Abstract

There is no mention of Kafka in Heidegger's work. Did Heidegger ignore him, or pretend to? It's possible that he didn't read anything by Kafka until 1945. In 1933, Kafka was still little-known in Germany; then the Nazis banned and destroyed publications by Jews. From 1945 onwards, Kafka became a fashionable author. Heidegger didn't care about fashion. In 1950, Hannah Arendt, who had renewed her acquaintance with Heidegger, gave him the gift of a collection of Kafka's works. Hannah Arendt wrote two articles on Kafka, in 1944 and 1948. The first was published in Germany in 1948 (Heidelberg), in a collection entitled Sechs Essays. Heidegger must have read it, sooner or later. It's possible that he discovered Kafka after 1950, but we can't be sure. Yet Kafka's work, the one which he did not publish himself, foreshadows that of Heidegger. In particular, if Heidegger read A Dog’s search, he must have received a shock. He said nothing about it.