The Transformation of the Lives of Others: Space, Sensuality and Spectator Complicity in Kafka’s Die Verwandlung and von Donnersmarck’s Das Leben der Anderen

Abstract

This article reads von Donnersmarck’s film $\textbf{Das Leben der Anderen}$ in the light of Kafka’s story $\textbf{Die Verwandlung}$, suggesting that the works bear a striking and as yet unnoticed similarity on the level of story, while diverging significantly in terms of $\textbf{plot}$. The aim of the comparison is to explore notable aspects of this similarity through the presentations of $\textbf{space, sensual experience}$, and $\textbf{spectator complicity}$, while raising wider points about the functions and capabilities of $\textbf{different media}$. I propose the concept of $\textbf{erlebtes Zeigen}$ in my reading of Das Leben der Anderen as a contrast to Kafka’s use of $\textbf{erlebte Rede}$. I question just how it is that such a similar story may be told to such different effect