School of Modern Languages and Cultures – German Studies
GE 214 The Strange World of Franz Kafka's Short Stories
Assessed Essay Topics: 2015-16 (Subject to approval by external examiner)
Please write an essay of approx. 3000 words in length on one of the following topics.
Your essay must conform to the guidelines in the UG handbook (1.5 line spacing, page numbers at top
of page, footnotes at bottom, bibliography of primary and secondary sources at the end).
Please adhere to the School’s guidelines on plagiarism.
Your argument must be based on ample textual evidence.
Please consult the departmental web-pages and notice boards for submission dates and hand in your
essay both electronically and in hard-copy, in line with school-wide procedure.
We recommend that you consult the following three documents when writing this essay:
 Undergraduate Studies Handbook.
 Assessed-essay-writing guidelines.
 Essay-marking criteria for Options and Core Modules.

 Deadline: Thursday 14th January 2016, 12pm
1. Compare and contrast the representation of the world of the circus in
Walser’s ‘Ovation’ and Kafka’s ‘Auf der Galerie’.
2. Analyse and discuss the function of the fiancée and of the friend in Das Urteil.
3. In Das Urteil “the author endows a partly arbitrary (‘subjective’) law with the
validity and power of a wholly objective law, and shows that this is what he is
doing.” (J.P. Stern). Engaging with J.P. Stern’s article, discuss the validity of his
distinction between subjective and objective guilt with reference to Das
Urteil.
4. Is the hunger artist in Kafka’s Ein Hungerkünstler a sham artist or a
misunderstood artist? Paying particular attention to the ending, discuss this
question with reference to the narrative as a whole.
5. Focusing on the parable of the imperial message, analyse the relationship of
the emperor to the Chinese people in Beim Bau der chinesischen Mauer.
6. The tragedy of Rotpeter’s existence is that, by masquerading as a man, he is
neither ape nor man. Discuss the validity of this statement in light of
Rotpeter’s assimilation process in Ein Bericht für eine Akademie.
7. Discuss the role of the narrator in his representation of Josefine in Josefine
die Sängerin oder das Volk der Mäuse.