Metaphysics, Paradox, & Irony: The Aphorisms of Franz Kafka, with Dr. Rolf J. Goebel (UAH). Part 1

The Following video is a continuation of my series on Classical German philosophy and Post-Kantian thought tilted Metaphysics, Paradox, & Irony: The Aphorisms of Franz Kafka, with Emeritus, Professor. Dr. Rolf J. Goebel (UA). Part 1.

In this episode of the Young Idealist head over to Prague in order to discuss the German language novelist, and short story writer Franz Kafka (1883-1924).

For this special episode, I invited the Distinguished Professor of German, Emeritus, Dr. Rolf J. Goebel from the University of Alabama, Huntsville, whose areas of research include: German modernism; literary theory and cultural studies (intermediality, sound studies, music, philosophy, and literary aesthetics); Walter Benjamin, Friedrich Hölderlin, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria Rilke. Dr. Goebel has been on this series before to speak on Friedrich Hölderlin, and Rainer Maria Rilke.

Since Kafka has a special place in Dr. Goebel's heart, I knew he would make this episode extremely special for the viewers. Dr. Goebel gives us a close meticulous, and hermeneutical reading of 4 important aphorisms: 16, 20, 30, & 63. We provide both the German reading and English translations of the text for both English and German Speakers.

Dr. Goebel helps navigate the viewer through the complex life and ideas of Kafka, giving both novice, scholar and student a deep dive into the rich paradoxes, abysses and ironic world play of the great Franz Kafka.

Dr. Rolf J. Goebel was born in Kiel, Germany, Dr. Rolf J. Goebel holds degrees from Brown University (M.A. in English, 1977), the University of Kiel (Staatsexamen in German and English, 1979), and the University of Maryland (Ph.D. in German Language and Literature, 1982). From 1982-2020 he taught German language and culture at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

He is now Distinguished Professor of German, Emeritus at this institution. Areas of research include: German modernism; literary theory and cultural studies (intermediality, sound studies, music, philosophy, and literary aesthetics); Walter Benjamin, Friedrich Hölderlin, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria Rilke. His expertise is in German modernism and contemporary literature Representations of metropolitan space, especially Berlin Literary theory and cultural studies (cultural hermeneutics, postcolonial theory, intermediality, media competition, media transfer, music and literary aesthetics, sound studies).

Recent Publications
Kritik und Revision: Kafkas Rezeption mythologischer, biblischer und historischer Traditionen (Critique and Revision: Kafka's Reception of Mythological, Biblical, and Historical Traditions,1986)

Constructing China: Kafka's Orientalist Discourse (1997)

Benjamin heute: Großstadtdiskurs, Postkolonialität und Flanerie zwischen den Kulturen (Benjamin Today: Urban Discourse, Postcoloniality, and Flnerie between Cultures, 2001)

For More of Dr. Rolf Goebel: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/...


Source used in the Video: 'The Aphorisms of Franz Kafka',
by Franz Kafka (Author), Ed., Reiner Stach & Trans. Shelley Frisch
Princeton University Press; Bilingual edition, April 19 2022.