Institution, Erzählung und Ideologie Überlegungen zu Kafka und seinem "Mann vom Lande"

In recent years, the phenomenon of the institutional novel (“Institutionenroman”) has often been discussed in reference to Kafka’s literature. Departing from this phenomenon, in which the problem of the institution is marked as both social and literary, this essay develops the concept further. It particularly proposes to bring together the concept of the institution with problems of narrative and – this seems critical – ideology. The essay thereby reveals Kafka’s ambivalence towards a latent endlessness of narrative, which at the same time can be understood as an early form of critique of ideology. The analysis focuses on Der Proceß and, above all, on Kafka’s famous parable about “a man from the country” (“ein Mann vom Lande”), known under the title Vor dem Gesetz.