Agamben's Joyful Kafka: Finding Freedom Beyond Subordination

One of the greatest questions surrounding Giorgio Agamben’s work today is how one might embody his complex conceptualizations of our social and cultural realities. Snoek’s answer is quite simple: Kafka’s perfectly blended surreal and yet all-too-human literary universe delivers us the most profound and pronounced insights into the highly theoretical work of Agamben. Moreover, as she ably demonstrates, this affinity between Kafka and Agamben is not a coincidence, but a combination of those particular elements central to understanding both authors’ visions of our world. Snoek’s in-depth analysis probes the darkest corners of modern life alongside two authors whose commentary on such matters almost singularly defines it. ― Colby Dickinson, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology, Loyola University Chicago, USA

A richly rewarding―and much needed―study of the influence of Kafka in Agamben’s work that casts new light on the provocative account of political freedom that he develops. ― Catherine Mills, School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

“Anke Snoek’s book fills an existing lacuna in biopolitical theory. Very little in the past generation came close to the explosion of intellectual power that emanated from Benjamin’s reading of Kafka, or in ours, to the way Giogrio Agamben reads both. Snoek’s comprehensive analysis of these intersections supplies a careful map of both moments for students of the present, and theory of potentialities.” ― Nitzan Lebovic, The Apter Chair of Holocaust Studies and Ethical Values, Lehigh University, USA