Literary Onomastics Studies
Volume 7 Article 8
1980
Franz Kafka and Philip Roth: Their Use of Literary
Onomastics (Based on "The Professor of Desire")
Elizabeth M. Rajec
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Recommended Citation
Rajec, Elizabeth M. (1980) "Franz Kafka and Philip Roth: Their Use of Literary Onomastics (Based on "The Professor of Desire"),"
Literary Onomastics Studies: Vol. 7, Article 8.
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LOS 69
FRANZ KAFKA AND PHILIP ROTHa THEIR USE OF LITERARY
ONOMASTICS (BASED ON THE PROFESSOR OF' DESIRE)
Elizabeth M. Rajec
City College of New York
The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, so very
.
subtl y interwoven into the bygone world of Franz Kafka,
seems to come alive in the intricate onomastic pattern of
Phil ip Roth's novel , The Professor of Desire. The world of
David Kepesh, the main protagonist, unfolds in front of our
eyes: his childhood , his erotic pursuits, his m.<lrriage, his
teaching career, and his trip to Europe - eventual l y reach
ing an emotional climax at KafkA's gravesid e in Prague.
David i.s the son of Abe and Bel l e Kep:sh, who make
their living by operAting o family resort hotel in the
Catskil l Mountains call ed The HungariAn Royal e. The senti-
m<>nt and <lurCl of n bygone age are maintAined hy running the
hotel Clccording to principles of European hospitality.
Kepesh, the family name, is of Hungarian origin, and
its etymological anal ysis reveal s that it can be trans
l ated into Engl ish as "the one 'vho is abl e to achieve A.
set of goals." BasicRlly, Kepesh means capabl e, qualified,
competent, or fit. Moreover, Kepesh is a pol ygl ot term.
The Hungarian noun "kep" means "picture; " thus, the name
cc=m also be associated with "pictorial " or "tropological "
LOS 70
connection s. But "kepe" also means " shock, " as in a group
of sheaves of grain placed on end and supporting one an
1
other in a field. The aim of this paper is to d etermine
if David Kepesh nnd his companions live up to their de-
scriptive names.
Basically, five categories of names can be traced
throughout The Professor of Desire. To the first group be
long the names connected with his childhood, which reflect
a strong Austro-Hungarian-Jewish character: Kepesh, Brat
asky, Jelinek, Klotzer, Barbatnik, and so on. Even their
first names arc predominantly Hebrew or Jewish: Abe, navey,
Ha:."C'y, Larry, and the like.
In the second category, the more s ophjstic�ted German
Jewis h names um be observed: Dr. Frederick Klinger,
D.-wid's psychiatrist; Professor t'.rthur SchHnbrunn, his
thesis adv iser And the chairman of the comparative litera
ture program; anrl Ralph Baumgarten, poet and friend hut
Also the first link connecti�Roth's novel with Kafka's
short story, "The Hunger Artist."
To the third group belong those namec which are Anglo
Saxon in chnracter. For instance, Mr. Clark (obviously to
be associated with "clerk") , an admired Wall Street la\\l)'er
and Belle's boss, for whom she worked as a legal secretary
prior to her marriage to Abe; McCormack, an FBI agent,
whose name is very common among Irish Americans; Dr. Leigh,
LOS 71
a l ascivious London doctor (who prefers "to lay" pretty
young girls, which is cleverly implied in the na me) ;
Donald Garland, an F.nglish investment banker; Jimmy Met
ca lf, an English OnC�ssis of the Far East; Les Lowery, the
future husband of Kepesh's ex-wife; and many other persons,
whose first names only are mentioned: Chips, Edgar, Donald,
BriA.n, Colin, Terry, Madge, Patricia, and so on.
In the f�th category we find names with sexual conno
tations: Elisabeth Elverskog and Brigitta Svanstrom, to
mention only the most important ones.
Finally, to the last group of nAmes belong those
which cannot be grouped into Any of the previous cate
gories. These are universal names, and becau se of their
timeless symbolic images they cannot be defined According
to national borders: Eva, Knfka's whore; Helen, David's
femme fatale; and Claire, his girlfriend. Since the le
porello of Roth's nomenclature is quite rich, only those
who play an important role in the life of the hero of The
Profess or of Des ire or those in connection with the visit
to Kafka's grAveside will be rliscussed in detail.
The novel starts by introducing Herbie Bratasky, a
conspicuous person, the jack-of-all-trades of the Hungarian
Royale. He functions as, among other things, the host, the
bandleader, and the comic. Etymologically, " hoer" comes
LOS ?2
from the German "bcraht" and desct"ibes A "shining" person.
Herbie does indee d h<-1.ve a warm and cordial p ersonality.
(Contrast, for instance, George, the gawky hc=mdyman, who
is never called " Georgie." ) Herbie is a hypocoristic di-
rnjnutive formation, and as the invigorating social di-
rector he live s up to the expectations associAted with
his name.
"Brat" is a Slr�vic noun mel'lning "brother." The "-sky"
s uffix strongly enforces the ma sculine image of comradery
anrl brotherhood. However, Tuerk notes in his study of
Jewish names in American literAture that "-s ky," with
which many Jewish nEtmes end, influenced the creation of
2 .
th e d erogatory term "k 1. k e. II
But f_rom A ph 1. 1 o1 ogJ_ca
. 1 po1nt
II II
o f Vl_ew, as thr. ,,�.ng 1.l.S
• h -er (I. Pno tes a noun, f or
•
as,
inst<mce, in mnst-er, t e ac h-e r , but first of all in broth
er, so does "-sky" in BratEtsky. Herbie BratEtsky literally
fulfills the role of the older brother David never had. He
is not only adored anrl liked by the guests of the hotel,
but he remains the connecting link between David and his
family long after their paths have separated.
Roth introduces humorous names, also. For instance,
Mr. Klotzer, by profession the soda water king of the·
region, is a favorite guest of the hotel. The German noun
''Klotz" can be translated as " heavy" or "big." Mrs. Ke-
LOS 73
pcsh's description of Mr. Kl otzer as the "heaviest guest"
in the history of the Hungarinn Royale most appropriately
3
f•t 1s onoma.
1 s h.
l.ouis Jelinek, a homely philosophy major, is David's
friend during his college years. Jelinek, also of Slavic
origin, is a diminutive of " jelen" and means " deer; "
Louis can be traced as the "experienced," the "knowledge-
able. " The character of Louis Jelinek is described in line
with the meaning of his first as v'ell as his family name.
Long before the gay movement was sanctioned by advocates
of the coming-out-of-the-clospt philosophy, Louis Jelinek
proudly re veale d his sexual preference. For his outspoken
philosophy, as well as for his way of life, Jelinek be-·
comes the target of the FBI. Ho'•'ever, he is <1 "knmvledge
able deer" and cleverly escapes the arro\<r of the hunter.
David Kepesh alwe1ys felt "pitifully banal" in Jelinek's
presence and admired the supremacy of his pe rsonality,
4
which enabled him "to look down on the entire world. "
Phil ip Roth obviously implies the complex entity of my-
thology, folklore, and literary metaphor c0mmonly associ-
ated with the deer mo�if.
To the group of Slavic names belongs the onoma of Mr.
Barbatnik. He is a survivor of a concentration camp and
is Abe's best friend in his later years. His role in the
LOS 74
novel is to '"ccomrany Mr. Kepesh on his visit to DRvid's
summer house. However, his main function is to rt.::mind David
of their mutual past. Barbatnik, although at home in this
country, remains in attitude n Jeh'ish refugee. His charac-
ter is again very cleverly encompassed in his name. He is
th� stranger intruding into the idyllic summer, and because
of his way of life reminds David of his plebeian Jewish
roots. The name Barbatnik can be traced back to the Greek
Jlapaapos, meaning " stranger." According to Eric Partridge,
"barbaros" was usually applied by the Greeks to those who
did not speak their mellifluous tongue and it was also
5
used to mimic the incomprehensible speech of strangers.
Although, Mr. tlarbatnik communicates in English, his s oul
belongs to th e past; all his energy is devoted to the
Unjted Jewish Appeal. In the company of David Kepesh, the
college professor, who claims to be an authority on Chekov,
Mr. Barbatnik remRins throughout the visit the undesirable
alien. Thus, here again, Philip Roth's choice of the name
precisely describes the central core of the hero, whose
domineering character comes to the surface only when ap
propriately decamouflaged.
It is said of almost every post-Goethean German \<'riter
that he had to come to terms with the opus of the Olympian.
That is, in the final analysis, every writer had to decide
LOS 75
to be pro or contra Goethe. The same principle can be ap-
plied to Philip Roth. In his C['Se it is Kafk��. the most
controversial German writer of our time, with whom Roth
has .:m encounter. From an onomastics point of vieH, it is
obviously of greAt significance that Kepesh and Kafka start
with the same initial and that their names show the same
construction. Both have as th2i Y components two. vowels and
three consonants. Professor Kepesh's attitude reveals the
well-known Kafka-Roth syndrome. It might perhaps be of some
interest to point out here that Kafka was forty years old
when he wrote his famous short story, "The Hunger Artist, "
anci that Roth was the same age ""hen he w·rote his fictional
essay, "I Always Wanted You to Admire My Fasting, or, Looking
at Kafka, " in whic'h the main hero is a shy teacher from New
Jersey "namErl, significantly enough, Dr. Franz Kafka, " as
6
also mentioned by Pinsker. It is of 80me additional inter-
est to note that while the teacher's aunt's name w·as Rhoda,
Knfka's girl was called DorA. The verisimil itude of the
names is obvious.
Dnvid Kepe�h, perhaps more than any other hero of Roth's,
either admires KHfka or wishes to be "de-Kafkafied" so
very wittily expressed by the protHgonist himself. Kepesh
teaches Kafka; he even tries to imitate his writing. Pierre
Michel, more ov e r , cl�ims that Roth's fiction actually
7
"out-Kafkas Kafka. " Dervin, too, accentu.;:�tes the Roth
8
Kafka-affinity by attesting that Kepesh (here referred
to the synonymously named protagonist) of The Breast,
wakes up one morning to find he has turned into a female
breast during the night. The analogy to Kafka's cockroach
metamorphosis becomes quite A.pparent.
The culimination of David's European journey is
reached in Prague at Kafka's graveside. The "de-Kafkafic
ation" of Kepesh reaches its climRx in the old Jewish
ceme�ry at Kafka's tomb, where the common denominator of
their Austro-Hungnrian-Jewi.sh past becomes the center of
focus . Names su ch as Levy, Goldschmidt, Schneider, and
Hirsch on grnvestones surrounding Kafka's remind him of
his own past. Kepcsh recalls that relatives and guests at
the Hungari.Rn Royole had similar nnmes, And h2 reAlizes
that the intricate pattern of his mvn past cnn be de
ciphered here. At Kafka's graveside, his o�m roots, as
well as his struggle for survival, becomes evident. Ke-
pesh realizes that his erotic pursuits are not isolated
instances in his struggle for existence but are age-old
and are interwoven just as past and present are. Kepesh
tries to free himself of his nostalgically cumbersome
?ast by placing a pebble on Kafka's gravestone. Still
LOS 77
full of guilt feelings, however, h� emphasizes that he has
never before performed this religious ritual, even for his
mother. Symbolically, \vith this gesture of tradition, Ke
pes h atones for his guilt and simultaneously uses it to
rid himself of his burdens ome Austro-Hungari;:m-Jewish past.
In Pragu�, Kepesh meets a professor by the name of
SoskR, who proudly sho�s him K�fka's citv. The professor's
name again s trikingly resembles that of Kafka. Both names
demonstrate the same construction: CVCCV. But etymological
ly, the name hides much more. Soska is f1 Czech noun which
is the diminutive of "philistine. " SoskEl's des criptive
name is demonstratively illustrated by his cowardly be
hAvior. Although Roth attributes to him liberal views,
Professor Soska's behavior demonstr9.tes the opposite. This
becomes particularly evident in his refusal to accompany
David Ke pesh to Kafka's grave.
But Soska can also be assn\iated ,.\rith "proboscis, "
the snoutlike feerling organ of an insect, an-d the allusion
to Kafka's " ungeheucres Ungeziefer" (enormous vermin) ,
called Samsa, of the famous short story, "The Metamorpho
sis," can easily be detected in h]s name. MC'reover, the
CVCCV construction must again be �tressed.
A second highlight of the PrRgue trip is a hilarious
dream in which David pays a visit to Kafka's ex-whore,
cnllPd Eva. If for no other renson but for her nnme, �vn
lives up to the image embedd eo in her onoma - the e ternal
mother of ."''ll living cre<Itures. \.Jithout any inhibitions
she invites Davin to e xamine the most intim.<'�te part of
her booy, claiming that "it might holrl some literary in
1 9
terPst1 for him.
As seen so far, Roth loves to coin �ppropriately
fitting names for his heroes, particularly for those
whose sexual appetites are most titillAti.ngly described.
Brigitta Svanstrom, for instance, is se nt by her parents
to London to improve her English. Inste8d of taking
courses in philology at a. Loni!on university, she rlevotes
all her time to <'1 study of Davie!' s a.n.:1tomy. She literally
lives up to her coinerl name. The S\vedish noun 11SV<ms"
II '1 II j II II d f II II 1 II
means ta1 , anc strom stan s or stream or 1 f low.
The picturesCJUe sexual connotAtion implie d in the name
Svanstrom is quite obvious throughout the entire novel.
Brigitta, with her unlimited spxual appetite, her youth-
ful body, a.nd her ,,,ilci la.sciviousness, i� a constc:lll t
sexual inspiration of David's copious ejaculations. Nee�-
II II
l ess to say, h er f•1rst name, meRn1ng strengt h, 1s a
• •
cleverly chosen accompaniment to a s2xually unf athom..'lble
female.
Elisabeth F.lv�rskog is Brigi tta' s roommate .:md a
LOS 79
promiscuous partner of this three-way sex ual arrangement.
Elverskog's onomastic disrobing matches that of Svan-
strom's. "Elve" means a "j unior learner, " and "skog" can
be trans 1 ated as "wood " A • super f 1c1a.
. . 1 1nte
. rpretat1on .
based on Elisabeth's sexual behavior could perhaps be
summarized as the eager stud e nt \vhose body is not made of
wood. But by adding A bit of an etymological twist to her
name, "skoj" brings out the lust, the p a ssi on , the sexual
desire i.n which Elisabeth delight.s. The Hebrew me a ning of
her first name, "God hath sworn," is also en c o m pa ssed in
her passionate b��havior. She S\,rears to God to love David
"the favored, the lovable" forever. Elisabeth and Brigitta
arc ideal sexual partners for our professor-of-desire-to-
be. But as David's academic training is not yet finished,
so also is his C1pprenticeship-in-love limited. The ex-
pirntion of his London fello1.,rship puts an enrl to this en-
viable harem.
After "Joubting-hoping-1.-·.wnting-.::nd-fearing," David
marries Helen Baird, a nice g irl from Pasadena, California.
But he soon learns that not only her name, but her total
life, is c. �aga no "bard" can match. It spans the Far East
from Nepal to Singapore, from the China S2a to Bangkok,
and includes not only her fifty passionate love affairs
but also tales of homosexuals and dooe 2ddicts. Helen soon
�
LOS 80
reveals her true nature and becomes the femme fatale in
David's life. The love of the high priestess of Eros of
s ix years (note the allusion to sex) en�s in emptiness,
<iope, and drunk2nness. David's only wish is to be " de
Helenized'' as fast �.s possible to overcome the horrifying
impotence createJ by this erotic wilderness.
David is aware that he needs help and that he needs
it fast. He turns to Dr. Frederick Klinger, a psychiatrist,
whose assistance he hopes will hE:lp him overcome his
spiritual despair and his phys ical impotence. But Freder-
.
th e " peace-ru 1 er, " 1s Dav1. d ' s
. k
1c . , unr=1 bl 2 to und erst;:m d
turmoil an<i, as implied in "Klinge" (sword or blade) , is
only able to defend hi s m,'Tl point of vie'''· "Eine gute
Klinge fllhren" figurntivcly me:-m�: to hold on to one's 0\\.'11.
Indeed, Dr. Klinger does hold on to his theories - but so
does David cling to his point of view.
As Kliman points out, Roth Joves to pl.C�y with rich
10
connotntive meanings. In Portnoy's Complaint, for
instance, the principal character's psychiBtrist·is called
Dr. Spielvogel, me.<-ming "performing or playing bird. " The
chosen names, according to Bettelheim, indicate that the
doctors are not Americanized, th.?t they are probably
Jewish, and that they are not assimilated into the fabric
of our society. Al�ough Roth's heroes try to be assimi-
LOS 81
latod, they go for help to those 1,-rho them3el ves are un-
. "lated ll
asslml • M'lchel notes that the f'lgures of the psycho-
an8lysts reappear like ghosts in Roth's novels but claims
that "they have significant, though unexpected function:
a
12
that of the chorus. "
What Dr. Klinger could not accomplish '.vas achieved
by the next female in David's life: Claire Ovington, a
loving and ord erly young teacher. David was captured by
Claire's uncomplicated personnlit.y and enthusiastically
describes her <1s the most extrflordinary "ordinRry" person
13
he has ever met. Etymologically, her first name can be
derived from the Latin "clarus" (clear) : hence her poisen,
coolheaded nature. Ovington, her family name, is an orcli-
nary .English surname fittingly chosen to describe an
"ordinary" character.
The novel ends with an idyllic surrnne r spent by David
and Claire in the Catskill Hount.1ins in
. a cottage located
near the former Hungarian Royale. During his father's
visit, the importance of the former name of the hotel is
discussed. Abe Kepesh claims that it \vas the biggest mis
take made by the present owner to change the name of an
established enterprise. Hugh Hefner (an obvious allusion
to Playboy's Hugh M. Hefner) , the new O\<m�r, insistr that
in today's day Hnd age, he cannot call a chic ski hotel
LOS 82
Thf> Hungarian Roynlc nnrl expect to do a hig business.
Ch;mges of time demand changes of name. Once again, the
integral rel ationship of Davicl's Hungarian-Je�,·ish past
and present is measured against a person's outstanding
charact�ristic - his name, which expresses his hackground
rmrl rnots.
BasicAlly, the problem is if David K�pesh is "able"
(note that "kepes" men.ns "able") to thrm•7 <:n·•ay the c.omfort-
ing crutch of his Austro-Hungnrian past and make it on his
o"rn in the New hTorld. Or \••ill he cling to the past as his
father clings to the name of his hotel?
Imaginative writers denom ina te their protagonists
with precise desc.riptive (although often camouflaged)
names by focusing on their most outstRnrling character-
is tics. David Kepesh seems to be �uch a creation present-
ed by the author in the artistic embod i ment of The Pro
fessor of Desire. Roth has not only created David in the
biblical sense "after God's 0\\711 heart Fts the favored" but
also as a prototype of a modern protagonist who is "able"
to survive the erotic wilderness of our time. To survive
in an alien world, David, the hero, does not have "to
carry his family on his back, " as Malin so very appropri-
1�
ately rephrases Kakfa's burden; neither does he have to
burn the bridge connecting past to present. On the contra-
LOS 83
ry, by conquering the fear created by the s hadow of his ,),.vn
genealogy, the protagonist become s the "hero" b�T overcoming
the difficulties inherent in the roots of his forefathers.
Thus, the burciensome pRst does not have to linger over
David's existence as it did over his father's. David is
aware that it will eventually di�integrate through an
intricate pattern of assimilation, just as the historical
elements d isappeared into the bygone aura of the Danube
monarchy. At the end of the novel David Kepesh appears as
0 :"ec1 soned scholar qu itc at erJ sc with his surrounding,
although stilJ, at heart, a bit of an elcgist.
Al1hough Roth's tone is comicnl, nevert.hPless, he
deals, as pointed out by Blu2st�d.n, with two of the most
. . . lS
ser1ous top1cs: sex and 1"d entity. Dav1"d' s process of
assimilation is shown most strikingly by a single factor,
which is the d ominant leitmotif of the novel: he prefers
non-Jewish femc=tles as partners in his sexual encounters.
This is expressed quite demonstratively by their Anglo-
Saxon names. In his sexual fantnsy he might have desi r e d
a Ms. Kathie Steiner or a Mrs. Deborrah Sch�nbrunn; but
his robust libido was restored each time by a non-Jewish
sexual partner!
In summary: although Kafka once had a strong influence
on David Kepesh, this dominance appears to have faded a
LOS 84
bit. While still haunted by the seriousness of a gloomy
rmrl rcpurlin.ting pRst, Davie! Kepesh mvRkens from his
ka fknesque rlrcam and tries to cope with the realities of
his own time. He lives up to his cleverly coined and
�11i.te Appropriately descriptive nAme; deracinAterl some
whnt, he does not try to repltmt the plucked - u p roots
but melts into the .'lssimilated e�i.stcnce. He survives as
n cnpablc g rC� in placerl Bmong she::wes of picturesCjUe an thro
ponyms in A fiPld of well-pl:mted onomastics.
F.li7.abeth M. Rajec
City College of New York
LOS 85
NOTES
, ,. ,
1. Ka lman , Bela, The h7orld of Names: A Hun�a rian Onoma
tology. Buda pe st , Akad�miai Ria 3, 1977, p. 73.
2. Tuerk, Richard, "Jewish Names in Literature: The
Americanize�tion of Mr. Finkelstein," Ethnic
NAmes . Edited by FrPrl Tf1 rpley. Commerce, Texas,
Names Ins titute Press, 1978, p. 10.
3. R oth, Philip, The Professor of Desjre. New York,
Farrnr, 1977, p. 32.
1,. lb]d. , p. lR.
5. Partridge, Eric, Name This Child: A Di c. t i o n ort of
Modern British and American Given or hristian
Names. 3rd ed., rev. , anrl much enl. London,
Hamilton, 1951, p. 50.
6. Pinsker, Sanford, "Guilt as C omic Idea: Franz Kafka and
the Postures of American-JeHish h1riting,"
Journal of Modern L iterature, 6 (1977), p.470.
7. Nichel, Pierre, "Philip Roth'�: Reductive Lens: From
'On the Air' to 'My Life as a Man'," Revue
des langues vivantes, 42 (1976), p. 511.
8. Dervin, Daniel A.
"Brenst Fan ta sy in B nr th e lm e ,
Swift, anrl
Philip R ot h: Creativity and Psychoanalyt]c
Structure," American Imago, 33 (1.976), p. 106.
9. Roth, op. cit . , p. 191.
. . . .
10 • Kl 1man, Bern 1ce '-"�1 . , "Nomes 1n p or.tnoy I s comp1a1nt
I
I ,"
Critique, Studies in Modern Fiction, 14 (1973),
no. 3, p. 19.
11. B ette lheim , Bruno, "Portnoy Psychoanalyzed," Midstream,
15 (June-July 1969), p. t.l . •
12. Miche l , Pi�rre, " �1hat Price Misanthropy? Philip Roth's
Fiction," English Studies, 58 (1977), p. 236.
LOS 86
13. R oth , op. cit., p. 160.
14. Mnlin, Irving, "Looking at Ro th s KafkA; or Some Hints
'
i\bout Comedy," Studies in Short Fiction, 14
(197 7 ) , p. 273.
1.5. Bluestein, Gene, "Portnoy's Compla int: The Jew as
American," Canadian Review of American
Studies, 7 (1976), p. 66.
