A Lecture by Dr. Petr Bílek

Today we heard from Dr. Petr Bílek, professor of Czech and comparative literature at Charles University in Prague.

After an introduction by Ben, Dr. Bílek began his lecture, titled, “Real and Fictional Identities and Places in Fiction of Franz Kafka.”

Dr. Bílek spoke about the many identities of Franz Kafka and the ways that Prague has changed since Kafka called it home. “Millions of people come to Prague to get a sense of the place where Kafka lived — but there’s a gap of 100 years. So how real is the feeling that you’re walking in the footsteps of Kafka?” Not very real, Bílek said, noting, for example, that the “childhood home” that tour guides visit is a pseudo-historical baroque building in place of the original Jewish building where Kafka was born.

In his lecture, Dr. Bílek discussed the ways in which the onset of modernity and rapid industrialization at the turn of the 20th Century changed Prague and Kafka’s sense of self and community within Prague. These changes were reflected in the way Kafka experienced and represented things like time, business culture, and technological control in his fiction.