FRANZ KAFKA’S METAPLOT MINIATURES

Abstract

The paper focuses on Franz Kafka’s short fiction which imparts a certain reflection on precedent plots, both mythological and literary. In relation to these texts, a genre nomination “metaplot miniatures” is proposed. It brings together such Kafka’s works as The Truth about Sancho Panza, The Silence of the Sirens, Prometheus, Poseidon. It is proved that a precedent plot in Kafka’s short fiction becomes the subject of iro­nic absurdity. The purpose of the article is to compare this technique with how Kafka treats ready-made plots in his big prose. Some differences have been revealed in the way Kafka worked with a ready-made story in miniatures, novels, and the novella Metamorphosis. It is noted that in major works this technique does not become the total principle of the world-modeling, but contributes to the design of the author’s intention. Another difference is that in novels and novellas this technique – the adaptation of the precedent motif and plot – forms a different modal orientation, a tragic one. This observation allows us to raise a number of important questions: about the principles of Kafka’s writing, about the character of the laughing tonality in the artistic world of Kafka and its different genre manifestations. In the metaplot miniatures we see an ironic and even sarcastic transformation of the literary precedent. In the big prose, changing the ready-made motifs, there is not an ironic recast of the precedent image but aggravation of its tragic content. The paper also raises a question of the relationship between the metaliterature of Kafka’s works and the practice of interpreting his writings. Some reflections are given on the well-known opinion that Kafka’s texts cannot be interpreted in terms of allegory. The author hypothesizes that metaplot miniatures reflect the most characteristic features of Kafka’s writing, which in the works of a bigger size are overshadowed by the tragic plaintiveness of the writer’s worldview.