kafka and phenomenology

8/10/2019 Kafka and Phenomenology

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Kafka and Phenomenology: Josef K.'s Search for InformationAuthor(s): Cyrena Norman PondromSource: Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature, Vol. 8, No. 1, The Novel in Englandand Europe (Winter, 1967), pp. 78-95Published by: University of Wisconsin PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1207131 .Accessed: 06/04/2014 01:12

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KAFKA ANDPHENOMENOLOGY:JOSEF K.'S SEARCHFOR INFORMATION

Cyrena orman ondrom

Reflecting ponhis ifetime fforts o"contemplatehefoundationsof our existence"hedogof Kafka's Investigationsf a Dog"con-gratulated imself pon the stir he had caused. Peoplebegan oinvestigatefter fashion, o collect ata,"he said. "Theymadeabeginning t least, lthough hey re never ikely ogo farther. utafter ll that s something. nd though hetruth ill not be discov-

eredby uchmeans-never anthat tage ereached-yet hey hrowlight n some f the profounder amificationsf falsehood."' n thatcomment, ontainedn a story ritten ery ear heend of his ife,Kafka oldus much bout his method, is nsight, nd the relation-ship ountless ritics ould ave o Kafka's wn fforts oprobe dieFundamente nseres ebens" B,p. 257).Thecomments as applic-ableto Der Proze/f The Trial) asit s to hismuch ater work, or tit should emind s that he world afka newwas world f mean-

ingful ppearances,f multiple nterpretations,f "truth"hat ould

be approachednly hrough alsehood.A clearunderstandingf the significancef the dog'sobserva-

tion has several mportant mplications orour approach o Kafka1 FranzKafka, Investigationsf Dog,"in Selected hort tories f Franz

Kafka, rans.Willa and Edwin Muir NewYork, 1952),p. 225;BeschreibungeinesKampfes, p. 261-62;hereafter bbreviated n text s "B" (italicsmine).Quotations rom afka'swork re taken rom standard ranslation, ut both

Englishnd German ditions re cited. n a few

quotationshave emended

the translation o conform o the German iction more iterally nd have ndi-cated the changeby an asterisk efore he changedwords.All references oKafka'sGerman exts re from esammelteWerke, d. Max Brod NewYork).When citing ritical tudies ot vailable n English, havequoted heGermanand placed translation n the notes.

VIII, 1 WISCONSIN STUDIES

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And WilhelmEmrich, n his excellent tudy f Kafka, ncludessection Denkenund Sein: Kafkaund Heidegger."4ut Bense schiefly oncerned o relate Kafka o Heidegger's Fundmentalon-

tologie" ndto see him n the ight f the hangesnphilosophyromPlatoto the present, hich e has summarizedn the opening agesofDie Theorie afkas.5 ndEmrich, ho eesKafka s a forerunnerof Heidegger, hose ein und Zeit waspublishedn 1927, s carefulto distinguish afka's iews rom ome of Heidegger's etaphysicalassertions. e does not offer s an examination f the parallelsbetween afka nd Husserl.

In placing afka n the context f the twentieth-centuryovel,it seems o me more useful o examine is

epistemologicalethod

thanhismetaphysicalonclusions.or whereas hemetaphysicalndethical onclusions iffer uite harplyn detail rom riter owriter,a rather arge umber f twentieth-centuryigureshare n importantbody f conclusionsbouthowmanknows is world.6

If our oncern, hen, swith pistemologicalethod, usserl sthe most useful ouchstone, or n this century e is the seminalthinker or Continental iterary nd philosophicalonceptions fhowmenknow.We neednot argue hatHusserl s the "source" fKafka's pistemology; e may observe, imply, hat two German-speaking astern EuropeanJews both influenced y Christianthought,7 heonewriting hilosophynd a decade arlier, heother

4Wilhelm mrich, ranzKafka Bonn,1965).5Bense,op. cit. Bense'sunindexed ie Theorie Kafkasmakesreferences

to Husserl n, for xample, ages19, 27, 61, 64. He clearly eesKafka's pis-temology s phenomenological: Ich babe shon betont-und es ist dies jagerade die phlinomenologischeage des kafkaschenSeins--, dap es indif-ferent st gegeniiber ealer der idealerGegebenheit." p. 64) But he treatsHusserl imply s a step on the wayto Heidegger nd, more mportantly, edoesnot provide sustained nalysis f any singlework f Kafka. nstead heusesbrief uotations rom hroughout afka'swork.

6 There re, for xample, ery reat ifferencesn the metaphysicalnsightsof Kafka nd Camus or Sartre, ut there s broad greement mong hem on-cerningman'smethod f knowing. he agreement bout pistemology romptssome mportant imilaritiesn theme, ven where writers o not agree boutthe

metaphysicalmplicationsf

epistemology.7Kafkawasacquaintedwith Kierkegaardefore e wrote er Proze13ndlater madean extended tudy f the Dane;see Tagebiicher, ugust 1, 1913.Husserl tudied he New Testament nd converted oChristianity n his twen-ties; see Herbert piegelberg, he Phenomenological ovement, ol. I, 2nded. (The Hague,1965),p. 86.

80 1 CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE



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writing iction, roduced uite similar escriptionsf the waymanknows isworld.

We must ecognizeafka's oncern ith roblems f epistemologyas soon swe

begino

analyzeer

Prozep/,or

osef .,bypersonalityand by quest, s a figure bsorbed n trying o get some mportantknowledge. y personality e is one who ooks oorder, oth ocialand ntellectual,or ecurity, newhomeasures ostwhom emeetsby his own ntelligencend who ttributes any f his dilemmas oa failure f ntellect n the part f a companion. is personalityhusleadshim both o put a very igh alueon attaining nowledgendto underestimate he problems f achieving t. During he earlystages f his arrest, e speaksof the intellectual overty f hiswarders nd cites he"senselessness"f suicide s a reason or void-ing t.8He fills with leasure t having ncountered sensiblemanat ast"during ismeeting ith he nspectorT, p. 15;P, p. 20) andlater elabors hat ame nspector ornot being easonable.Whatkind f man reyou, hen? ou askme to be sensible nd youcarryon in the most senselessway imaginable ourself " e exclaims(T, p. 18;P, p. 22). In fact, mong ismore requent pithets redumme stupid)which eapplies o the duty f nspectorT, p. 20;P, p. 25), sinnlose senseless)whichhe appliesboth to the clerkKaminerT, p. 32;P, p. 36)andto his rial tself T, p. 57;P, p. 61),and verstaindnislosensenseless), ithwhich e describes isexecu-tioners T, p. 283;P, p. 269).K.,wethus bserve, eeshimself s areasonable an nd demands hat heworld e the ame.

His questfor nowledger understandings as clear s his self-conception.n the opening hapter e setsclarity s his first oal:"Any ight odispose f his own things hich e might ossess edid not prize ery ighly; it wasfar more mportant ohim to be-comeclear oncerning is situation." T, p. 7; P, p. 12) He con-tinues rom he"Who areyou?" f his first ords othe end of thenovel o askcountless uestions f allhe meets, nd he comes o theend of his ifewith hetormented esolutionf a manwhohas not

8The Trial, trans. Willa and Edwin Muir, rev. by E. M. Butler NewYork, 957), . 10;DerProzep/,. 15.Allfurther eferencesothese ditionswillbe abbreviated . and P. and willbe contained n the text. The Germantitle has connotations issing n the English rendering. s well as the legalmeaning, rozep contains he meanings operation," process," nd "proce-dure." n viewof the priest's tatement the proceedings nlygradually ergeinto the verdict" "das Verfahren eht llmdihlichns Urteil iber"), t seemshighly esirable okeep n mind the wider eference f the German itle.

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ceased o valuereasonableuestions venwhen hey avenot beenanswered.The only hing orme to goon doing," e thinks, is tokeep my ntelligence almand analytical o the end." (T, p. 282;

P, p. 269).By such portrait f Josef ., Kafka's hematic oncernwithepistemologys inextricablynterwoven ith oth revelation f char-acter nd developmentf plot.K. is something f a superficialhe-nomenologistimself: e beginsnvestigationsnd tries otakedata.Buthe holdswhatKafka s well s Husserl might ell erm "natu-ralistic isconstruction" Ideas,? 18ff.). e seeks dealtruth n theempirical orld.He can make lear for us Kafka's ttitude owardthe

possibilitiesf human

knowledgeess

bystatement han

byexample;t is the technique f his portrayal nd the frustrations fhis earch or nowledgehat refor s themost evealing.he initialdescription f his consciousness,n fact, hows s the first arallelswithHusserl's undamentaldeas.

Husserl's tarting oint n Ideasis the ndividualonsciousnessof heworld. Natural nowledgeegins ith xperienceErfahrung)and remains ithin xperience,"ewrites, nd goeson:

to all the] orrectssertionsof very cience]here orrespondsoriginalsourcesf the reasonedustificationsic] hat upport hem ertainntui-tions nwhich bjects . appearsself-givennd n part t east ivenna primordialoriginairer)ense ... To have omethingeal rimordiallygiven,ndto "become ware" f t and "perceive"t n simplentuition,are ne nd he ame hing....We have rimordialxperiencefphysicalthings.. of ourselvesndour tates f consciousness.. , but not fothersnd heir ital xperiences... (Ideas, 1.)

One beginswith one's own consciousness, consciousnesseitherempty or imply ware f tself s consciousness,ut consciousnessof somethinghat spart f the world, something hich ppears oone as presented romwithout, elf-evident,r in Husserl'sword,Selbstgebung.n literature, he author may reflect uch a startingpoint by restricting he narrative o the perceptionsccessibleo asingle haracter. his is precisely hatwe find n the narration fDer Prozep. Jemand upteJosef . verleumdet aben," oesthe

now well-known eginning, denn ohne dap er etwasB6sesgetanhatte, wurde r einesMorgens erhaftet." t is the matter-of-factstatement f a reasonable anwho ssumes hat ause nd effect reinviolablend that verything asan explanation.t is, as we havesuggested, reciselyhekind f manJosef . is at the beginning f82 j CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE



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the novel. Although he syntax s third erson, he narrative hrough-out is restricted o what Josef K. is capable of perceiving. urther-more, Kafka manages to convey he "primordially iven" character

of K.'s experience. t this point the explanation orarrest s, "self-evidently" hat "someonemust have denounced" K., even though hehad done nothing wrong. Later, he begins to search the history fhis ife for he wrongdoing hich imply id not exist for him at thebeginning f the novel, but this too seems, as it is narrated, elf-evidently equired f K. Perhaps he clearest xample f the waythereader s put completely t the mercy f the point of viewof K. comesin the chapter "Lawyer/Manufacturer/Painter." here, within six

pages,we are told in the dentical ccents of

completely rustworthystatements:But now,whenK.should e devoting is mind ntirely owork, hen v-ery ourwashurried nd crowded-for ewas till n full areer nd rapidlybecoming rival ven to the Assistant anager- . . this was the timewhen emust it down o[the] ask ofrecounting is ife]. T, p. 161;P,p. 155)And in contrast:

And the manager imself?.. His good ntentions ould be checkmated,forK.'swaning restige asno longer ufficientocounterbalancehe n-fluence f the Assistant anager ... (T, pp. 167-68; , p. 161)In both passages, s elsewhere, he statement f fact s simply eclara-tive: it has the character f the "primordially iven." But the per-ceptions nd judgments f other people remain outside this realm.Or slightly oparaphrase deas, "The other man and his psychical ifeis indeed pprehended s there n person,' nd n union with his body,but unlike the body, t is not given to [K.'s] . . .consciousness asprimordial." ? 1) So,during hearrest:Yet it occurred o him t once that eshouldnot have aid this loud ndthat y doing o he had in a way dmitted he tranger's ight osuperin-tendhisactions; till, hat idnot eem mportant ohim t the moment.The stranger, owever,ookhiswords n some uch ense.... (T, pp. 4-5;P, p. 10; talicsmine)

The self-givenness f objects for the individual erception ar-tiallyhelps us to understand he sense of inevitability hich accom-panies even the most bizarre xperience n Der Prozep. It is one ofthe dream-like ualities f Kafka'snarrative hat no one demonstratesverymuch surprise t anything:

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"You represumablyery uch urprisedt the vents f thismorning?"asked he nspector.. "Certainly,"aidK.,... I am urprised,ut ambyno means ery uch urprised."T, p. 15;P, p. 20)

Even the arrival f the unexpected xecutioners met onlyby therestrained Soyou re meant or me?" T, p. 280;P, p. 266).Asaresult, 's demise eems heresult f n inexorablerocess.

However, he senseof inevitabilityhat ccompanieshe self-given uality f objects9n human erceptionhould ot ead onetoassume hat he specific mpirical bjects re themselves ecessary.K. makes hat mistake. is normal outine eems necessary"ohim,andhe sslow ocomprehendhefundamental ature f the Court's

challengeo that outine. is trial omes o seemnecessaryohim,in the sense hat necessary"mplies pecial ignificancen the pro-ceedings eingconducted gainstK. rather han against nother.And-as Kierkegaardasreminded s, everyman s infinitelynter-ested n hisown alvation-from irst o astJosef .'sown ife eemsto him to be necessary.t is against his ast expectation hat thewords f the priest ake n such rushing ignificance:'That meansI belong o the Court,' aidthe priest. Sowhy hould want ny-

thing rom ou?The Courtwants othing rom ou. t receives ouwhenyou comeand dismisses ouwhenyougo.'" (T, p. 278;P,p. 265)K.,hisroutine, ndhistrial re imply ccidental,ontingent;the Court n its indifference receives" hem when they ppear,"dismisses"hemwhen hey o.

In a clearly arallel evelopment f his hought, usserl xplainsthe ccidental ature f specificbjects:The cts f ognition hich nderlie ur xperiencingosit heReal n n-

dividualorm,osit t ashavingpatio-temporalxistence,ssomethingx-istingnthis ime-spot,avinghis articularurationf ts wn nd realcontent hichn ts ssenceouldust swellhave eenpresentn anyother ime-spot;osit t, moreover,s something hichspresent t thisplacenthis articularhysicalhape . . , where et he ame eal eingmightust swell, ofar s ts wn ssencesconcerned,epresentt anyother lace,nd n ny ther orm... Individualeing f very ind s, o

9Here

objects"mayefer o

ndividuals,vents,nd ven

rocesses,uch

as business outine, rials, r logic."In our own nstance, hat of sensory er-ception, r, in distincter erms, erception f a world f things, he logicalindividual s the Thing; and it is sufficient orus to treat he perception fthings s representing ll other perceptions of properties, rocesses, nd thelike)." deas,? 39.

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speak uite enerally,accidental."t is so-and-so,ut ssentiallyt couldbe other hant s. Ideas, 2)

But, for Husserl, hecontingencyf the objectdoes not meanthat there s nothing hat s necessary. ather, it belongs o themeaning f everythingontingent hat t should ave ssential eing;... [that s,] n ndividual bject .. has ts wn ropermode f being,its ownsupply f essential redicables hichmust ualify t (qua'Being s it sin tself') f other econdaryelative eterminationsreto qualify t also."(Ideas,? 2) In otherwords, lthough e assignthe world ts meaning edo not construct t; the world is there";andthose ualities f the object hatmake t what t s areessential.

Andbythis easoning,nd on this dealplane, heessential ualitiesarenecessary,orwithout hem he objectwouldnot be what t s.There s, I think, similar ense n which he events f Der

Prozep re "necessary,"n which hey ave n "essential"meaning.And this s the way n which he novel rises o the evelof greatart-for K. in Der Prozelp s an archetypal igure'0 eenactinghemythic earch or rucial nformation hichweseethroughout est-ern iterature. elemachusought ews f hisfather; aust, n knowl-

edgeand experience,ome nformation bout the imits f humanpossibility; ob nd Josef ., the nature f the charge gainst hem,so they ould estifyn their wndefense. elemachus, f these hehappiestman, oughtwhathe could find n earth. ut in all thesecaseswe find man asking question r series f questions hoseanswers ehopeswillhelp o ustify is ife. n this ense, er Proze/pspeaks f what Kafka resents s some of the essential ualities fhuman xperience, ithout hich man wouldnot be what he is: a

questioningreature ho receives death

entence,ut never is-

covers he"charges" gainst im.Or, to put t another ay,weper-ceive heessential eatures f K. to the extent o whichwe seehimas a symbol f manor a certain ind f man.

But there s an important ay n which er Prozep s differentfrom ts non-phenomenologicalredecessors.or all the other hree,the hero s one of a kind;he mayrepresent type, ut his specificidentity sof riticalmportanceothe tory fhis earch or nforma-tion. Telemachuss the son of Odysseus; ob s a goodman;andFaust hemagus, eacher, cholar f great enown. ut Josef . is abankclerk; e could ust as well have been assistant anager r a

10 For a discussion f Kafka'suse of myth, ee Kurt Weinberg, KafkasDichtungen: ie Travestien esMythos Bern, 963).

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tradesman, nd his futile ttempts o discover he charges gainsthim couldhavebeen made s well s by any imilarman.Job, hegoodman, snecessaryo the upreme estGod and the devil esign,

but K. is "accidental," ot needed y the Court, nd this s part fthe essential uman xperience afka ortrays. here s added ronyin the recognition hat, orK., obtaining ny essential nowledgewouldhave ntailed ecognizingisown ontingency.

Another acet f the ssential uman xperience afka escribesis the unreliability, ncertainty, nd ambivalence f perceptions,despite heir mmediate resentation s Selbstgebungen. hen K.shouts t the hreewhowatch is arrest rom he window cross he

way,e turns o observe he

nspector,ho was

possiblyf the ame

mind, . fancied ... But t was equally ossible hat he nspectorhadnot ven een istening."T, p. 19;P, p. 23) Or, nhisfirst nter-rogation, . mistakes he crowd or Parties f Left nd Right, naudience obeswayed,ndonly ater erceiveshem ll to be officialsof the Court T, p. 59;P, p. 62). And he speculatesn the officesaboutwhether heCourtwaspoor, ndthus na certain ense nferiorto him, though, f ourse, hepossibilitys not obe ignored hat hemoneywasabundant nough, ut that heofficialsocketedt ..."(T, p. 74; P, p. 76). In fact,most f K.'sexperiencesn the awoffices(chapter hree) re ompletelye-interpretedn the ourse f hiscon-versation ith Kaufmann lock n the eighth hapter. he ambiva-lencepersists o the very nd, when, s Heinz Politzer as pointedout," the yntax oesnot ven permit n unequivocalecisionboutto whom r what elongs he hamewhich eemed s if t "must ut-livehim."

The uncertaintyndambivalencere okens f the way n whichman anknow isworld. e doesnot receive irect evelations f di-vine ssence nd hehasno valid ppeal ast herealm f hisownper-ceptions which nclude, cientificallypeaking,erceptionsf others'perceptions nd the synthetic onsciousnessf these perceptions).Rather, e must ound isknowledge pon ncomplete,ometimesillusory, erceptionsf ppearances.

The example usserl ffers s nstructive:

Keepinghis able

teadilynviews

goroundt,

hanging y ositionn

space llthe ime, have ontinuallyhe onsciousnessf he odily res-ence ut here f his ne nd elf-sameable, hichn tself emainsn-changedhroughout.ut theperceptionf the ables one that hanges

11 Franz afka: arablendParadoxIthaca, ewYork, 962), .217.

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continuously,t is a continuumf changingerceptions.Ideas, 41)In a very imilar ense, . circles hefact f his rial, eepingt steadilyin view shegoes ull ircle uring he ycle fhisthirtieth ear. hetrial emains there" uthisperception f he nature f he rial tselfandhisrelationshipo t steadily hange. achperception f the rialmust e added o the astperception,nd all of them dded ogetheryield he escriptionfhis rial hatK.obtains. ut n Husserl's ords,"The perceivedhing n general, nd all its parts, spects, nd phases... arenecessarilyranscendentotheperception."Ideas, 41) How-ever ardK. searches or omplete nowledgef the rial, he rial t-self ranscendsisknowledgef t.Whathe canobtain s a successionof perceptions: ecan, t strue, skothers hat heir erceptionsfhistrial re. He can unite heperceptionsoldhimbyothers ith isown primordiallyiven" erceptionsnto synthetic onsciousnessfhis trial. ut-to use Husserl's erms nd yet oexpand heanalysisstrictlyn terms fDerProzep--therere eriousimitations, rom hestandpoint f phenomenologicalethod, pon hepossibilitiesor isknowing dequatelyheessence f his trial.He is not unlike he as-tronomer tanding n a single lanetwho ttempts odescribehe s-

sential eaturesf theuniverse. he trial s an objectwhich xtends tleast rom hepoint t which . recognizest until he nd ofhis ife.Yet at any oint t which t s still ossible or im osynthesizeer-ceptions, . hasnotyet walkedlltheway round he able."Hehasnot een he rial o ts nd.

Kafka's wn preoccupation ith this basically pistemologicalproblems evident rommany iary ntries uring hemonths ust e-fore ndduring hewriting fDerProzep. ne ofthe learest ppearsin

TagebficherDiaries,ol.

I)asan

entryor ecember

7,1913:

Thetruly erribleaths etweenreedomnd laveryross ach ther ithnoguide otheway head nd ccompaniedy n mmediatebliteratingof hose aths lreadyraversed.here re ountless umbersf uch aths,oronly ne, t cannot e determined,or here snovantageround romwhich oobserve.here am. cannoteave.Italicsmine)In determiningheessential ature f his trial here re more rob-lems or . than he ack f a vantage round rom hich o observe."

Oneofthemost mportant eaturesf the rial s that t s K.'strial-that s,that t s the trial f the one who perceivest (or, narrativelyspeaking, hrough hose yesthe reader perceives"t). In otherwords, emay uspect hat ne of the features f the essential eingof "the trial" s that t appears s primordiallyiven. et us for he

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must use all available data." He seemsto recognize his, nd by thetime of his encounter ith hemanufacturer, e willingly ses the n-formation he manufacturer s able to report bout K.'s trial. On the

other and,he must lsorecognize he imits pon the help others angive him; there s no short-cut o understanding nd no privilegedperson an offer evelation. n terms f Husserl's xample f the table,no singleview of the table s adequatewithout ll the other possibleviews.Some standpoints may offer better iewthan others, ust asthe painter nd priest eem potentially more useful commentatorsthan he awyer r tradesman, ut not even the priest an offer . any-thing more han one perception f his situation. ence, on this evel,the

priest's pproacho K. has

epistemologicalmeaning:"You cast

about too much for outside help, . . especially romwomen.Don'tyou see that t sn't*true elp?" (T, p. 265;P, p. 253)

But despite he warning, . continues ere to seek "too much"outside help, now from he priest. If the man would only quit hispulpit, t wasnot mpossible hatK. could obtain decisive nd accepta-ble counsel from him which might, or nstance, oint the way ..toward mode of living completely utside the jurisdiction f theCourt" (". . . zeigenwurde . wie man auperhalb es Prozesses ebenk6nnte.") (T, p. 266;P, p. 254) The priest's eproach or uch senti-ments s as direct s his previous harge hatK. sought oo much help:"'With you can speakopenly,' aidK. 'Don't be deluded,' aid thepriest." T, p. 267;P, p. 255) There is a similar ceneat the end ofthe chapter:"Youwere ofriendly o me for time," aidK.,"andexplainedomuchto me, nd nowyou et me goasifyou ared othing boutme." But youhave o eavenow," aidthe priest; . . "You must irst ee who am." .."You are the prison haplain," aidK.. ... "That means belong o theCourt," aidthe priest. So why hould want nything rom ou?TheCourtwants othing rom ou. t receives ouwhenyoucome nd it dis-misses ouwhenyougo." (T, p. 278;P, p. 265)K. may not even trust he prison haplain. Although e may use thechaplain'swarnings, e still must ope with his own trial by meansofhis ownknowledge;12 t is humanly mpossible orhim to have knowl-

12

Should Herman Uyttersprot's e-ordering f the chapters e correct,and the chapter ntitled Blockthe Tradesman/Dismissalf the Lawyer" ol-low the chapter In the Cathedral," e can see traces f K.'s recognition f themeaning f the priest's ords n his resolution o dismiss is awyer. ee FranzKafka Today, ed. Angel Flores and Homer Swander Madison,Wisconsin,1964).

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edge roceedingrom higher antage oint han he human. ur n-vestigationf epistemologicalethod, hen, as edus further owardan understandingf what ssymbolizedythe ourt. arlier e have

seen he court, n this assage,evealeds a representativef the es-sential,ndifferentothe omingsndgoings f the ontingent orld.A further xaminationf the ame passage uggestshat his ssentialworld s alsothe realm f truth. he priest, hohas "explainedomuch" o K.in the form f the Legend f the Doorkeeper,"an dono more. he multiple nterpretationsf that mbivalent egend e-semble he uccessiveerceptionsf he manwalkinground he able.K.must eave now; ut he priest, hohas cted n a friendly ashion,

makes ne ast ffort o tell K.why t sfutile ostay onger. e is theprison haplain: Thatmeans belong otheCourt." nd f he ourtisthe realm f omplete nowledge,ruth with he apital etter, hepriest annot ell living . the ruth bouthis trial. or "Truth" nthis ense s nstantaneouslyomplete nd ndivisible,ndhuman er-ception s time-bound,equential,nd ntrinsicallynable o achievethe perspective pon tself hat ould remove t from herealm ftime.K. can"collect ata," ut "the truth illnot be discoveredysuch

means."It is at onceK.'sfailure ndhisglory hat edoesnot ccept helimitations ponhuman nowledge.rom he opening ages f thebook t is K.'sfirst oalthat he "become lear bout his situation."Only hen s useful ction ossible. nd pproximatenowledges notenough. r, n thewords f Fraiulein ontag oK.,"the lightest n-certainty ven n themost rifling atter salways worry" T, p. 99;P, p. 100)and K.'sworries, o far rom eing rifling,re actually

matter f ife nddeath.If wepress he mplicationsf phenomenologicalheory, emayseeK.'srefusal oaccept he mbivalent nswer ohisquestions s afailure orecognizehereal ignificancef the process f sking ues-tions.We could ay, erhaps, hatK.doesnot perform hephenom-enologicaleduction.t is one of Husserl's asic ssertionshat on-sciousnesss intentional, hat s,directed oward selected bject ntheworld. he object snotrevealed ntil t sanobject or onscious-

ness. henHusserl,ttempting oprovide foundation or hilosophy,performs hephenomenologicaleduction. e makes he ntentionalactof onsciousnesstself n object or onsciousness;heresult f hisis to reveal hat onsciousnesssthe ource f meaningn the world.Pierreh:venaz, a Swiss hilosopher,xplainst this way:90 CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE



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Theprimordialndessentialurposef the reductions to bring olight his ssentialntentionalontact etweenonsciousnessnd heworld,a relationshiphichnthenatural ttitude emainseiled.orHusserl,nthe reductionheworld emains heret s,but now ne perceiveshatevery ct of knowledgen fact efers o a subject . . as to an ultimateandprimaryerm hich s the origin, he upport r foundationf tsmeaning.1"

Josef . continually lirts ith he dea that manhimself onfersmeaningsn theworld,much sHusserl ffirms. e says oFrauGru-bach, or xample:If immediatelyn awakeninghadgot up without roubling yheadabout nna's bsencendhad ome oyouwithout egardingnyone hotried obarmyway, could ave reakfastedn thekitchen or changeand ould ave otyou obring emy lothes rom y oom;nshort, fI had behavedensibly, othing urther ould avehappened,ll thiswould ave een ippednthe ud. T, p.26;P, p. 30-31;talics ine)K.seems ere o beaware hat e s,byvirtue fhisrecognitionf thearrest, collaboratornhistrial. his snot, f course, osay hat hetrial s merely figment f K.'s imagination;ather hispoints othe ignificancef he point f ontact etween onsciousnessndtheworld. he world s there; herewouldhavebeen someone [try-ing] o bar... [his]way." ut, K.suggests,ehadthe power ofocushis ttention nly pon heroutine hings f ife.Hecouldhave be-haved ensibly"ndthuswould ot have evealedhe evels f humanexperienceymbolizedythe trial.'4 his constituting ower f con-sciousnesssquite xplicitlyeiteratedyK.during is nterrogation:"It isonly trial f recognizet as such. ut for he moment recog-nize t, n thegrounds f ompassion,s t were." T, p. 51;P, p. 55)15

13Pierre h6venaz, hat s Phenomenology?d.James . Edie (Chicago,1962), . 47.

14It seems omemuchmore nkeeping ith afka's epeatedoncern iththe hiddennessf truth odiscuss his assageaswell s subsequentnes nwhich . fails ounderstandhings)n terms f the ntentional ature f con-sciousnessather han n terms f badfaith, later, artrian oncept. uch napproach oesnotpreclude . H. Volkmann-Schluck'suggestionhat, n onelevel, . is "arrested"

yonsciousness

tself, speciallyfone

regardsonscious-

ness sa reflexiveonsciousness.or he atter dea, ee BewuptseinndDaseinin KafkasProzepf,"ie neueRundschau, o.1 (1951), 9.15 or paragraphvenmore trikinglyuggestivef he onstitutingowerof consciousnessonsiderhepassagetricken rom , p. 20andT, p. 16,andpublishednP, pp.304-305ndT, pp.318-319.

FRANZ KAFKA 1 91



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Of particularmportance ere s the mphasis ponmeaning; . doesnot assert hatproceedings ouldnot exist without is recognition.What he says s that heproceedings ouldnot exist s his "trial"

without is recognition"... denn s ist anur inVerfahren, ennichesalssolches nerkenne.") ut f K.confers eaning n the pro-

ceedingsnwhich e s nvolved, hy hould e not olve isproblemssimply yrefusing orecognize is trial r by manufacturing satis-factory efense? he answers,ofcourse, hat oth olutionsre m-possible. onsciousnesss intentional, irected owardn object, utdirected owardn objectwhich sthere.Were the tory ifferent, .might emainotallybsorbed ydaily outine. nceK. becomes on-scious f the proceedingss his trial, owever, e may

denyhe

per-ception r modifyt by ubsequent erceptions,ut he cannot implydoawaywith he riginalwareness.o the xtent hat is tatementsimply hat e can rescind is recognitionf the rial e is deluded rbluffing. nd ince onsciousnessntends n object n theworld, t nno sense manufactures"hat oward hich t s directed. f K. doesnotbecome ware f n adequate efense, oaction r exercisefwillcanbring t nto eing.

By mplication, . perceiveshefutility f trying o rescind isrecognitionf he rial. e doesnot, owever, xplore he mplicationsof this perception. is comments ponthe roleof his awarenessnconferring eaning pon the trial re haphazard,ntuitive, nd de-livered,s twere,ntheheat fbattle rom he natural tandpoint.""'Theydo not have the character f systematic henomenologicaln-quirywhich laces heperceivedbject in brackets" nd focuses t-tention ponthe perception, ponthe ntentional ct of conscious-ness.Consequently, . continues olookfor meanings nd answers

"out there"-he uestions iswardens, he awyer, eni, hepainter,the priest.Were he to understand he mplicationsf his statement("It isonly trial ecause recognizet assuch"),he would irect isattention oward isrecognition,oward onsciousnesss a realm fpure eing, ndwould ccord is rial he racketed ositiont requiresasthatwhich essentiallyacksndependence"Ideas, 50).Hewouldseethat Realitys not n tself omethingbsolute, . it s, bsolutelyspeaking, othing t all, t hasno absolute ssence'whatever,t has

the essentialityf something hich n principles only ntentional,only nown, onsciouslyresentedsanappearance."Ideas, 50)From his oint f view, .'sfailure oget heknowledgee de-

16 For elaboration f this erm ee Ideas,? 30-? 31.

92 CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE



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he cansecurely efine s the realm f essential ruth. ven the recog-nition hat onsciousnessonfers eaning n the worldmay e justanother iscoveryf human esponsibilityn a worldwhose ltimate

lawsremain naccessible.erhaps, afka mplies, his oo is just n-other iew f nother able.And t s n this ense hatJosef .'srefusal o cease sking ues-

tions s his glory s well s his failure. is questionshow hat e doesnot understand heneedto questwithin imself, ut his questionsalso raise he possibility f that phere f knowledge, f absoluteWahrheit, oward hich t s man's lory oaspire ith raised ands"and"outspread ingers."hat he doesnot chievet may eshameful,but he hame

maysmuch

ertainosome rder f

higher ogiks to

K. himself. . remains n the natural tandpoint, ut of the realmof hephenomenologicaleduction, ith ts chievementf the ssen-tial phere f onsciousness. .'sspheres the realm f ppearances,fthe table whichmancircles, nd thus ven he ast sentence f thebook is irremediably mbivalent: it seemedas if . ."-"es war, lssollte ie Scham hn iiberleben."

Kafka, oo,with isfundamentalgnosticismboutman's bilityto know he ruth, eaves he ntire ook sa symbolictructure ponwhich ts nterpretersonfermeanings. e can discovern the amestructure number f meanings,nd, ndeed, o understand t, wemust. t is clear hatDer Prozepmay e understoodn part ybio-graphical, sychological,nd philosophicalpproaches hich raw nKafka's esammelte erke, swell sby areful nalysesf the per-ation f ymbol nd mage olely ithin hework tself. hese variedapproachesre nalogouso our different erspectivesn the able swecircle t. That Kafka, oo, hared ur xperiencef gathering er-spectives pon hebookwe know rom isdiary ntry f January 4,1915.There, e describes eading art f Der Prozep o his fianc6e,FeliciaBauer, ndadds:"During hereading f the doorkeepertory,greater ttention nd goodobservation.he significancef the torydawned ponmefor he irst ime." Italicsmine)

Is DerProzep he hronicle f freemandefying heuniversesmuch s mancandefy t,s8 r s it the account f freely hosen adfaith,'9 r s t a record f human ondage o fears f father nd mar-

18 Politzer, p. cit.19Ren6Dauvin,The Trial: ts Meaning,"nFranz afka oday, p.cit.See lsoTheodoreiolkowski,TheCrisis f he hirty-Year-OldnModernFiction," n Comparatistst Work, d. Richard . Vowles Boston, orth-coming).94 1 CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE



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riage?20 ithout oingnto he ritical oundationsor hesenterpre-tations emay uggest hat he ext rovidesvidencehat uch ead-ingsmaynot be mutually xclusive.or the reader f DerProzefl, s

for K., the meaning f the volumemust remain mbivalent-notbecausehenovel ails o make tself lear ut becausetsvery mbiva-lence spart f ts clarity: henovel s a whole, ike he"Legend fthe Doorkeeper,"tands s a symbol f man's ntrinsic nability oknow ompletelyr o udge inally.he priest's elancholyuotationconcerning he nterpretation f the egend erves s a warning oreaders nd n epitome f the problems f human nowledgeymbol-izedby henovel: Richtiges uffasseniner ache ndMipsverstehender

gleichenache

chliefeninander icht

ollstaindigus."21

Universityf Wisconsin20 CharlesNeider, he Frozen ea (NewYork, 962).21"The right erception f any matter nd a misunderstanding f the

same matter o not wholly xclude ach other."

FRANZKAFKA1 95

kafka and phenomenology

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