Jaroslav Róna's bronze statue of Franz Kafka in Prague
Kafka scholar Neil Christian Pages does more than encourage his undergraduate students to engage in research. He gives them the tools they need to demystify the literary academy.
A tiny figurine made out of thread — a former student’s representation of the character Odradek from Franz Kafka’s “The Cares of the Father of the Family” — hangs from one of Pages’ bookshelves. It’s material proof of the way Pages’ students engage with Kafka in his classroom and beyond it.
“I’m astounded by the extent to which they are able to bring to bear critical approaches to representation based on their readings,” he said. “They are inspired by the texts in such a way as to understand how the texts have inspired others.”
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