KAFKA AND PINTER: SHADOW-BOXING

KAFKA AND PINTER: SHADOW-BOXING

Kafka and Pinter Shadow-Boxing The Struggle between Father and Son Raymond Armstrong

First published in Great Britain 1999 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-39392-3 ISBN 978-0-230-37618-2 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230376182 First published in the United States of America 1999 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-21541-X Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Armstrong, Raymond. Kafka and Pinter: shadow-boxing : the struggle between father and son I Raymond Armstrong. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-21541-X (cloth) 1. Pinter, Harold, 1930- -Criticism and interpretation. 2. Domestic drama, English-History and criticism. 3. Pinter, Harold, 1930- -Knowledge-Literature. 4. Kafka, Franz, 1883-1924-Influence. 5. Fathers and sons in literature. 6. Drama -Psychological aspects. I. Title. PR6066.153Z594 1998 822'.914-dc21 98-3711 CIP Raymond Armstrong 1999 Softcover reprint of the hard cover 1st edition 1999 978-0-333-63116-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 ()() 99

To my mother Dolores Armstrong

Contents Acknowledgemen ts List of Abbreviations viii x 1 Descriptions of a Struggle: 'The Judgement' and 'The Metamorphosis' 1 2 Return to a Father: The Homecoming 37 3 More Strange Than a Stranger: Family Voices 80 4 The Final Blasphemy: Moonlight 115 Notes and References 172 Works Cited 184 Index 189 vii

Acknowledgements I would like to thank my family, friends and others who have supported and encouraged me throughout the writing of this book. I am especially grateful for the assistance I received from Graham Armstrong (my brother), Ronnie Bailie, Martin McGuinness, Andrew O'Kane and Adrian Rice. Acknowledgements are also due to the undermentioned copyright-holders for granting me permission to use the following material: Extracts from 'Letter to his Father': From Dearest Father: Stories and Other Writings by Franz Kafka, translated by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins. English translation (US) copyright 1954, renewed 1982 by Schocken Books, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Schocken Books, distributed by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc. From Wedding Preparations in the Country, and Other Posthumous Prose Writings by Franz Kafka, translated by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins. English translation (UK) copyright 1954 by Martin Seeker and Warburg Ltd. Reprinted by permission of Reed Consumer Books Ltd. 'Home-Coming' : From Description of a Struggle by Franz Kafka, translated by Tania and James Stern. English translation (US) copyright 1958 by Schocken Books, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Schocken Books, distributed by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc. English translation (UK) copyright 1960 by Martin Seeker and Warburg Ltd. Reprinted by permission of Reed Consumer Books Ltd. Extracts from the plays of Harold Pinter are reprinted by kind permission of Grove/Atlantic, Inc. and Faber and Faber Ltd: A Night Out, copyright 1961, 1966, 1968 by Harold Pinter; The Dwarfs, copyright 1961,1966, 1968 by Harold Pinter; The Homecoming, copyright 1965, 1966, 1967 by H. Pinter Ltd; No Man's vm

Acknowledgemen ts IX Land, copyright 1975 by H. Pinter Ltd; Betrayal, copyright 1980 by H. Pinter Ltd; Family Voices, copyright 1981 by Neabar Investments Ltd; Victoria Station, copyright 1982 by Askerdale Ltd; One for the Road, copyright 1984 by Harold Pinter; Moonlight, copyright 1993 by Harold Pinter; Ashes to Ashes, copyright 1996 by Harold Pinter.

List of Abbreviations The following abbreviations appear (with the relevant page numbers) throughout the text and notes: A America, Franz Kafka AA Ashes to Ashes, Harold Pinter C The Castle, Franz Kafka CK Conversations with Kafka, Gustav Janouch CP Conversations with Pinter, Mel Gussow CS The Comfort of Strangers and Other Screenplays, Harold Pinter CSS The Complete Short Stories, Franz Kafka D The Dwarfs (a novel), Harold Pinter DI Diaries, 1910-1913, Franz Kafka DII Diaries, 1914-1923, Franz Kafka FEL Letters to Felice, Franz Kafka FFE Letters to Friends, Family and Editors, Franz Kafka GWC The Great Wall of China and Other Short Works, Franz Kafka I Plays One, Harold Pinter II Plays Two, Harold Pinter III Plays Three, Harold Pinter IV Plays Four, Harold Pinter M Moonlight, Harold Pinter MIL Letters to Milena, Franz Kafka PT Party Time, Harold Pinter T The Trial (definitive edition), Franz Kafka TOS The Transformation and Other Stories, Franz Kafka WPC Wedding Preparations in the Country, and Other Posthumous Prose Writings, Franz Kafka Full publication details are given in Works Cited. Where words have been deleted from quotations, an ellipsis in square brackets ([...]) is used, in order to distinguish such omissions from other ellipses in the original text. All quotations from stage directions appear in italics. Biblical quotations are from the Authorized Version, unless otherwise indicated. x