Exploring the themes of alienation and community, this analysis delves into Franz Kafka's three major novels, highlighting how they reflect the societal challenges faced by individuals. Mark E. Blum emphasizes Kafka's unique narrative style that captures moments of connection and isolation. Notably, the book uncovers Kafka's dialogue with a wide range of authors throughout literary history, enriching the understanding of modernism and its societal dilemmas. This intertextual approach sheds light on the enduring struggle to find community in an oppressive society.
The study explores the normative narrative structures developed by Germany and Austria, which shaped the historical perspectives within their cultures. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of these narratives and suggests methods for expanding their interpretations. Through this examination, the author aims to provide insights into how these frameworks influenced historical formulation and understanding in both countries.
Focusing on the concept of temporality, the book explores how human judgment is shaped by individual experiences of time, influencing the perception of historical events. It emphasizes that history is not merely external but intertwined with personal awareness and thought. By employing the phenomenological method, the text delves into the intentionality behind attention and judgment, making it a valuable resource for contemporary historians and students. It provides insights into both the historical development of phenomenology and its application in modern historiography.
Cognition and Temporality explores the cognitive foundations of verbal and figural grammar through twelve characteristic forms of judgment, which are context-free and language-free elements of attentional awareness. These forms, distributed across human populations throughout history, serve distinct problem-solving functions and are psychogenetic inheritances. The author posits that analyzing verbal and figural statements reveals evidence of these judgments, which shape how events are constructed, assessed, and engaged in problem-solving processes. Early twentieth-century artists and theorists, such as Wassily Kandinsky and Stephen C. Pepper, suggested that individuals possess an inherited attentional perspective, reflected in the logical connections between their unique verbal and figural grammars. The text elaborates on these ideas, arguing that while artists' styles are influenced by contemporary public styles, personal variations reveal inherited forms of judgment and their corresponding grammars. Through detailed visual and stylistic analysis, the author illustrates these concepts among notable figures in art and literature, contributing significantly to phenomenology, aesthetic philosophy, and cultural history.
