The Illusion Of Metaphysical Desire

Scholars studying Kafka prefer wedge his works into some kind of frame of theology or philosophy, rather than give their attention to the images in his works. In fact, the images in his works incarnate his experiences and ideas about his being and the world he lives in. Also, only by analyzing the images can some difficulties in Kafka Study be solved well. The thesis is focused on four kinds of images including their amamorphosises, trying to apprehend Kafka more accurately and advance Kafka Study. They are images of fathers, women, animals and foreign countries. By analyzing many important works in different views, the thesis discusses these images comprehensively and points out their importance as well as their limit to Kafka's identity and his works' meaning construction. In the last part of the thesis, the relations between Kafka's "images" and the "idolum" in the context of post-modernism are discussed. It is believed that though the images in Kafka's works are also "idola", there is still a special "truth" in his works, due to some kind of spiritual depth the author gives them.