Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk

"Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" ( _de. Josephine, die Sängerin, oder Das Volk der Mäuse) is the last short story written by Franz Kafka. It primarily details a community and its relationship to a renowned singer named Josephine.

Plot summary

Josephine is a rarity among the mouse people, for she has the innate ability to sing. She can not only sing, but she can sing beautifully, helping all the mouse people continue with their hardworking lives. Some of the mouse people dislike her and do not believe she is truly singing, while others gather round to listen to her, use her feeble vocal cords to their utmost strength, and treasure her femininity. Some of the mouse people wonder if Josephine is truly singing, for they wonder if mice can sing or if they simply just whistle? Depending on the position facing Josephine, her music sounds like great piping and sometimes it sounds like true music. At times, she pouts and stammers as a woman, bringing chaos and chatter amongst the people; yet, when she sings, she brings a hush to the crowd, and everyone realizes that she is special. They must protect their dear Josephine, for she is one of a kind. [http://www.bookrags.com/notes/kaf/PART7.html http://www.bookrags.com/notes/kaf/PART7.html] [Accessed December 10, 2006.] ]

:"Sometimes I have the impression that our people sees its relationship with Josephine rather like this: that she, this fragile, vulnerable, somehow distinguished creature, in her opinion distinguished by her song, has been entrusted to us and that we must look after her; the reason for this is not clear to anyone, only the fact seems to be established. But what has been entrusted to one's care one does not laugh at; to do so would be a breach of duty; the utmost spite that the most spiteful amongst us can vent on Josephine is when they sometimes say: 'When we see Josephine it is no laughing matter."

As time progresses, people feel differently about Josephine and her music, thinking her pompous, thinking her lazy, and simultaneously thinking her a gift to the community. She rarely does her work, yet still gets her daily ration of food. When she injures herself barely, she works even less. No other mouse would be tolerated in the community.

Eventually, Josephine is missing; nobody can find her and everyone misses her music, her piping, and her singing. Yet, after enough time searching, she is lost, and gone forever. Their lives continue as normal.

:"So perhaps we shall not miss so very much after all, while Josephine, for her part, delivered from earthly afflictions, which however to her mind are the privilege of chosen spirits, will happily lose herself in the countless throng of the heroes of our people, and soon, since we pursue no history, be accorded the heightened deliverance of being forgotten along with all her brethren."

Analysis

Ostensibly "Josephine" is about the art of the voice. While writing the story Kafka himself had no voice. He was dying of tuberculosis of the larynx. Near the conclusion the nature of Josephine's singing mirrors Kafka's lifelong struggle with his own writing.Kafka (1996, xv)] The humorously meticulous style of the argumentative narrator in the story also shadows the rhetorical conventions of rabbinical discourse.

Themes

Family

Josephine the songstress is part of the mouse people family. They love her, protect her, and think she is vitally important to the community. [ [http://www.bookrags.com/notes/kaf/TOP1.html http://www.bookrags.com/notes/kaf/TOP1.html] [Accessed December 10, 2006.] ]

olitude

Josephine the songstress suffers her life in the mouse community, for she is alone in her talent and mindset. Because she sings for the rest of the mice, she is looked upon as different - for better or for worse. When she eventually disappears, people soon forget her. [ [http://www.bookrags.com/notes/kaf/TOP3.html http://www.bookrags.com/notes/kaf/TOP3.html] [Accessed on October 10, 2006.] ]

Adaptions

The story was adapted by Michael McClure into a play, with the altered title of "Josephine the Mouse Singer". It won an Obie Award for Best Play of the Year.

Quotes

"Josephine is the sole exception, she loves music and also knows how to give a voice to it; she is the only one, and with her demise music will disappear—for who knows how long—from our lives." [Kafka (1996, 191).]

Notes

References

* Kafka, Franz (1996). "The Metamorphosis and Other Stories", trans. Donna Freed. New York: Barnes & Noble. ISBN 1-56619-969-7.

External links

* [http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/vermeer/287/josephine.htm English translation]