The new lawyer

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The New Advocate is a short story by Franz Kafka that appeared in the volume Ein Landarzt in 1920 . The preoccupation with Alexander the great contained therein was taken from the novel Taten des great Alexander by Michael Kusmins .

Summary

The new lawyer , Dr. Bucephalus, comes from an earlier time; he was the warhorse of Alexander of Macedonia. His admission to the law office is approved. Since times have changed a lot since Alexander the Great , “perhaps it is best to immerse yourself in the law books, as Bucephalus did. Free, unperturbed ... with a silent lamp, far from the din of the Alexanderschlacht, he reads and turns the pages of our old books ”(see also the painting Die Alexanderschlacht by Albrecht Altdorfer ).

The new time is also described. There is no purposeful will of a great hero setting the direction, but confusion in the diversity.

Text analysis and interpretation approach

The new lawyer

The initially confusing idea of ​​the warhorse becoming a lawyer develops into a possible model of thought in the course of the short story. The motif of transformation from animal to human is revealed as an unspectacular metamorphosis that appears in many ways in Kafka's prose. The noble animal, which according to tradition is afraid of its own shadow, also associates masculinity through its name; it turns into a bureaucrat and does not seem to act against its nature, perhaps because of its original fearfulness. Rather, the apparently proud horse used to be unfree and depressed by the rider. In contrast, the image of the new lawyer turning the pages of old books is of a contemplative tranquility.

The phrase "our" old books is striking. The books do not come from the world of Bucephalus, but from that of the narrator and the others in the office, but Bucephalus seems to have found his new place in dealing with these books. It remains to be seen whether these are only work-related old legal books or also books from which Bucephalus can discover his own past.

But the life of a lawyer is not only about studying in silence, it is also about arguing. One might wish Bucephalus that not only the shy horse but also the war horse would still be present inside him. But it is no longer the time of mighty arguments. The intervening act of a great individual is replaced by Scripture.

The new time

In the new age there is no great Alexander or comparable hero. Some things are similar to then, e.g. B. that the home is too small for the boys and that they rise up against the fathers. But the great goals and someone who could lead them are missing. There are many who seem to give a direction, but their diversity confuses. The complexity of modern life is discussed here. Bucephalus' transformation into a lawyer and his choice of quiet study saved him from the turmoil of modern times. But there is also loss. The law takes the place of the deed; the reading of old (dusty!) Books takes the place of the pioneering function of the king's sword.

reception

Stach p. 173/250: The new lawyer is reminiscent of a legendary monarch and conjures up a world without leadership: "Today - nobody can deny that - there is no great Alexander ... nobody, nobody can lead to India ... nobody shows the direction ..." It's vivid, but at the same time programmatic, and it sounds more like a diagnosis of the times than literature.

expenditure

  • Franz Kafka: All the stories. Published by Paul Raabe . Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / Hamburg 1970, ISBN 3-596-21078-X .
  • Franz Kafka: The stories . Original version: Fischer Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-596-13270-3 . Roger Herms
  • Franz Kafka: Prints during his lifetime. Edited by Wolf Kittler, Hans-Gerd Koch and Gerhard Neumann . Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 1996, pp. 251/252.

Secondary literature

Web links

Wikisource: The New Advocate  - Sources and Full Texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter-André Alt: Franz Kafka: The Eternal Son. A biography. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-53441-4 . P. 513
  2. ↑ sv p. 513
  3. ↑ a b s.v. P. 514