Telephones, Narrative, Algorithms: Untimely Meditations on Kafka

Open Access
Authors
Publication date 2025
Journal Humanities
Article number 16
Volume | Issue number 14 | 1
Number of pages 11
Organisations
  • Faculty of Humanities (FGw) - Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR) - Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA)
Abstract This essay traces Kafka’s writings as documents of a technological consciousness both a century ago and today. On the one hand, they are historical archives indexing the influence of modern technology in the lifeworld of the early 20th century. On the other hand, however, they also carry a historical index through which they become precise informants of our digital age. With a particular eye on Kafka’s parable “Before the Law”, this essay carves out elements of a narrative order which, as for surprising formal correspondences, can (and perhaps must) be called algorithmic.
Document type Article
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.3390/h14010016
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humanities-14-00016-v2 (Final published version)
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