
Jorge Luis Borges - Kafka And His Precursors - Sadler's Lectures
Mar 23, 2026
12:29
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosophical short story writer, essayist, and poet Jorge Luis Borges's essay "Kafka And His Precursors", in which he first examines the idea of literary precursors, and then identifies and briefly discusses six precursors to the works of Franz Kafka, in his view. These are:
Zeno's paradoxes of motion
an apologue by Han Yu
the writings of Kierkegaard
Browning's poem "Fears and Scruples"
a short story by Léon Bloy
Lord Dunsany's short story "Carcassonne"
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