The stoker

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Der Heizer is a short story by Franz Kafka that was published in 1913 as part of the series The Youngest Day published by Kurt Wolff Verlag . At the same time, it is the first chapter of the fragment of the novel America (title by Max Brod ), which, according to Kafka , should be called Der Verschollene and is now generally used under this title. The publisher had asked "very warmly and very urgently" for this first chapter. Kafka could not be persuaded to publish the entire novel, as he found it inadequate.

Original publisher's cover of the first print from 1913
Frontispiece of the first print, harbor view of New York

A very young man is sent to America by his parents after a scandal. Upon arrival, he tries to find his new way of life in a helpful and naive way. There he meets his rich uncle. It remains vague how the relationship will develop.

The novel Der Verschollene then describes how Karl slips more and more down the social ladder.

content

The stoker , 1913

At the urging of his parents, 16-year-old Karl Roßmann emigrated to America alone. It is an escape from the shame and maintenance demands of a parental maid who had a child from him. The circumstances of the cohabitation are presented later in the text as a rape of Charles. When his ship reaches the American port - apparently New York - he sees the Statue of Liberty, which here, however, carries a sword instead of a torch. When he wants to go ashore, he realizes that he has forgotten his umbrella. Naively he leaves his suitcase to a stranger and goes in search of the umbrella. He gets lost in the search and meets a ship's heater in his cabin. A lively conversation ensues. The stoker gives advice, but also speaks of his official problems, especially with the chief engineer Schubal. To settle the problems, both go to the captain's cabin and bring the case to the high-ranking gentlemen present there. Karl tries cleverly and diplomatically to defend the stoker's concerns, who in turn gets lost in his anger.

Karl's uncle, a senator and a respected man, is among the company because the maid has informed him in writing of Karl's arrival and recognizes his nephew. He asks for his name and resolves the situation. Karl slowly realizes that because of the high social position of his uncle, he cannot possibly continue to insist on the injustices towards the stoker. It is difficult for him to break away from his attachment and apparent responsibility for the stoker. When he moved away from the ship at the insistence of his uncle, he did not believe that he would “ever be able to replace the stoker for him” .

Text analysis

The earlier fate of Karl as the involuntary father of a child is introduced in a subordinate clause of the story without emotion. Karl himself suppresses the story, he only thinks of the maid "in the crowd of an increasingly receding past" . The circumstances under which he had to leave his home appear heartless when you look at the still childish protagonist. The uncle, who has a negative attitude towards his parents, says that they got Karl aside like "a cat" to avoid alimony payments and the scandal. In the fourth chapter of the accompanying novel, Der Verschollene , Karl remembers “the terrible evening on which his mother announced the trip to America” .

Karl is friendly, naive and helpful and feels a flaw based on his background. He wants to make up for this with his sympathy and concern for the stoker. He wishes his parents could see him fighting for justice in front of a distinguished gentleman. From this point of view, his commitment is like trying to have the parental judgment of the son revised. Karl is not only a guiltless victim, he shows not only well-intentioned naivety but also tactical behavior and shows innocent-lying traits. Karl has a strong sense of justice. His almost affectionate attachment to the simple stoker, whom he believes he has to help, is much stronger than the turn to his rich, superior uncle, who offers a life of prosperity.

The reader is left alone with the appearance of the uncle - similar to the introductory sentence, which is heavy with content. One wonders whether such a coincidence is realistic that the two will meet in big New York on the first day. But it's not a coincidence; the uncle came on the incoming ship with the maid's letter and apparently told the captain the story. Karl has no kinship feelings towards the uncle, who could actually represent a new father figure for the nephew. The further course of the corresponding novel fragment shows that this is rightly so. In the story, the uncle very clearly condemns the behavior of Karl's parents. He is doing the opposite of what Karl had brought on the ship in the first place: The uncle now expressly praises Karl, he even seems to be proud of him instead of rejecting him - like his parents. And then the senator (who, by the way, is the brother of Karl's mother) asks the decisive, rhetorical question to the captain: “Don't I have a splendid nephew?” So the uncle condemns Karl's parents, not their son. The judgment of the parents is thus canceled. And it is replaced by the new judgment unconsciously striven for by Karl Roßmann.

background

The narrative ends indefinitely. A statement about whether and how Karl will find his place in the new world cannot be made. Further interpretations can be sought in the context of the novel fragment The Lost One. Kafka himself spoke of a planned fatal end, similar to that of Josef K. in The Trial .

On the other hand, in the missing person 's vision of the great world theater of Oklahoma, which also could find its place Karl. But this place is also depicted as unsound, fragile and unreal and cannot become a home for Karl. Both the completed narrative and the unfinished novel leave behind the ambivalent state of limbo often depicted in Kafka .

Throughout history, Kafka draws on examples from his own and other Jewish families. There is even an exact analogy in the person of Robert Kafka, who had to leave his homeland at the age of 14 for the same reasons.

The fate of the son, cast out by the family, is related to the characters Samsa from The Metamorphosis and Bendemann from The Judgment , but the stoker does not see the fatal end of the character. Kafka planned to bring out his own volume, The Sons , with these three stories , but this failed.

reception

  • Publisher Kurt Wolff S. 29: "I ask you sincerely and very urgent, please send me kindly to read as possible` immediately the first chapter of your novel, which, as you and yes even Dr. Brod think that it could be published individually, and please send me the copy or the handwriting of the bug story at the same time. "
  • Stach p. 120: “Because it is a tension that emerges from the - completely unfamiliar to contemporaries - single-minded narrative perspective, which reveals only what is within the protagonist's horizon of perception, whereby the reader is drawn into an ever stronger one, as if by a gravitational field Identification with this figure is device. "
  • Drüke: "It is not Karl who appears guilty - on the contrary: he is excused - but the parents who sent the boy (...) away." (P. 47) "Karl unconsciously goes into revision on his own behalf and has success. The sense of guilt that his own parents had put on him is gradually disappearing. "(P. 46)

Trivia

The film Dead Man ( Jarmusch , 1995 ) touches on many Kafka themes and also takes up the figure of Karl Roßmann.

Web links

Wikisource: Der Heizer  - Sources and full texts

expenditure

  • All the stories. Published by Paul Raabe . Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg 1970, ISBN 3-596-21078-X .
  • The stories. Original version published by Roger Herms, Fischer Verlag 1997, ISBN 3-596-13270-3 .
  • Prints in lifetime. Edited by Wolf Kittler, Hans-Gerd Koch and Gerhard Neumann . Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 1996, pp. 63–111.

Secondary literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Alt (2005), p. 346 ff.
  2. ↑ Von Jagow / Plachta (2008), p. 444.
  3. ↑ Stach (2004), p. 272.
  4. ↑ Drüke 2016, p. 46
  5. ↑ Drüke 2016, p. 46