Heterogeneity and the Secret Knowledge of Habsburg Central Europe in Franz Kafka's "Beim Bau der chinesischen Mauer"

The beginning of the twenty-first century has seen a global proliferation of walls, proclaimed as defensive structures that instead often serve symbolic political purposes. This article takes a historical perspective and examines Franz Kafka's short story "Beim Bau der chinesischen Mauer." Kafka's imperial China is regarded as a fictionally distorted reflection of the conflicted realities of Habsburg Central Europe. Within the interdisciplinary space aff orded by discourse analysis and recent theories of nationalism and multiculturalism, the article explores the overlapping and competing cultural and political discourses that resonate in the text, especially the complex discourses of imperialism, nationalism, minority, and heterogeneity.