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WALTER H. SOKEL

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Rutgers University University of Virginia

WALTER SOKEL Obituary

SOKEL--Walter H, 96, one of the last of the generation of Jewish intellectual refugees from Europe that so enriched American cultural life, died February 21st at his residence in San Francisco. Cherished father, beloved friend and lifelong scholar, he possessed a charming, vital and generous spirit as well as a driving intellect. Walter Sokel was born in Vienna, Austria in December, 1917. He fled soon after the Nazi Anschluss of Austria in 1938, and arrived in New York at the age of 21. On the basis of a letter of recommendation from the revered German author Thomas Mann, he received a scholarship from Rutgers University, and went on to become a prominent professor and scholar who bridged cultural boundaries, explaining the best of German and German-Jewish culture to an American audience. In a career spanning almost 50 years, Professor Sokel was connected to many top US, German and Austrian universities. He spent the last 20 years of his teaching career at the University of Virginia as Commonwealth Professor in the German and English Departments. Known for his work on 20th century European literature, German intellectual history, Expressionism, and in particular Kafka, two of Professor Sokel's books published in 1964 and 1966 were the first to put Kafka into his proper place as a giant of European literature. Among other honors, Professor Sokel was the recipient in 1998 of the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art. He was preceded in death by his wife of 41 years, Jacqueline P. Sokel, and is survived by his daughter, Shari Sokel, her partner Mark Strek, and granddaughter, Hannah as well as many friends and former colleagues. A celebratory memorial service will be held April 6th in San Francisco (503) 475-4274.

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Published by New York Times on Mar. 2, 2014.

Memories and Condolences
for WALTER SOKEL

19 Entries

Lee Lowenfish

February 24, 2025

After re-reading my comments in prior years in memory of my immortal teacher Walter Sokel, I don't have much new to add except that he is indeed and will always be immortal. His memory I will cherish forever and ever.

Jerald Goldstein

January 23, 2025

I met Walter Sokel some 20+ years ago as a graduate student at Rutgers University. To say the least, we hit it off almost immediately and spent much time together, not only at Rutgers, but also in San Francisco where he was at that time living. We had much in common; above all, as a fellow Jew he shared so many harrowing experiences he had had in the 30s while still in Germany. As a world-renowned scholar he shared with me several of the many insights he had developed during his career. I will continue to reserve a special place for him in my heart and mind. May he rest in peace.

Phillip Lundberg

February 26, 2024

Besides sharing an hour or so with Walter at a nearby coffee shop a year or two before his passing, I was awed by his comments and proofing of my Kafka translation and so in commemoration of his generousity (as well as the depth of his knowledge!) I included excerpts from his masterpiece: Franz Kafka, Tragik und Ironie -- at the conclusion of my 3rd edition: Kafka Unleashed, in particular his insights as regards BEFORE THE LAW.... thus hopefully introducing English only readers to Walter's thoughts on this central parable that is "key" to his writings.
It is quite curious that at this very time I am yet adding a few more touches from Walter's book to a new edition of Kafka Unleashed and I wonder if somehow he is yet assisting me in my passion to enlighten humanity as regards what lies beyond the purview of our day-to-day travails....

best wishes to All: Phillip Lundberg.

Lee Lowenfish

February 25, 2024

Although 10 years have passed since he left us poor mortals on this earth, Walter Sokel lives on vividly in my memory. He was an inspiring (and demanding) teacher at Columbia in my nascent years in the early 1960s. My reunion with him in NYC decades later remains one of my fondest memories. He insisted on taking me to dinner before he saw "The Flying Dutchman" at the Met Opera. He bestowed upon me two wonderful "degrees," MS (Majestic Semite) and CEP (Cultivated Educated Pirate). His memory shines and will forever shine within me. Abiding best wishes to Shari and Hannah and Mark.

Phillip Lundberg

February 25, 2022

I think Walter was in agreement with Kafka when he interprets The Law and Man's true home:

The landsman of the legend strives to enter into the Law, whereas the dog´s striving is that the "Law," the absolute is forced to enter into him, right into his waiting jaws! In Kafka´s Werk guilt and sense {Schuld und Sinn}, punishment and fulfillment are interwoven. Ever greater the guilt, so too is `the sense´ that much closer to truth and purification. Ever the more bitter one´s punishment and suffering, so much the deeper shall be one´s liberation, the peace of knowing {Befriedigung des Wissens}: that there really is a deeper sense to the world and that we do have a homeland {Heimat}, even if we have totally lost our connection to it. However it is also the case that when punishment no longer plays such a prominent role in life, that is as our lives becomes freer, more disconnected {unabhängiger} and more `rational´ - so ever the more do our lives lack in any [deeper] meaning, [or, as Bürgel puts it: "the consolation is nil"-{trostlos}]. Both Georg Bendemann and Gregor Samsa find consolation, a sense for their suffering, in their guilt, that is due to the clarification of their tasks which brought their lives to an end and that does make sense: the sense, namely, that inheres in art and specifically in the deeper meaning inherent in all tragedies.

From Chapters 12-14: Tragik und Ironie and my appendix in honor of Dr.Sokel in Kafka Unleashed.

Michael McDermott

May 3, 2021

Here I am, at the age of 80, and find that I am thinking of the course I took from Professor Sokel at Stanford University during the Summer of 1966. I had received my undergraduate degree two years earlier and completed two years as a high school English teacher. I was spending my second summer at Stanford, to re-charge my batteries and do a bit of surfing at Santa Cruz. I was not pursuing a degree.

During the 8-week session, we read only 5 or 6 novels in his course on Existentialist authors; however, we read them very, very carefully under his masterful guidance, supplemented by his lectures on the background of each author and the novel in question.

Professor Sokel was consistently inspiring, both by the depth of his knowledge and by the enthusiasm he inspired in those of us who were privileged to be his students. I learned so much from him about the proper use of one's mind and will continue to treasure my memories of being his student. Thank you, Walter.

Rolf Goebel

February 24, 2021

It is of course very sad that Walter Sokel is no longer with us in person, but his scholarly voice is still very much with us, and will continue to do so in the future. His landmark study of Kafka, Tragik und Ironie, remains a inexhaustible treasure trove of inspiring insights that still resonate with today's criticism, and Walter's personality, marked by elegance, extraordinary kindness, and intellectual passion will stay present in the scholarly community's collective memory.

Phillip Lundberg

February 25, 2020

I was very priviledged to have been helped by Walter who, in his ninties, proved to be invaluable in his encouragement with my Kafka translation. The result was the transformation of Essential Kafka into Kafka Unleashed - Stories, Dreams & Visions, including Chapters 11-13 of Walter's tome: F.K. ~ Tragik und Ironie.

Lee Lowenfish

February 25, 2020

Walter is truly immortal. I remain so glad that I told his daughter Shari that certainly she could share at the memorial service his description of yours truly his former Columbia undergraduate student. "You look like a Majestic Semite and a Cultivated Educated Pirate," he exclaimed before he insisted on treating me to dinner at our final meeting, more than 50 years after our previous one. That night Walter was going to see "The Flying Dutchman" at the Met Opera. I will think of him this coming Monday March 2, 2020 when I go to see "The Flying Dutchman" at the Metropolitan Opera. So blessed that he was my Humanities teacher almost 60 years ago!

Lee Lowenfish

February 27, 2019

Hard to believe that Walter has been gone for five years now. His memory is a cherished one and his example as a vital curious and committed-to-truth man is one I try to live up with. I hope one day to meet Shari and her family in Portland, Oregon. It may happen if major league baseball establishes a franchise there. Shari's description of her father's "fantastic" playfulness is another memory I cherish.

Francis Partel in Russia, 2007

Francis Partel

March 28, 2014

In the fall of 1959, I arrived as a good student, but not a particularly intellectual student at Columbia and enrolled in Professor Sokel's section for Humanities Literature. His class opened me to the rich life of being an intellectual without embarrassment, and he charged all of us with the responsibility for being a culture-bearer for the best in Western Civilization. I'm more properly an intellectualist as defined by Richard Hofstadter, and I am perpetually grateful for the contributions of intellectuals like Walter Sokel and to have had the experience of being one of his fortunate students at Columbia College.

Lee Lowenfish

March 27, 2014

Walter changed my life when I was a very callow freshman at Columbia in 1959 and he was teaching the basic Humanities class. I took a second class with him as a sophomore and decades passed before I enjoyed a reunion dinner with him in NYC before he went to see "The Flying Dutchman" at the Met Opera. He described me memorably as a Majestic Semite who looks like a Cultivated Educated Pirate. I am as proud as being a MS CEP as I am an MA Ph.D. Rest in immortal peace Walter!

Janet Ward

March 16, 2014

Walter Sokel was a wonderful man and a true intellectual. I'm honored to have studied with him as one of his last doctoral students before he retired from the University of Virginia. In 2008 he visited my campus and gave an amazing lecture about his experiences of the Austrian 1930s. Needless to say, the auditorium was packed to standing room only, and the post-lecture Q&A lasted almost an hour. His granddaughter Hannah was born a few years before my own children, and he was the proudest granddad ever!
I will dearly miss Walter, inspirational mentor and friend.

Phillip Lundberg

March 13, 2014

One doesn't meet up with many people like Walter--at least I've only experienced less than a handful of such rare types where breadth and depth of knowledge are equally extensive and curiosity and kindness are not lacking. Whereas Walter fled the Nazis and brought the best of European enlightenment to America, I made the opposite voyage to West Germany in my early 20's--seeking to understand the German Idealists, a dying breed in our materialistic age. Walter was good at penetrating through the opacity of our times, pointing out e.g. in Kafka's "Trail" the hidden staircase and the entirely new suit of clothes that awaited "K." A passage that was too revealing and one upon which most scholars don't tend to dwell. Rather than being saddened by Walter's passing I must protest and say how glad I am that our paths crossed, if only during the last few years of his life.

"When one door is opened, another is closed." - - L'Homme qui rit (V. Hugo)

I'm confident that Walter will find peace in his "new suit."

Phillip Lundberg.

While I miss you Beicken

March 10, 2014

Walter Sokel's passing moves me deeply. He was the person why I went to Stanford University to devote myself to Kafka Studies after I had discovered his "Kafka: Tragik und Ironie" in 1965 in Bonn. Being guided by him in my dissertation on Kafka's narrative perspective (1971) was magnificent as he was not overpowering, but gave me the space to develop and find my own voice. Walter was the greatest teacher I ever had. He was a brilliant lecturer speaking "druckreif" (ready for print) in every class he taught. The power of his analytical mind was overwhelming. We were in awe at his command of the subjects he brought to us with inspiring intellectual acumen. There were other greats at Stanford at that time, but he was superb. Everything I wrote for him benefitted from his enabling spirit. He was also very demanding and made us do our very best.
Forever his name will be attached to Kafka Studies as one of the great minds to penetrate the Kafkian labyrinth. But Walter was so much more than a Kafka specialist. In his lectures he stunned us with his stupendous knowledge of German, European and world literature and his awesome ability to contextualize his subject matters that was eye-opening.
So many have experienced Walter as an amicable, generous and loving friend, a 'mensch' with a fierce mind and a kind heart, a genial humanist with wisdom and compassion. Whenever I have to deliver as a teacher, lecturer and presenter I feel his inspiring companionship, his kind invitation to connect and be captivating, engaging and open. And always give it my best.
While I miss you, Walter, you live on in me as you changed so many others and are a guiding spirit to them.
And thank you for inviting me and my late wife, Suzy, with Jacquie, your great wife and companion, to Mingei Ya on Union Street in San Francisco to celebrate my completed dissertation and degree. Sitting on the floor and eating from a Mongolian stove and sharing happiness I took away a great pleasure to last for a lifetime. The same Herzlichkeit (congeniality) when we saw each other last at the Kafka conference at Duke/UNC/NCSU in Spring 2009! You were your eternal sparkling, loving self!
Hab Dank und lebe wohl! (Many thanks and farewell!), Peter

Walter Sokel at "Kafka in the 21st Century"-Conference at Duke Univ.

Peter Beicken

March 10, 2014

Ruth Gross

March 5, 2014

I am sad for us who have lost such a wonderful mentor, role model, and human being. How wonderful that he could still travel into his 90's, as he did to our conference in NC on "Kafka in the 21st Century" and contribute to the discourse, much of which he himself had established. I met him at an MLA many years ago, and although he was never my teacher in the traditional sense, I learned so much from him. He was always gracious and encouraging, and thus, he became an important influence in my career. It pleases me to think of Walter and dear Franz now possibly conversing with each other and laughing together about the world and its foibles.

March 4, 2014

So Walter Sokel was a 6-year-old when Franz Kafka died. FK has, of course, fascinated all readers, as a quasi-Shakespeare of the 20th century. But Walter's great book, FK. Tragik und Ironie, shaped the Kafka-readers of his time in an amazing way; anyone hoping to become a "Kafka-scholar" in the 1960s & 70s, needed to engage Walter's perspective. And Walter was so unassuming, personally engaging--AND almost infinitely productive. He never stopped working, even after the death of his beloved wife Jacquie. What a role model....
James Rolleston

Rolf Goebel

March 3, 2014

I am deeply saddened by Walter Sokel's death. He was my academic "Doktorgrossvater" (the doctoral advisor of my advisor) and encouraged me in the most generous ways even when I was a fledgling graduate student. His work on Kafka remains of singular importance for generations of scholars after him. The last time I saw him was at the MLA Convention in Oakland, CA a few years ago, where he was in good health and even better spirits; we had dinner at a Thai restaurant, talking, as always, about German literature. An inspiring intellectual and one of the kindest and warmest persons I have met in our profession, he will be dearly missed by many.

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