Kafka’s Literary Style
A Mixed-Method Approach
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20248286 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carsten Strathausen (0009-0008-8438-0296, University of Missouri, corresponding author), Wenyi Shang (0000-0002-1308-8422, University of Missouri), Andrei Kazakov, Andrei F Kazakov (University of Missouri) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 61 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Humanities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2076-0787 • E-ISSN: 2076-0787 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/h14030061 |
| OpenAlex | W4408410766 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 15 |
In this essay, we examine how the polyvalence of meaning in Kafka’s texts is engineered both semantically (on the narrative level) and syntactically (on the linguistic level), and we ask whether a computational approach can shed new light on the long-standing debate about the major characteristics of Kafka’s literary style. A mixed-method approach means that we seek out points of connection that interlink traditional humanist (i.e., interpretative) and computational (i.e., quantitative) methods of investigation. Following the introduction, the second section of our article provides a critical overview of the existing scholarship from both a humanist and a computational perspective. We argue that the main methodological difference between traditional humanist and AI-enhanced computational studies of Kafka’s literary style lies not in the use of statistics but in the new interpretative possibilities enabled by AI methods to explore stylistic features beyond the scope of human comprehension. In the third and fourth sections of our article, we will introduce our own stylometric approach to Kafka, detail our methods, and interpret our findings. Rather than focusing on training an AI model capable of accurately attributing authorship to Kafka, we examine whether AI could help us detect significant stylistic differences between the writing Kafka himself published during his lifetime (Kafka Core) and his posthumous writings edited and published by Max Brod
Art · Linguistics · Literature · Authorship Attribution and Profiling · Philosophy · Translation Studies and Practices · Visual Culture and Art Theory
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |