A little woman

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A little woman is one of four stories by Franz Kafka from the anthology Ein Hungerkünstler , published in 1924 . It was the last book he worked on before his death, and it came out two months after his death.

Summary

The first-person narrator describes a small, still young woman from his environment. She is described as flirtatious, unconventional in clothing and demeanor, but rather poor. The problem with the woman is that the narrator is constantly giving her some form of anger. Again and again the narrator emphasizes that the little woman could just ignore him. From his point of view, he has absolutely no relationship with the woman and so the matter could be settled. The little woman, however, reacts particularly excitedly to this suggestion. She obviously suffers a lot from the circumstances described, which is caused by the narrator.

The narrator expects that he will have to justify himself to the world for what he unwittingly does to the little woman. But he believes that he will not be judged because he is a respectable member of society. As an explanation, he firmly rejects the fact that the little woman might be in love with him. The strange constellation has existed for years and those involved are getting older. The narrator thinks that he can block out what is disturbing and that he will be allowed to continue his previous life in spite of the woman's rage.

Text analysis

In a manic monologue, the narrator reports on a long-term “non-relationship” (the end of which is by no means in sight) between the narrator and a little woman. The narrator hurries to assure that it is by no means a love affair on the part of the woman. In any case, he is - allegedly - completely alien and indifferent to her.

He could end the "relationship" if he "recognized the little woman as a burdock and trampled it under his boot completely silently for the public". But he can't or doesn't want to. He expects a decision on the matter from outside. From fate? From the woman? At least not from herself. How could the woman really decide, in any case she will never let go of him. The reader witnesses a great repression. The narrator does not want to admit to himself that the behavior of this annoying woman could indicate that she has strong emotions for him, probably a kind of love-hate relationship. But that would explain the described appearance and the suffering of women.

As long as he denies it, he can keep the little woman at a distance, although his thoughts are often occupied with her. But he doesn't want anything else than to continue his quiet life, in which the little woman is unrest.

linguistic style

The language of this story is striking. While Kafka's narrative style often consists of soberly progressive sentences, behind which strong emotions lurk, the style of language here is hectic, without anything moving occurring. The sentences are nested, as if piled on top of each other. Sometimes the point is almost lost. The narrator admits to himself that he has become "a little restless" over the years. The style of language takes a telling look at the narrator's inner state. He describes the woman as nervous, sickly, irrational and intrusive. But similar properties seem to have long since taken hold of himself.

Biographical interpretation

Kafka wrote this story in October 1923 in Berlin, where he lived with his last girlfriend, Dora Diamant. There is the interpretation that he processed the difficult relationship with his greedy landlady at the time. However, this line of interpretation is not conclusively satisfactory. The character described, young and poor, does not actually associate the image of a landlady. Although it complains about the narrator, it does not make any specific demands. The relationship between the little woman and the narrator is long-term and cannot be quickly erased by moving house. After that, a tricky relationship story could form the background, especially because the narrator denies it and wants to suppress it.

Kafka's problematic relationship with women is well documented in his biographical writings. The role of women in Kafka's life and work was dealt with early in Kafka's research. Here are u. a. to mention the names Heinz Politzer , Walter Sokel, Gilles Deleuze or Reiner Stach . For Kafka, the female being is both a disturbance and a salvation both in his own life and in this text. In relation to the public, i.e. the world, a kind of alliance has arisen in the text between the little woman and the narrator associated with her in battle.

The little woman is also remarkable for the narrator in her wandering, doll-like manner. Their appearance and equipment seem to refer to the strange creature or thing Odradek from the story The Care of the Housefather .

Quote

  • "Also, if you want, I have a certain responsibility, because as strange as the little woman is to me, and as much as the only relationship that exists between us is the trouble I cause her, or rather the trouble that she lets me prepare, it shouldn't be indifferent to me how she visibly suffers from this anger physically. "

reception

  • v. Jagow, V. Liska (p. 69): “Without a true encounter between the man and the little woman, despite all the revocations, a gradual takeover of the attributes of the disturbing figure occurs in the process of writing the speaker, not least those characteristics such as restlessness and irrational obsession that are explicitly associated with femininity in the text. "

expenditure

  • Franz Kafka: A hunger artist. Four stories . Verlag Die Schmiede, Berlin 1924 (first edition).
  • Franz Kafka: All the stories. Published by Paul Raabe . Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 1970, ISBN 3-596-21078-X .
  • Franz Kafka: The stories. Original version, Roger Herms. Fischer Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-596-13270-3 .
  • Franz Kafka: Prints during his lifetime. Edited by Wolf Kittler, Hans-Gerd Koch and Gerhard Neumann . Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 1996, pp. 321–333.

Secondary literature

Web links

Wikisource: Eine kleine Frau (From: Ein Hungerkünstler, 1924)  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Peter-André Alt: Franz Kafka: The Eternal Son. A biography . Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-53441-4 , p. 675
  2. ^ Klaus Wagenbach: Kafka . rororo, ISBN 3-499-50091-4 , p. 134, 1080-
  3. ↑ v. Jagow, V. Liska, p. 62
  4. ↑ v. Jagow, V. Liska, p. 69