I thank Chris Satoor very much for recording this video. The abrupt ending is due to purely technical reasons--Zoom cut us off suddenly. But this would have intrigued and amused Kafka a lot: He was fascinated by the tendency of early media technology, especially the phonograph and the telephone, to be not merely passive instruments of communication, but to take on an autonomous life their own, largely beyond the control of the human subject!
Hi Christopher and Dr Goebel. Thank you again for such a wonderful insight into Kafka (this time). I think the word that immediately springs to mind as I watch this is distraction - however I mean this in the most positive sense. Since the last 2 lectures of Dr Goebel, I have been knee deep in Holderlin and Rilke, and now I feel compelled to jump into Kafka. The enthusiasm for these subjects really shines through again and it’s a great feeling knowing there is so much more to learn. An inspiring conversation.
Another truly great delivery on your channel! This literary-philosophical cross-over through Kafka! Your speaker, Dr Goebel, a fountain of expertise on Kafka. I also enjoyed Dr Goebel on all the other occasions you have had him on your channel -- on Holderlin your speaker so enlightening, I could go on,.. May I also add, this literary-philosophical cross-over is so rewarding for both philosophy and literature readers, personally, as a devotee of Greek philosophy, I was going to suggest to have on your channel at some point someone to speak on Iris Murdoch. Certainly, a very rich philosophical-literary cross-over in the case of Murdoch. Thank you for your channel, and your speakers' kindness to use this medium. I suspect a lot of time and effort go into these videos on your part for us to get the end product on our screens. Thanks. ps Nearly forgot to remark. Kafka's aphorisms definitely have something of Heraclitus' fragments.
Thank you so much for your kind remarks! Indeed, philosophical and literary discourses can supplement each other in mutually illuminating and interrogating ways. Kafka's aphorisms, relying mostly on daringly imaginative images, can sharpen, deepen, or expand the conceptual language of philosophy, while philosophical reflection can illuminate the allusiveness of these short literary fragments. Your comment on Heraclitus is also perceptive. Kafka was rather interested in Ancient Greek thought, as his brief mention of Zeno's paradox suggests. But you're right: Heraclitus's surviving fragments and quotations in later philosophers share the unusual imagery and abbreviated argument with Kafka, and I will try to suggest some of these parallels in part II of our Kafka videos!
Mother Theresa struggled her whole life with spiritual aridity, i.e: a lack of consolation. The premise implicit in Kafka's thought is there in Job: namely, goodness is its own reward, not the joy that comes from it (though we only see this aspect of it in extremis)
That is an interesting idea. The image of wild beasts, like Kafka's leopards, has sometimes been used in modernist literature to signify brute life force, irresistible desires, even the unconscious, which presumably must be reigned in by rationality, ritual, and order, here represented by the temple. See also Kafka's A Report to the Academy!
I thank Chris Satoor very much for recording this video. The abrupt ending is due to purely technical reasons--Zoom cut us off suddenly. But this would have intrigued and amused Kafka a lot: He was fascinated by the tendency of early media technology, especially the phonograph and the telephone, to be not merely passive instruments of communication, but to take on an autonomous life their own, largely beyond the control of the human subject!
You two have always such beautiful conversations ! Wonderful
Hi Christopher and Dr Goebel. Thank you again for such a wonderful insight into Kafka (this time). I think the word that immediately springs to mind as I watch this is distraction - however I mean this in the most positive sense. Since the last 2 lectures of Dr Goebel, I have been knee deep in Holderlin and Rilke, and now I feel compelled to jump into Kafka. The enthusiasm for these subjects really shines through again and it’s a great feeling knowing there is so much more to learn. An inspiring conversation.
Another truly great delivery on your channel! This literary-philosophical cross-over through Kafka! Your speaker, Dr Goebel, a fountain of expertise on Kafka. I also enjoyed Dr Goebel on all the other occasions you have had him on your channel -- on Holderlin your speaker so enlightening, I could go on,.. May I also add, this literary-philosophical cross-over is so rewarding for both philosophy and literature readers, personally, as a devotee of Greek philosophy, I was going to suggest to have on your channel at some point someone to speak on Iris Murdoch. Certainly, a very rich philosophical-literary cross-over in the case of Murdoch. Thank you for your channel, and your speakers' kindness to use this medium. I suspect a lot of time and effort go into these videos on your part for us to get the end product on our screens. Thanks. ps Nearly forgot to remark. Kafka's aphorisms definitely have something of Heraclitus' fragments.
Thank you so much for your kind remarks! Indeed, philosophical and literary discourses can supplement each other in mutually illuminating and interrogating ways. Kafka's aphorisms, relying mostly on daringly imaginative images, can sharpen, deepen, or expand the conceptual language of philosophy, while philosophical reflection can illuminate the allusiveness of these short literary fragments. Your comment on Heraclitus is also perceptive. Kafka was rather interested in Ancient Greek thought, as his brief mention of Zeno's paradox suggests. But you're right: Heraclitus's surviving fragments and quotations in later philosophers share the unusual imagery and abbreviated argument with Kafka, and I will try to suggest some of these parallels in part II of our Kafka videos!
His "Parables and Paradoxes" (Vintage?) among my favorite books!!!😊❤
Indeed, this volume is an excellent introduction to Kafka's short prose and aphoristic thought!
Mother Theresa struggled her whole life with spiritual aridity, i.e: a lack of consolation. The premise implicit in Kafka's thought is there in Job: namely, goodness is its own reward, not the joy that comes from it (though we only see this aspect of it in extremis)
What’s the difference between an aphorism and a maxim?
The leopards could signify the corrupting force of powerful desire, how the modern masses are forced accept a decline in "religious" humanity
That is an interesting idea. The image of wild beasts, like Kafka's leopards, has sometimes been used in modernist literature to signify brute life force, irresistible desires, even the unconscious, which presumably must be reigned in by rationality, ritual, and order, here represented by the temple. See also Kafka's A Report to the Academy!