Kafka and Dostoyevsky: The Shaping of Influence [Paperback]

This book evaluates the importance of Dostoyevsky's life and imaginative fiction as a stimulus to Kafka's own writing. Dostoyevskian material is situated within detailed readings of particular works. The principle sources discussed are The Double, Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, and Dostoyevsky's (auto) biography. It is argued that Kafka's use of Dostoyevsky is driven by antagonism as much as by admiration.Foreword - Key to Abbreviations - Introduction - Kafka's Russia - A Friend in St Petersburg?: Das Urteil - Mr Golyadkin: Die Verwandlung (I) - Underground Men: Die Verwandlung (II) - Punishments and Crimes: Der Prozess - Dostoyevsky Underground: In der Strafkolonie - Coda: Errinnerungen an die Kaldabahn, Der Unterstaatsanwalt, Der Dorfschullehrer - The Narrative Problem - Kafka's Dostoyevsky: Conclusions and Questions - Notes - Bibliography - Index