Franz Kafka’s “Das Urteil” (1913) as Media History: Writing–Cinema–AI
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In this essay, I read Kafka’s 1913 story, “Das Urteil”, as positing an anachronistic media history, with Georg the son representing the older medium of writing, while his father stands in for the newer medium of cinema. The father–son conflict is thus refigured as an intergenerational media war. In addition, I suggest that the end of the story points toward a non-human mediation, which resembles artificial intelligence as imagined by Friedrich Kittler’s media theory.
Source: Humanities
DOI: 10.3390/h14030057
Author: Artun Ak
Institution: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Language: English
Topic: Franz Kafka Literary Studies
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,689
OpenAlex ID: W4408320970