The Department of Media Studies, Easwari School of Liberal Arts (ESLA), SRM University-AP hosted a talk titled “Kafka the Hikikomori:Decision, Procrastination, and Melancholy”. This talk invited the audience into a rich philosophical exploration of decision-making, hesitation, and the emotional realities of modern existence.

The session examined how acts of delay, uncertainty, and withdrawal shape human thought and behaviour. Rather than viewing procrastination or indecision as weaknesses, the lecture frames them as meaningful conditions shaped by reflection, possibility, and the pressure of choice in contemporary life.

Drawing on the works of Franz Kafka, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and Gilles Deleuze, the lecture placed literature and philosophy into dialogue to rethink how decisions are formed. Kafka’s protagonists—often caught in cycles of waiting, doubt, and repetition—become figures through which modern psychological and social conditions can be understood.

Speaker: Prof. Joff P N Bradley

Full Professor of English and Philosophy at Teikyo University, Tokyo. His research spans cinema studies, post-media theory, Deleuze studies, educational philosophy, and Japanese cultural contexts. With extensive international academic engagement, his work explores how philosophy intersects with technology, media, and contemporary social life.

This talk was attended by the Dean, Easwari School of Liberal Arts (ESLA), faculty from different departments as well as by students.