Introduction sketch for Richard and Samuel

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The introduction sketch for Richard and Samuel is a little prose by Franz Kafka , which he wrote in November 1911. It serves as a kind of explanation of the first chapter of the novel Richard and Samuel published during his lifetime .

Emergence

In August 1911, Kafka and his friend Max Brod went on a trip to the south together. They each try to write down their impressions for themselves and then incorporate them into a joint novel. However, this experiment failed because they had to register their irreconcilable opposites more and more. The present sketch was created in November 1911 immediately before the first and at the same time last chapter of the novel.

The sketch comes from the records in the so-called bundle , the present bundle called “Sketch for the introduction to Richard and Samuel”.

This prose from about a book page is not to be found in all commercial Kafka editions, but is mentioned by current biographers and publications, such as Peter-André Alt's Kafka: The Eternal Son .

Summary

The characters Samuel and Richard are represented, whereby Samuel Max Brod and Richard Franz Kafka should correspond. This is neither evident from the sketch nor from the chapter of the novel, but is assigned that way in the secondary literature.

The characterization is not clear. Ultimately, you cannot assign specific characteristics to any person. It is rather a look into a very ramified friendship relationship. The points raised (“for example, Samuel's need for Richard's money”, “Samuel [is] also the actual aside speaker and the reticent in this relationship”) remain strangely blurred.

The intention with which the novel was started, namely the comparison of the description of both travel experiences, is not at all recognizable here. The sketch revolves exclusively around the different sensitivities of the two protagonists and their delimitations.

manuscript

The handwritten manuscript of the sketch for the introduction for Richard and Samuel , which had been privately owned in Switzerland since 1983, was auctioned in Hamburg in May 2018. Among other things, the German Literature Archive Marbach also participated , which had received a private donation of € 140,000 for the purpose of auctioning. The most recent bid was an American collector for € 150,000. However, after it became known to him who the bidder was, he decided to leave the manuscript to the German Literature Archive. According to the auction house, the six-page fragment was the “first Kafka manuscript offered at auction since The Trial in 1988”.

Quote

  • where [...] Samuel, on the other hand, is so strong that he can do everything and even surrounds Richard, until then in Paris the last shock, anticipated by Samuel, no longer expected by Richard and therefore suffered with death wishes, comes, which brings the friendship to a final calm .

output

  • Post-processed writings and fragments I Edited by Malcom Pasley (Born / Neumann / Schillemeit) Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag p. 183 ISBN 3-596-15700-5

Secondary literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stach p. 386
  2. ↑ Alt p. 237
  3. ↑ Posthumous writings and fragments I Appendix, Contents, p. 1
  4. ↑ Alt p. 238
  5. ↑ Zimmermann p. 10
  6. ^ Sandra Kegel : Bidding battle with a happy ending. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. May 29, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018 .
  7. ↑ 422 Franz Kafka. Handwritten manuscript "Sketch for the introduction for Richard and Samuel". Christian Hesse Auctions, accessed on August 7, 2018 .

Web links

  • Text of the fragment on the Franz Kafka website of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn