The Remnant: Franz Kafka’s Letter

The forthcoming book offers a Jewish reading of Franz Kafka. Although among the various interpretations of Kafka (political, psychoanalytic, literary, etc.), there is no shortage of readings that consider Kafka's Judaism as a key lens through which to understand his work, this essay attempts something different: not only to recognize in Kafka's work themes, questions, or problems that are distinctly Jewish but also to propose, in its very approach, i.e., in the method of reading and interpretation of this text, a distinct Jewish reading. Taking inspiration from Midrashic hermeneutics, the readings proposed here follows semantic chains and adheres closely to the literal meaning of the text - its letter - even at the potential expense of its spirit, in order to bring forth a dimension of meaning that resonates with the dimension of meaning conveyed by the Scriptures.