GREAT BOOKS 26: Franz Kafka (not the way you know him), with Vivian Liska

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Being arrested without ever being told why, or waking up to discover one has been transformed into a giant insect: these are the powerful images we have of Franz Kafka, a writer of existential despair who embarked on a futile quest for meaning in the 20th century. Vivian Liska, a widely published Professor of German Literature and Director of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Antwerp, explains how Kafka is actually a writer of human connection who shows that we can create the fragile bonds needed to sustain community.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Liska calls Kafka a writer of exquisite faith in the human capacity of community and renewal, a champion of humor instead of despair, and a man of faith who foregoes all formal religion. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Among Liska’s books are</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">When Kafka Says We</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">,</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Uncommon Communities in German-Jewish Literature</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">and</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">German-Jewish Thought and Its Afterlife</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><br /> <br /></p>