The truth about Sancho Panza

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The Truth About Sancho Panza is a prose piece by Franz Kafka , written in 1917. It was first published in 1931. It is a seldom interpreted little work. It is an ironic regrouping and reinterpretation of the two characters from the well-known novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes from 1605.

Preliminary remark

In the original version of the above novel, the thin Don Quixote is the confused knight and Sancho Panza is his fat, peasant companion. The novel is a parody of chivalric novels . It has been interpreted many times over the centuries.

In the little Kafka piece, the roles (subject-object) are swapped and at the same time the actors are given completely new assignments.

content

With the help of novels of knights and robbers, Sancho Panza succeeded in distracting his devil from him and in having him perform the craziest deeds, but which did no harm. He later gave this devil the name Don Quixote. Sancho Panza followed him indifferently on his trains out of a sense of responsibility, so to speak, and had great entertainment until the end.

Text analysis and interpretation approach

The prose piece consists of two movements. The first sentence contains the main information, densely packed in nested sentence sequences. The second movement has a contemplative ending, in keeping with its quieter content . So Sancho Panza has a diabolical companion whom he calls Don Quixote and whom he has banned and made harmless by telling novels, but who now seems like crazy and who Sancho Panza carefully keeps an eye on. In the novel, Don Quixote is also confused, but he is the main protagonist, while Sancho Panza acts with peasant cunning, but he is the second character. Kafka reverses this by making Sancho Panza “the spiritus rector of history”. You experience the confusing effect of literature twice. In Kafka's little story, however, reading also has the effect of banishing the Satanic.

Relation to other Kafka works

Peter-André Alt describes this little piece as a "library fantasy" similar to Der neue Advokat , where the historical warhorse Bucephalus transforms its function to escape the tumult of battle as an advocate quietly studying books. A reinterpretation of mythical figures can also be found in the small pieces Poseidon , Prometheus and The Silence of the Sirens .

Text output

Secondary literature

Text of the prose piece

Wikisource: The Truth About Sancho Panza  - Sources and Full Texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alt. P. 572 f.
  2. ↑ Alt p. 572 f.