FRANZ KAFKA AND TRANSHUMANISM: THE “LITERARY MACHINE” AND CONTEMPORARY THEORIES
Keywords:
Franz Kafka, “literary machines”, transhumanism, Kafkaean world, simulacrums and technologyAbstract
In the modern era, in which transhumanism promises to overcome biological limitations through technology, Franz Kafka (1883 1924), as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, sheds light on the topic of the relationship between man, law and technology with his literary writing. His works can be read as a kind of visionary foreshadowing, criticism and warning. In this paper, we will analyze the literature of Franz Kafka through the prism of the theoretical approaches of Deleuze and Guattari (the concept of the so called “literary machine”) and Baudrillard (simulacrums and technology). As examples, we will point out Kafka's stories “While Building the Great Wall of China” (1917) and “In the Penal Colony” (1919) and to illustrate the so called Kafkaean vision of man in relation to technology.
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