Franz Kafka, In der Strafkolonie [In the Penal Colony]

William J. Dodd (University of Birmingham)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.2: German-language Writing and Culture: Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, 800-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1919

Places

Czech Republic (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

In der Strafkolonie [In the Penal Colony] is one of the most memorable and provocative exemplars of Kafka’s idiom in what might be called the “punishment” phase of his writing, from 1912 to 1915. As in “Der Heizer” [“The Stoker”, written in 1912, the first chapter of the America novel], “Das Urteil” [“The Judgment”, 1912], “Die Verwandlung” [“The Metamorphosis”, 1912], and Der Prozess [The Trial, 1914-15], punishment is grossly disproportionate to any guilt that may have been incurred, and indeed by any reasonable measure, the misdemeanour being punished here can scarcely be counted a crime, let alone a capital one. The description of the elaborate execution apparatus …

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1919 words

Citation: Dodd, William J.. "In der Strafkolonie". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 April 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14607, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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