«Magna Mater» und «Sumpfgeschöpfe». Weiblichkeitsbilder bei Ludwig Klages und Franz Kafka

In Kafka’s novels Der Verschollene, Der Prozess, and Das Schloss, myth seems to emerge through female characters. Leni’s webbed fingers, the sword wielded by the Statue of Liberty in Der Verschollene, and the hybrid portrayal of justice are just a few examples in which an archaic, yet powerful conception of femininity recurs in Kafka’s world. The aim of this paper is to analyse Kafka’s representations of femininity, with particular reference to the theories of Ludwig Klages, who, influenced by Johann Jakob Bachofen, strongly revitalised the connection between “femininity” and “myth” during the same period. As key figures of the early 20th century, Kafka and Klages shared the dynamic context of the turn of the century and – albeit in partially different ways – evoked through the feminine a past and forgotten time of which all traces seemed lost.