The Prodigal Son’s Homecoming Reimagined [Der verlorene Sohn im Spannungsfeld von Moderne und Tradition]

Abstract:

Research on Franz Kafka often highlights ambiguity or resistance to definitive interpretation as key to understanding his work. This reflects both his inner conflicts and his departure from literary conventions. In The Judgment, critical readings often prioritize a son-centered perspective, portraying the father as grotesque, tyrannical, or absurd. These interpretations tend to oversimplify the story’s symbolic complexity, neglecting themes of grief, age, and ritual. This close textual analysis seeks to restore balance by examining the narrative’s religious and chiastic architecture. Kafka reimagines the parable of the Prodigal Son through a dreamlike inversion: the father becomes a mourner, marked by loss and tradition, while the son emerges as a tragicomic figure of modern dislocation—torn between defiance and delusion. The silent, absent mother, lingers as a spiritual compass amid the collapse of moral order, offering a harrowing yet redemptive meditation on remorse, forgiveness, and the fragile ties between past and present.