Kafka and His Precursors
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"Kafka y sus precursores" (”Kafka and His Precursors”) is an essay by Jorge Luis Borges collected in Otras Inquisiciones.
The philosophical term "Borgesian conundrum" is named after him and has been defined as the ontological question of "whether the writer writes the story, or it writes him." The original concept put forward by Borges is in Kafka and His Precursors—after reviewing works that were written before Kafka's, Borges wrote:
"If I am not mistaken, the heterogeneous pieces I have enumerated resemble Kafka; if I am not mistaken, not all of them resemble each other. The second fact is the more significant. In each of these texts we find Kafka's idiosyncrasy to a greater or lesser degree, but if Kafka had never written a line, we would not perceive this quality; in other words, it would not exist. The poem 'Fears and Scruples' by Browning foretells Kafka's work, but our reading of Kafka perceptibly sharpens and deflects our reading of the poem. Browning did not read it as we do now. In the critics' vocabulary, the word 'precursor' is indispensable, but it should be cleansed of all connotation of polemics or rivalry. The fact is that every writer creates his own precursors. His work modifies our conception of the past, as it will modify the future."
Another frequently cited passage which illustrates the intertextuality:
- "In the critic's vocabulary, the word 'precursor' is indispensable, but it should be cleansed of all connotations of polemics or rivalry. The fact is that every writer creates his own precursors. His work modifies our conception of the past, as it will modify the future."
See also
- Kafkaesque
- Zeno's paradox
- "The Castle
- Han Yu
- Margouliès' Anthologie raisonnée de la littérature chinoise
- Kierkegaard
- A Short Life of Kierkegaard
- Browning's poem "Fears and Scruples", "And if this friend were... God?"
- Léon Bloy's "Histoires désobligeantes"
- "Carcassonne", Lord Dunsany, A Dreamer's Tales
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