Talk:Franz Kafka/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Grapple X (talk · contribs) 22:38, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

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This is a pretty broad and important topic so I'm going to take a while to review it. For today it's just going to be an initial pass on prose; will look at the other criteria over the remainder of the weekend.

1. Is it reasonably well written?

   A. Prose quality:

   B. MoS compliance for lead, layout, words to watch, fiction, and lists:

   "Kafka was born in a middle class, German-speaking, Jewish family, in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire." -> a few too many commas here; try "Kafka was born in a middle class, German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire."
   "His writing has been associated with existentialism, socialism and Marxism, the influence of judaism has been interpreted in different ways" -> stick something like "and" or "while" after "Marxism, "; and Judaism is a proper noun.
   "Only a small part of Kafka's works was published during his lifetime, stories in literary magazines, and the story collections Betrachtung (Contemplation) and Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor) as books." -> I think this needs a stronger break after "lifetime" than a comma, perhaps an em dash.
   "The large body of his writing, including unfinished works such as all his novels, was published posthumously, mostly by his friend Max Brod who ignored his wish to destroy the manuscripts." -> I'd probably change "large body" to "majority".
   Why is "Deutsche Knabenschule" in italics but "Altstädter Deutsches Gymnasium" isn't?
   " Together they read Plato's Protagoras in the original Greek, on Brod's initiative, and Flaubert's L'éducation sentimentale and La Temptation de St. Anthoine in French, on Kafka's initiative." -> The second use of "initiative" seems too repetitive; try "at Kafka's suggestion".
   "an orthodox hasidic Warsaw family." -> I believe Hasidic is normally capitalised (it appears to be in the article on Hasidism).
   "1914-1915" -> should be an en dash, but I'd also be fine with "1914 or 1915".
   Link Heinrich von Kleist?
   " In the opinion of literary critic Harold Bloom, that despite Kafka being uneasy with his Jewish heritage, he was the quintessential Jewish writer." -> ditch the "that".
   Maybe I'm missing something but the name in note C is no different to the name the note is beside.
   "rendered as (Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart)" -> why the brackets?
   "Kafka's influential story Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) was first printed in Die Weißen Blätter. Eine Monatsschrift., a monthly edition of expressionist literature, edited by René Schickele, in the October 1915 issue." Is this meant to be several sentences? There's a few full stops in there I'm not sure about.
   "and Amerika, which Kafka's had titled Der Verschollene (The Man who Disappeared)." -> shouldn't be possessive, just "which Kafka had titled".
   Just noticing it now but it seems there's a lot of repeated wikilinks, especially in the titles of stories; these should be cut down.
   I think the references to "Britons and Americans", etc, should really use the term Anglosphere, as to just specify two regions you're cutting out Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, etc, which follow essentially the same cultural norms as you describe.
   I'd recommend trimming out the unreferenced entries in "Literary and cultural references" rather than tracking down references for them.

   Some entries - likely the more important ones - have articles, references could be taken from there.

   I suggest to keep several links to stories and novels, as readers may not read from the beginning, and to keep all links in the sortable table. We are debating if the table of selected works should stay in the article or be separated, and if it stays, which position, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:40, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

   They can certainly stay in the table, things like image captions, tables, etc generally aren't beholden to WP:OVERLINK. I think the table works as is but if it becomes an exhaustive list rather than a selective one then it might make a good FLC in its own right. GRAPPLE X 17:26, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

    Done but I may have missed some unlinks PumpkinSky talk 01:02, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

   Got the rest of them for you; User:Ucucha/duplinks is a handy tool to use for this. GRAPPLE X 11:16, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

2. Is it factually accurate and verifiable?

   A. References to sources:

   B. Citation of reliable sources where necessary:

   C. No original research:

   Not checked as yet but I've added some {{cn}} tags that'll need seen to.

   All addressed. PumpkinSky talk 22:57, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

3. Is it broad in its coverage?

   A. Major aspects:

   Seems fine.

   B. Focused:

   About right. There are some sections which could be spun out if they were to grow any larger but as is, it's about the right size.

4. Is it neutral?

   Fair representation without bias:

   Yep.

5. Is it stable?

   No edit wars, etc:

   Although the article has only recently undergone a large overhaul, I see no edit warring recently to discern me. However the talk page seems to carry a notice about heated discussions so I'm going to keep an eye on this for another day or two to be sure.

6. Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?

   A. Images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid fair use rationales are provided for non-free content:

   I'm wondering why File:CountryDoctor.jpg is tagged as fair use while the similar files File:Kafka Betrachtung 1912.jpg and File:Kafka Das Schloss 1926.jpg are marked as free; they seem to be contemporary with each other or am I wrong here? File:DPAG 2008 Franz Kafka.jpg has also been tagged as possibly not being public domain as claimed; if it's not then I don't really see a strong case for using it but if it turns out that it is then it can be kept fine.

   See "Commons:Administrators'_noticeboard#Photos_of_books_by_Kafka" a thread I started on Commons. Two of the book covers you list were released by the photographer, but the other wasn't. I think they could all be PD-OLD so I asked. Let's hope we get a good, accurate, quick response. As for the stamp photo, I checked on that when Gerda and I started this. It was properly licensed when uploaded but German law has changed, and their is a case working through the German appellate courts now on this, with the outcome expected that these stamps will have to be deleted. So I've just deleted this one to be safe. PumpkinSky talk 22:56, 26 August 2012 (UTC)......While the Landartzt one was taken out of the article, looks like it was PD, [ https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/w/index.php?title=Commons%3AAdministrators%27_noticeboard&diff=76705365&oldid=76687003 this diff on commons] PumpkinSky talk 00:39, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

   If the Landartzt one is PD-OLD then it can be re-inserted easily; even sticking it in the article on the book would also keep it handy for future use. I'm not up to date on German copyright law but I had thought that public domain was one of those irrevocable statuses. Removing the stamp to be safe does seem a good idea though; the article is still well-illustrated anyway. Just want to let the article sit for a day or so to be sure of stability; aside from that we're looking at a pass now. GRAPPLE X 03:03, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

   B. Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions:

   Images used are fine, though the three book covers should either be kept aligned on the same side or spaced out a little more; as is they overlap somewhat which has the undesired effect of framing text between two pictures, which is something to avoid.

   I understand that there should be no overlap, but am more concerned with pic matching text. I would like to see the student pic (before 1900) next to the text "Brod soon noticed that while Kafka was shy and talked seldom" - it's now under employment 1907. Best probably to write more prose ;) - Book covers the same: Betrachtung should appear where Betrachtung is mentioned, best - see above, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:56, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

   Perhaps the quickest solution would be swapping that pic with the building; as the student pic is a bit more relevant to a given time than a modern picture of a building which he went to school in (plus it was the location of his father's shop so it's not limited to just his school days). GRAPPLE X 22:05, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

   If the layout issue can't be resolved, I'm fine with removing some of them. I'm also fine with whatever you and Gerda work out. Photo layout is not a big deal to me here, though I do agree with Gerda that it's nice to have to the side when they're being discussed. PumpkinSky talk 22:56, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

   For the moment it's fine, Landarzt dropped as too many of more or less the same kind, will add it to the book (thought is was there). School building for employment is not ideal, but his office building may have looked similar ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:12, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

7. Overall:

   Pass or Fail:

   Will return tomorrow for further points. GRAPPLE X 22:38, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

   Well, I'm satisfied. In all the time I was reviewing it, nothing has broken out; and searching back four months in the history shows only standard levels of vandalism here and there, so I don't really know what the talk page notice is warning about. I'm happy enough to promote this; well done guys. GRAPPLE X 20:51, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the thorough review! PumpkinSky talk 21:04, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

Agree, thank you for helping with good questions, suggestions and edits, - a pleasure! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:12, 27 August 2012 (UTC)