tiefem Schnee

The Monolithic Unnamable

2011-02-16T19:21:00.000-08:00

The Unnamable strikes the reader as a stream-of-consciousness momolith, impervioous to attempts to carve it up into digestible pieces. I've always imagined that there is a way to approach the text; I just need to find it.

The Unnamable

2011-02-06T20:03:00.000-08:00

I know this is supposed to be a Kafka blog, but I think I might
do a few posts on Samuel Beckett's The Unnamable.

The Burrow

2010-12-24T09:47:00.001-08:00

Are there any new translations of "Der Bau"? I haven't been able to find any.

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Woman, Creature, or Slut?

2010-11-23T17:47:00.001-08:00

What the heck does Frauenzimmers mean? The epithet that Olga hurls at Frieda at the end of chapter three sounds something like "Woman's Room," which sounds ridiculous. Underwood goes for "slut," which sounds a little harsh. The Muirs go with "creature," interesting. And Harman sticks with "woman." Since Harman has struck me as the most reliable so far, I'll go with him. Still...it's a headscratcher.

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The Assistants

2010-11-14T09:47:00.000-08:00

"When Galater sent us to you-" "Galater?" asked K. "Yes, Galater," said Jeremias, "he was Klamm's substitute at the time. When he sent us to you, he said - I remember since that's what we're referring to-'You're being sent there as assisstants of the surveyor.' We said: 'But we don't know anything about that kind of work.' At that he said: 'That isn't so important; if it becomes necessary he will teach you. But it's important that you cheer him up a bit. From what I hear, he takes everything very seriously. He has come to the village and right away thinks this is some great event but in reality it's nothing at all. You should teach him that.'"

It's here, towards the end of the novel, that the true purpose of the assistants is spelled out for K. They've been sent as clowns to mock K.'s quest. Of course, Galater's reading is spot on - securing a position at the Castle is everything to K., and, as such, he comes to regard the assistants as malevolent jesters. No one seems to understand K.'s frustration with the assistants, not the Mayor, not Frieda, because like Galater, they see his goal as "...nothing at all." And now K. has discovered that the very institution that holds all the keys to his success is only interested in mocking him and his ambitions.

No one turns into a bug

2010-07-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

In the previous post I referenced the dream logic of The Castle and certainly the author of The Metamorphosis is known for his surreal stories. But no one turns into a bug, flies into the air like Superman, or meets long dead relatives. The Castle has similarities with Harold Pinter's The Homecoming, a play that can simultaneously read as realistic and highly symbolic. Nothing "surreal" happens in the play, it's only the audience's inability to understand the motivations of the characters that lends an air of the strange to the play. Perhaps it's a vulgar tragi-comedy, or perhaps it's a dream in which Teddy (the estranged brother from America) is allowed to unleash his darkest most paranoid fears about his family. Likewise, The Castle can be read as a parable, a parable in which there is no kingdom of heaven waiting for the one who "has ears to hear", but we are not compelled to read it that way. Perhaps the novel's meaning is there in the pages just like any other novel.

Die Gehilfen

2010-07-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

"Who are you?" he asked, glancing from one to the other. "Your assistants," they answered. "Those are the assistants," said the landlord softly in confirmation. "What?" asked K., "you are the old assistants whom I told to join me and am expecting?" They said yes. "It's a good thing," asked K., after a little while, it's a good thing that you've come."

K.'s acceptance of the "new" assistants in the first chapter is one of the early signposts that tell us that The Castle is going to be a novel that plays by its own logic. K.'s reasons for accepting Arthur and Jeremiah are enigmatic to say the least. Do K's "old" assistants even exist? Since a second set of assistants never surface during the course of the novel, it's tempting to say no. It's possible that this incident is part of The Castle's dream logic. Often in dreams, we presented with new realities which we accept with ease. In this case, perhaps K., the protagonist who dreams the novel, is merely accepting the new reality presented to him. Part of him knows that it's a charade, but he's compelled to play along.

Pepi's Conspiracies

2010-06-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

It's remarkable how easily Kafka's characters slip into paranoia and conspiracy mongering:

Pepi now knows why Klamm didn't come. Frieda would have been wonderfully amused had she been able to see Pepi in the alcove in the corridor, with both hands on her heart. Klamm didn't come down because Frieda wouldn't let him.

In her struggle to explain why Klamm has not made an appearance during her tenure as barmaid (a tenure that has lasted four days!), Pepi imagines that Frieda, shacked up in a solitary room at the schoolhouse with K. and the assistants, still exerts control over Klamm through "...connections nobody knows about." K. mocks Pepi's "wild imagination," but K. himself has indulged in grand conspiratorial thinking:

K. listened intently. So the Castle had appointed him land surveyor. On one hand, this was unfavorable, for it showed that the Castle had all necessary information about him, had assessed the opposing forces, and was taking up the struggle with a smile.

Here, in the first chapter, K. engenders the Castle with an omniscience that is simply not born out by the rest of the novel. I feel that fear and paranoia are the core emotions of the novel, and Kafka finds a way to bring these emotions to the fore in each and every story in The Castle.

Pepi

2010-06-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

In the last chapter of Das Schloß, we are treated to the story Pepi. At this point in the novel, Pepi has been promoted to Frieda's position at the Herrenhof, but now that Frieda has left K. and returned to work, is in the process of being demoted back to her old chambermaid position. Most of the chapter is dominated by Pepi's tale of woe. Interestingly, Pepi questions the idea that Frieda was ever Klamm's mistress. I think that Kafka's idea of Pepi is of one who is overwhelmed by her barmaid duties, and has become petty and paranoid as a result. However, Pepi is right in that all we have to go on here is Frieda's word; Das Scholß is tightly tied to K.'s point of view and we never get a view outside of it. Frieda and Klamm's real relationship is fraught with ambiguity like so much else in the novel.

Rudely or Bluntly?

2010-05-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

"You only know the official side of the Castle?" asked K. bluntly.
-Muir

Of course the Muirs translation is not as aggressive as the Harman translation. But as I mull the situation over, I think I can see why a translator would want to tone down this passage. If K. insults the mayor, he takes no notice:

"That's so," replied the Superintendent, with an ironical and yet grateful smile, "and it's the most important."
-Muirs

"Yes," said the mayor with an ironic but none the less grateful smile, "they are also the most important part."
-Underwood

"Yes," said the chairman, with an ironic and yet grateful smile, "they're the most important thing about it."
-Harman

If the chairman had been insulted, he shows little sign of taking offense.

Abruptly or Rudely?

2010-05-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

"Sie kennen im Schloß wohl nur die Bureaueinrichtungen?" fragte K. grob.

"I suppose all you know in the castle are the offices?" K. asked abruptly.
-Underwood

"So you are merely acquainted with the office furnishings at the Castle?" K. asked rudely.
-Harman

Still trying to make my way through the J. A. Underwood translation, but so far it strikes me that K. is slightly more aggressive, more strident in the Harman translation. Take Kafka's editorial adverb grob. The compact dictionary that I have translates grob as rough or coarse, followed by rude. Based on that, the Harman version is more correct. Now let's pull back and look at the different versions as a whole. K. utters this sentence after the chairman/mayor expresses indifference after K.'s musings on the wife of the master tanner. In the Underwood version, it seems K. is only acknowledging the extent of the chairman/mayor's knowledge of the Castle. In the Harman version, K. is not acknowledging the chairman's knowledge, he's insulting it. Again it seems that the Harman translation is more correct; Bureaueinrichtungen refers to office furnishings.

The Underwood Translation

2010-05-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

My Castle quest continues. The J. A. Underwood translation from Penguin is out of print, but I've got one on the way. Thank you internets! How many tranlations is too many? Let a thousand flowers bloom I say.

Kafka's Crouching Father

2010-04-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

The figure of the ailing father who roars back to life occurs a number of times in Kafka's fiction. In The Judgment, George's father flings aside the sheets of his sick bed to reveal that he is well enough to reassert himself and condemn George to his death. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor's "illness", allows the father the opportunity to return to work and to assert himself as the head of the Samsa household. The ailing father occurs again in The Castle, though in this case, it's not certain that he will roar back to life.

In what is perhaps a novella within the The Castle, Olga tells K. that her sister Amalia refused the sexual advances of a castle official leading to the social downfall of her family. Perhaps this story is intended as a warning to K., Amalia's father, determined to restore her honour, is exhausted by his attempts to petition the Castle and descends into early senility. Amalia, on the other hand, remains aloof; she mocks Olga and K.'s conversation as "castle stories". Amalia's indifference allows her to keep her sanity, while her father's strenuous efforts to attract the castle's attention leads only to physical ruin. It's clear that K. has chosen not Amalia's path but that of her father.

The Possibility of Error

2010-03-29T19:26:00.000-07:00

From chapter five:

One of the operating principles of the authorities is that the possibility of error is simply not taken into account. The possibility is justified by the excellence of the entire organization...

The orwellian overtones of the chairman's/superintendent's are almost grossly obvious. Of course errors cannot be committed if the very idea of an error is defined away!

The Young Man with an Actor's Face

2010-03-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

Ein junger Mann...mit schauspielerhaftem Gesicht... This description of the peasant who awakens K. in chapter one has always intrigued me. What does it mean to have an "actor's face" or an "actor-like face"? Is it a description of his physical appearance? Or his facial expression? Perhaps the young man is about to play a part, that of the harsh interrogator and defender of the castle.

Interrogations

2010-03-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

In The Trial, Kafka follows "Before the Law" with a 7-page conversation between Joseph K. and the priest that is ostensibly a literary analysis of the parable. The Castle is full of this stuff. So much of the book consists of conversations in which K. interrogates the landlady or the chairman, Frieda questions K. about their relationship and his intentions, K. analyzes Klamm's letter, the chairman and his wife analyze Klamm's letter, K. and Olga discuss Amalia's story, etc. Of course all this conversation makes The Castle one of Kafka's most difficult reads, but it is the source of it's power. The language gives the novel a rolling, almost faulkneresque quality.

Der Vorsteher

2010-03-13T20:19:00.000-08:00

It's hard for me to avoid returing to "Before the Law" when discussing The Castle. In The Trial the priest offers Joseph K. a "radical" interpretation of the fable:

"...there's even an opinion according to which the doorkeeper is the one being deceived." "That's an extreme opinion," said K. "What's it based on?" "It's based," answered the priest, "on the simple-mindedness of the doorkeeper. It's said that he doesn't know the interior of the Law, but only the path he constantly patrols back and forth before it. His ideas about the interior are considered childish..."

Before his visit to the chairman's, K.'s hopes for acceptance stands on two legs: the phonecall from an anonymous castle functionary and the letter from Klamm. By the end of the chapter, the chairman has kicked both of those legs out from under K. But it is possible that the chairman is another version of the "radical" doorkeeper, a low-level employee with groteque notions about the internal workings of the castle. Indeed, at one point K. observes sarcastically, "So you are merely acquainted with the office furnishings at the Castle."

Nothing ever happens here without due thought...

2010-03-10T20:38:00.000-08:00

In chapter 4 the chairman (superintendent in the Weirs' translation) details a possible scenario that would lead to the castle summoning K. by recounting a similar situation:

The Castle issues a decree for a surveyor. This decree is issued by 'Department A'. Not the real name. :)
The Village responds that it does not need a surveyor.
Unfortunately, the Village's response goes to the wrong department. This department is referred to as 'Department B'.
Department A is left without an answer and the designated official forgets about the matter
The response to Department B is incomplete. Perhaps the file was lost on the way.
Many months (possibly years) later, a functionary named Sordini returns the folder for completion.
A lengthy correspondence ensues between the border-line paranoid Sordini and the village counsel.

The chairman's tale of bureaucratic bungling is meant to assure K. of the castle's thoroughness, but of course, has the opposite effect.

K.s isolation

2010-03-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

After K. has been assigned his two assistants, he finds that he cannot tell them apart and insists on treating them both as one person. In chapter five, while talking to the chairman...

"They won't bother me," said the chairman agreeably, "let them in. Incidently, I know them. Old acquaintances." "But they do bother me," said K. frankly, letting his eyes wander from the assistants to the chairman and back again to the assistants; he found the smiles of all three indistinguishable.

K.'s foreignness is so complete, he struggles to even distinguish the faces of the villagers.

K.'s expectations

2010-03-02T10:14:00.001-08:00

K. listened intently (...or just K. listened.). So the Castle had appointed him land surveyor. On one hand, this was unfavorable, for it showed that the Castle had all necessary information about him, had assessed the opposing forces, and was taking up the struggle with a smile. On the other hand, it was favorable, for it proved to his mind that they underestimated and that he would enjoy greater freedom than he could have hoped for at the beginning. And if they thought they could keep him terrified all the time simply by acknowledging his surveyorship - though this was certainly a superior move on their part - then they were mistaken, for he felt only a slight shudder, that was all.

This passage from the first chapter might be the key to The Castle. It reveals that K. is not naive, that he knows that he is in for a struggle, and that he can't simply show up and go to work. It also hints that K. does not expect to be taken on as a surveyor. I think it also reveals, I think, a little paranoia (or possibly just egomania) in K. K. sees the castle as an entity that is fully aware of him and has a plan to deal with him. I don't believe that you will find anything in the text of The Castle that will justify K.'s belief in the castle's omniscience.

One of the central tensions of The Castle is the ambiguity of the castle itself. But we should keep in mind the ambiguity of K. The reader can become so caught up in K.'s quest to the point that K.'s exact nature and motivations recede into the background. K. is just a great a mystery as the castle itself.

Cry or Summons?

2010-02-26T17:18:00.000-08:00

...from Klamm's room a deep, commanding, yet also indifferent voice called out for Frieda. "Frieda," said K. in Frieda's ear, relaying the cry.

The Mark Harman transalation of The Castle is, IMHO, ten times better than the Weir translation. But cry sounds wrong here. Lord knows I barely know German, but the Weir's summons is probably better. For what it's worth, Google Translate says it should be call.

K. and Frieda

2010-02-23T18:23:00.000-08:00

When Frieda first appears in chapter three, she is a sexually aggressive character much like the attendant's wife or Leni in The Trial. However, it becomes apparent over the next several chapters that Kafka intends to depict a more settled domestic relationship, however absurd, involving Frieda, K., and the two assistants.

Romp in the beer puddles

2010-02-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

Though K. may owe his attraction to Frieda primarily to her relationship with Klamm, the attraction is genuine; K's actions are instinctual not calculating. It's only when Frieda pounds on Klamm's door crying "I'm with the surveyor!" does K. realize implications of his actions.

Reading Kafka

2010-02-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

Remember! Reading Kafka makes you smarter!

K.'s motivations

2010-02-18T19:01:00.000-08:00

According to the wikipedia article on The Castle,

...the first few chapters of the handwritten manuscript were written in first person and at some point later changed by Kafka to a third person narrator, 'K.'

In spite of this, the novel still retains much of its first person flavor. Everything is seen from K.'s perspective, and the reader is aware of K.'s every emotional turn. Still, K. is a mysterious character in many ways. Why does he stay when it is obvious that no job is forthcoming? Is he actually a land surveyor? Why does he accept Artur and Jeremias as assistants even though he says aloud that they are not his old assistants? Does he accept the "fake" assistants because he himself is a "fake" land surveyor? Often in the novel, K. is the voice of reason pointing out the absurdities of the villagers attitudes towards the castle. But in many ways, K. is every bit as irrational as any member of the village.

Frieda

2010-02-17T09:08:00.000-08:00

In The Castle, the protagonist K. is obsessed with obtaining a position in the castle of Count Westwest. When he mets the barmaid Frieda in chapter three, the text describes her as nondescript (unscheinbares). Later, after he discovers that she is the mistress of his castle contact, the text describes her hands as 'delicate', but almost immediately doubles back and offers that her hands could be described as 'characterless'. I believe the implication here is that Frieda's attractiveness in K.'s eyes is driven almost entirely by her proximity to Klamm.

K. and the Man from the Country

2010-02-15T19:23:00.002-08:00

I like to think of the short story Vor dem Gesetz as a parable that is more concerned with the predicament of Das Scholß than that of Der Prozeß. It's as if Joseph K. is being treated to a vision of his future dopelganger, one who commits himself to his chosen task.