The Silence of the Sirens

The Silence of the Sirens is a prose piece by Franz Kafka, created 1917. Was first published in 1931. It is an ironic dismantling of an educational myth, namely the Twelfth song from the Odyssey of Homer.

Preliminary

In the original version, the wanderings of Odysseus is reported, among other things, like Odysseus and his men protect themselves from the lure of the Sirens by the men wax is stuffed into the ears and Odysseus, who wants to listen to the siren song, is chained to the mast. In Kafka, the old formulations are changed by Odysseus tried both retardants in themselves, fellow, there are not here. In addition, the silence of the sirens is introduced as a new defining moment. Originally untitled text was written in 1917 and was dubbed from the estate of Max Brod with "The Silence of the Sirens ".

Content

The opening sentence reads:

"Proof of the fact that also poor, even childish agents can serve to the rescue. "

The resources of the ear plug socket and the fixed binding that selects Odysseus, are valued by the anonymous narrator totally ineffective. However, it is not thought Odysseus and he went with an innocent joy of his remedies against the Sirens. But the even more terrible weapon than the song is the silence of the sirens and actually silent when Odysseus came. He now thought of his means wax and chains, and thought himself through it before singing protected. He passed the waters of the Sirens unscathed and free. Precisely because he is now but for the sirens itself the object of temptation. One of traditional annexed to the story says that Odysseus very probably noticed that the sirens were silent, but this could hide with cunning.

Text analysis

The narrator sees with a certain skepticism and condescension on Odysseus; in its estimation used this " childish " remedies to save themselves from the power of the Sirens. Odysseus but is distinguished from a special self-certainty. He believes in his means and can not unsettle hearsay of terror, rather, shows " the sight of happiness " in his face. He is the naive hero who, left ignores the danger that threatens him. But in contrast to the idea of Odysseus, the list of realms, Kafka's Ulysses is a dolt. The terrible weapon of the siren silence, he reinterprets in his special Behütetsein because of his " cure". So he removed spatially and internally nothing of the sirens, the original objects of his desire. And so turns the direction of desire. The sirens are now those who want to catch " only the reflection from the large pair of eyes of Odysseus ." So the proof corresponding to the input sentence is performed: the remedies have saved.

The traditional annex but says that Odysseus was so cunning that "even the goddess of fate could not penetrate into its core " and that he has the " glow above process only as a sort of shield against the gods hold". This would, however, now actually an approach to the nature of Odysseus, as we know it, and certainly no means childish but a refined staging and deception.

Biographical references

With the election of Ulysses and it is this variant Kafka embarks on a rare committed by him Terrain by telling it here from a successful protagonist. This protagonist is seemingly self-confident in a naive way, he doubts and hesitates not, but believes in himself. In the second possible variant with the deception he is, of course, because quite unchallenged and superhuman. This victoriousness is not the world of thought in which Kafka himself and his characters are normally resident.

The seductive song of the female creatures that represent the irresistible Others can be interpreted as the risk to Kafka and his writing by the woman herself.

Text output

Paul Raabe (ed.): Franz Kafka. All narratives. Fischer TB 1078, Frankfurt am Main 1977, ISBN 3- 596-21078 -X.
Roger Herms (ed.): Franz Kafka. Tales and other selected prose. Original version. Fischer TB 13270, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-596-13270-3.

Audiobook

Franz Kafka: The Silence of the Sirens. Stories and reflections. Read by Gert Westphal, Audio CD, Litraton, Hamburg 1993, ISBN 3- 8946-9873 -X.

Secondary literature

Peter- André Alt: Franz Kafka: The eternal Son. A Biography. C. H. Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-53441-4.
Reiner Stach: Kafka: The years of knowledge. S. Fischer, ISBN 978-3-10-075119-5.
Hans Dieter Zimmermann: Kafka advanced. C. H. Beck, 2004, ISBN 3-406-51083-3.
Bettina von Jagow, Oliver Year in (ed.): Kafka -Handbuch life -works effect. Cambridge University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-3-525-20852-6.

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