskn's, cf. Notes from Underground. The Double , 122.

In associating Leni's words "Wenn man den richtigen Blick dafur hat, findet man die Angeklagten schon" (P, 221) with Dostoevskn's remarks on the "schone Naturen" in Siberia, Binder fails to see that if the two contexts are to be linked, Kafka's text must be taken to be radical transformation of the 'source'. Cf. Kommentar (ref. 3), 235.

By Kuna , cf. F. Kuna (ed.), On Kafka Semi-Centenary Perspectives (London, 1974), 109.

R. Pascal , Kafka's Narrators. A Study of his Stones and Sketches ( Cambridge, 1982), 13.

H. Kunstmann , "Einige Parallelen zwischen Dostojewski und Kafka" in J. T. Baer and N. W. Ingham (eds), Mnemozina: Studia litteraria russica in honorem Vsevold Setchkarev (Munich, 1974), 243.

On this subject cf. R. Hargreaves , "Nietzsche and Pascal", in Journal of European Studies, xviii ( 1978), 129-41.