"Nach einem andern Stern Wollen": Kafka and the Search for the Jewish Self

Abstract

This article addresses Franz Kafka's complex relationship with his Jewish identity, exploring the intersection between his biography, writings, and cultural context. Within his personal writings, Kafka depicted the tension between assimilation and tradition, rebelling against the former by seeking an ideal Jewish self across various facets of Jewishness: from Yiddishism to Zionism. His quest posed a challenge to the dynamics of assimilation and served as an attempt to emancipate himself from the overwhelming figure of his father, Hermann, who embodies the consequences of the assimilation in Kafka’s self-narration The quest for his Jewish identity led Kafka to confront inherent tensions within the experience of anti-Semitism, but also to yearn for a stable identity that, like many of his contemporaries, constituted a lifelong pursuit.