Two Extremely Short Stories

by Franz Kafka

a discussion led by Noah Chafets, PhD

Join us during our Winter Liberal Arts Discussion Series

To reserve your spot email info@kibbitznest.org

A collaboration with the

The University of Chicago Graham School
hosting presentations and discussions of original research

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) is best known for his novels, but he was a master of the short story - and the shorter, the better in many cases. Please join us for a discussion of two brilliant and extremely short stories that Kafka published in a collection called A Country Doctor in 1919:  "Before the Law" and "An Imperial Message." Both stories present as parables that practically call out for interpretive responses. We will answer their call as well as we can. It will take us about three minutes in total to read the two stories aloud, but we'll find ourselves with much more to say about them than we have time to say it in, and the stories will haunt us for long after we've shared our first interpretations.

Noah Chafets is the Cyril O. Houle Chair of the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults at the University of Chicago's Graham School of Continuing and Professional Studies.  He earned a PhD from the Committee on Social Thought in 2021, with a dissertation about desire and motivation in Plato's Gorgias and Republic.  Beyond the great books of the Basic Program, his academic interests extend to aesthetics, contemporary philosophy and film.

For more info please visit kibbitznest.com and kibbitznest.org and graham.uchicago.edu

Thursday, January 23rd, 2025

6:00-7:15pm

Free & open to the public, to reserve your spot, please email: info@kibbitznest.org