Kafka, Rilke, Nadel

About the Book

This work, through poetic renderings, examines how Chinese philosophy influenced the writings of Franz Kafka, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Arno Nadel. The connection for Kafka came through Confucianism, while for Rilke, the major tie-in was Zen Buddhism, and for Nadel, the primary influence was Taoism. Even though the writings of Kafka and Rilke are generally well-known to the English-reading public, this is the first time that selections from Nadel’s German poetry have been translated into English.

About the Author

Martin Wasserman is a Professor Emeritus at SUNY Adirondack, a college in the State University of New York system, where he taught for thirty-six years. During his career he published over thirty journal articles and three books. One of those works, Kafka Kaleidoscope, was chosen as a “Best Book” by the Small Press Review in 1999. Professor Wasserman’s two most recent works are a poetry adaptation entitled Ho Chi Minh in Prison: A Prose Poem and an original poetry piece called Busy Searching for Light: Some Modern English Tanka.