Hybrid Territories + urban reinvention: Amerika

Abstract

In 2007 the Waidspeicher Puppet Theatre from Erfurt developed a stage version of Kafka’s novel Amerika, a work that Kurt Tucholsky described as “one of the most beautiful books in all German literature”. The novel tells the story of a European emigrant who, rejected by his family, seeks his fortune in the “land of unlimited opportunity”. The young Karl Rossmann comes to New York intending to become an engineer. His arrival is awaited. Karl meets a rich uncle and moves into an apartment in the house of this self-made man, high over the city. A fresh start that begins so surprisingly and promisingly soon takes a turn for the worse when the boy’s legal guardian sets him out onto the street. Alone and seeking work, the protagonist meets companions who torment him, as well as sadistic bosses and demanding women. (to be continued in PDF)