Kafka In Film: “Before the Law” and Orson Welles’s The Trial · PDF...
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Kafka In Film: “Before the Law” and Orson Welles’s The Trial Danielle Corcione Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah, NJ In his interpretation of “Before the Law,” French philosopher, Jacques Derrida discusses a larger question to what exactly is the literary and what is the nonliterary. Based upon the law itself, the conclusion becomes primarily based upon the authority the audience gives the text rather than the power the work actually withholds. Authority is never automatic, but defined by those that perceive themselves as under the law; because of this, authority becomes constructed by context. For instance, the parable in The Trial is told by a priest in a cathedral in which Josef overhears through a sermon; although it may seem the story between the country man and the doorkeeper may already possess authority through the politics of a designated setting (such as the cathedral) and the character’s role (similarly to the priest) within that place, the authority of the sermon is only granted to those individuals that listen and live by the sermon that make it significant. However, Welles’ does not include the cathedral, but includes the folklore in the opening to let the audience define that authority initially. Place image here Place image here From the left: Opening squence to Welles’s film, featuring a representation between the doorkeeper and the country man. From the right: The country man knocks upon the door. Orson Welles, a filmmaker most famous for his work, Citizen Kane, released his depiction of Franz Kafka’s novel, The Trial, in 1962. Although the entire film can be interpreted, the primary concentration here is on the opening sequence of the black and white film, which includes a narration of Kafka’s parable “Before the Law.” This fictitious folklore was introduced at the beginning of Kafka’s novel and was used as a symbolic vehicle to tell the entire story of the plot’s protagonist, Josef K. Originally, “Before the Law” was not published with The Trial in 1925 (after the Czech author’s death), but in an Independent Jewish weekly publication in 1915 and later, included within A County Doctor, collection of short stories, in 1919. The most interesting relationship between the film and the novel is how the parable is told. Works Cited Derrida, Jacques. “Before the Law.” Acts of Literature. Ed. Derek Attridge. New York: Routledge, 1992. 181-220. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. Kafka, Franz. The Trial. Trans. Willa and Edwin Muir. New York: Everyman’s Library, 1992. Print. The Trial. Dir. Orson Welles. Perf. Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, and Romy Schneider. Paris-Europa Productions, 1962. Film. Place image here The literary work, “Before The Law” is an embedded narrative within the larger text, or rather a story within the story, that is not mentioned until the second to last chapter of the entire story. Although the parable may be a crucial entity to the theme of distance within a society, this is not apparent, again, until the ninth – out of ten – chapter of the novel. Conversely, in the film, the animated segment that brings the folklore to life, is introduced at the very beginning, almost as an opening sequence, before Josef is mentioned! The importance on the parable, unlike the original text, the significance of the parable is emphasized because of how early it is seen. Unfortunately, the audience of Kafka’s written word does not experience this until the majority of the book is already read, when the main character – Josef K. – is sitting in the cathedral while a priest is giving a sermon. The medium and way of how “Before The Law” is delivered also is different, by this; in the novel, we know that a religious figure performs a sermon within his natural environment, while the character tone of the narrator in the film is not familiar.
Transcript of Kafka In Film: “Before the Law” and Orson Welles’s The Trial · PDF...
Kafka In Film: “Before the Law” and Orson Welles’s The Trial Danielle Corcione
Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah, NJ
In his interpretation of “Before the Law,” French philosopher, Jacques Derrida discusses a larger question to what exactly is the literary and what is the nonliterary. Based upon the law itself, the conclusion becomes primarily based upon the authority the audience gives the text rather than the power the work actually withholds. Authority is never automatic, but defined by those that perceive themselves as under the law; because of this, authority becomes constructed by context. For instance, the parable in The Trial is told by a priest in a cathedral in which Josef overhears through a sermon; although it may seem the story between the country man and the doorkeeper may already possess authority through the politics of a designated setting (such as the cathedral) and the character’s role (similarly to the priest) within that place, the authority of the sermon is only granted to those individuals that listen and live by the sermon that make it significant. However, Welles’ does not include the cathedral, but includes the folklore in the opening to let the audience define that authority initially.
Place image here
Place image here
From the left: Opening squence to Welles’s film, featuring a representation between the doorkeeper and the country man. From the right: The country man knocks upon the door.
Orson Welles, a filmmaker most famous for his work, Citizen Kane, released his depiction of Franz Kafka’s novel, The Trial, in 1962. Although the entire film can be interpreted, the primary concentration here is on the opening sequence of the black and white film, which includes a narration of Kafka’s parable “Before the Law.” This fictitious folklore was introduced at the beginning of Kafka’s novel and was used as a symbolic vehicle to tell the entire story of the plot’s protagonist, Josef K. Originally, “Before the Law” was not published with The Trial in 1925 (after the Czech author’s death), but in an Independent Jewish weekly publication in 1915 and later, included within A County Doctor, collection of short stories, in 1919. The most interesting relationship between the film and the novel is how the parable is told.
Works Cited Derrida, Jacques. “Before the Law.” Acts of Literature. Ed. Derek Attridge. New York: Routledge, 1992. 181-220. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. Kafka, Franz. The Trial. Trans. Willa and Edwin Muir. New York: Everyman’s Library, 1992. Print. The Trial. Dir. Orson Welles. Perf. Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, and Romy Schneider. Paris-Europa Productions, 1962. Film.
Place image here
The literary work, “Before The Law” is an embedded narrative within the larger text, or rather a story within the story, that is not mentioned until the second to last chapter of the entire story. Although the parable may be a crucial entity to the theme of distance within a society, this is not apparent, again, until the ninth – out of ten – chapter of the novel. Conversely, in the film, the animated segment that brings the folklore to life, is introduced at the very beginning, almost as an opening sequence, before Josef is mentioned! The importance on the parable, unlike the original text, the significance of the parable is emphasized because of how early it is seen. Unfortunately, the audience of Kafka’s written word does not experience this until the majority of the book is already read, when the main character – Josef K. – is sitting in the cathedral while a priest is giving a sermon. The medium and way of how “Before The Law” is delivered also is different, by this; in the novel, we know that a religious figure performs a sermon within his natural environment, while the character tone of the narrator in the film is not familiar.
