BOOK: Reinhard MEHRING, "Kafkanien". Carl Schmitt, Franz Kafka und der moderne Verfassungsstaat.Dekonstruktion und Dämonisierung des Rechts [Klostermann Essay; 9] (Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 2022), ISBN 9783456145899

 

(image source: Nomos)

Abstract:

Generally considered antipodes in political as well as theological matters, Franz Kafka (1883–1924) and Carl Schmitt (1888–1985) had more in common that meets the eye: they were both jurists and avant-gardists; they criticized the legal positivist institutional state, personalized and demonized bureaucratic rule. That is why Schmitt penned notes on Kafka in order to reflect his judicial experience after 1945, regarding the German Federal Republic as "Kafkanien". Reinhard Mehring discusses the irritating proximities both authors show concerning the dystopian perception of the modern state as elements for the political history of Kafka's impact and for clarifying the legal skepticism of Schmitt's late work.

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