DIE PHANTASIE IM WERK VON FRANZ KAFKA

Abstract

This thesis discusses how the concept phantasy appears in the first work of Franz Kafka Description of a Struggle. Through a close reading of this text the thesis will analyze the characteristics of Kafka’s use of the concept, and demonstrate how it differs from that of other authors. The thesis takes the definition of art by Oscar Wilde - „what is unreal and non-existent“ (Wilde 978) as a foundation for the discussion. The term phantasy will be used in the same way as Wilde defined art. The conclusion of the thesis is that Description of a Struggle confirms and develops the Romantic definition of phantasy given by the German philosopher Friedrich Schlegel: „Denn das ist der Anfang aller Poesie, den Gang und die Gesetze der vernünftig denkenden Vernunft aufzuheben und uns wieder in die schöne Verwirrung der Fantasie […] zu versetzen […].“ (Schlegel 211)