Kafka calls his first novel's hero, Karl Rossmann, a "modern David Copperfield." The 16-year-old is sent to America by his parents. Like so many people, he is supposed to build a new life for himself there. But he does not go from rags to riches. On the contrary: his own gullibility, unfortunate circumstances, and injustices plunge the boy into increasingly hopeless situations. He becomes a plaything of his environment, and all his efforts to take his fate into his own hands remain unsuccessful.
"America" is an emigration story and at the same time an anti-Bildungsroman: someone seeks his fortune in the New World and becomes a nobody. In ludicrous adventures, Kafka describes his hero's social decline and dissects the American dream with humor and sarcasm. He tells of alienation, of losing one's place in the world, and of the existential search of a homeless person in the modern world. In some respects, "Amerika" is an exception in Franz Kafka's oeuvre. According to Max Brod, the author himself was convinced "that this novel was more hopeful and lighter" than anything else he had written. "Amerika" was published in 1927 after Kafka's death by his friend Max Brod.
Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was plagued by self-doubt throughout his life. This insecurity is also reflected in his texts, which often tell of absurd, confusing, and grotesque events. His style cannot be assigned to any literary era or movement and is considered unique. Kurt Tucholsky wrote about Kafka's great novel "America," which he himself called "The Missing Person" in his diaries: "Here is the very rare case of someone who does not understand life and is right."
Georg Schmiedleitner was co-founder and artistic director of the Phönix Theater in Linz from 1989 to 1996. He has been working as a freelance director since 1996. His production of Shakespeare's "Richard III" at the Theater Regensburg received a nomination for the German theater award "Der Faust" in 2022. In 2014, he directed "Die letzten Tage der Menschheit" (The Last Days of Mankind) for the Salzburg Festival.
Premiere March 20,
Additional performances: March 22 and 27, May 20, 22, and 29, June 3, 4, 10, 12, 17, 20, and 21, 2026
