Franz Kafka, Yiddish Theatre and Modern Stage Artistic Affinity of Actor’s Figure, Gestures, and Drawings
Franz Kafka, Yiddish Theatre and Modern Stage Artistic Affinity of Actor’s Figure, Gestures, and Drawings

Summary/Abstract: Franz Kafka’s encounter with Yitzchak Löwy (1911–12), Yiddish theatre, and Yiddish language has often been regarded in the context of his quest for his Jewish roots and his Jewish identity (Shahar 2004). However, numerous studies related to the brief episode in Kafka’s life vary in their emphasis. They range from the attention paid by Walter Benjamin to Kafka’s use of gestures, to Evelyn Torton Beck’s study devoted to the Yiddish plays Kafka witnessed, Hartmut Binder’s analysis of various types of body language, Martin Puchner’s claim about Kafka’s antitheatricality, to Klaus Mladek’s performative gestures connected with the legal process and Mark Anderson’s exploration of sartorial aspects in Kafka’s texts. Others (Shahar, Baioni) illuminate artistic and historic background of Kafka’s interest in the actor and examine some aspects of Judaism relevant to this context.

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