Franz Kafka's `Poseidon' Adventure

Abstract

Meaning in Kafka's works has a way of slipping by us while simultaneously conveying the message that human intelligence is simply unable to cope with the ambiguous nature of his writing. Peter Heller quite justifiably asks us to admit `that, generally, Kafka's fictions do not make sense in the way expected of most literary works, that they do not make up a world which makes sense; that they seem subject to rational elaboration to a degree sufficient only to raise the question: What does this mean?, but insufficient to answer that question.' 1 Kafka, too, offers the idea for our consideration that his stories lead his readers beyond appearances to a hidden world which could not otherwise be explained except by literature: Die Form ist nicht der Ausdruck des Inhaltes, sondern nur sein Anreiz, das Tor und der Weg zum Inhalt. Wirkt er, dann offnet sich auch der verborgene Hintergrund.' 2 Intentionally seizing our curiosity and disappointing our logic, Kafka entices his readers into a process of consciousness which compels them to misconceive his reality again and again, but only to become possessed by a sense of perplexity which lingers on long after the story has ended. But if bewilderment is the inevitable response to Kafka's stories, it is also the mode of awareness and ultimate verity which Kafka wishes to communicate. Literature, like life, Kafka believed, is not something which can be grasped as a truth and held fast; but it can be explored and experienced as the ambiguous and incomprehensible truth which it is. Dichtung ist immer eine Expedition nach der Wahrheit,' Kafka remarked to his young friend Janouch; only to add when asked then what the truth was: Die Wahrheit ist vielleicht das Leben selbst.'3 Life and literature therefore constitute a quest for truth which, because of its inevitable inaccessibility, can only be communicated in terms of ambiguity, puzzling reflections,