Time, Tense and Aspect in Kafka's "The Burrow"

Abstract

Kafka's story Burrow begins: I have completed construction of my burrow and it seems to be successful.' The position in time of speaker, creature whose has been devoted to building of this perfectly secure hideaway, seems to be clear: he speaks (or writes) from a moment after completion of burrow but not so long after it that final judgment on its success can be given. Further information in next few pages help to situate fictional now of his utterance as belonging to the zenith of my life (p. 325), when he is nevertheless growing old (p. 326), getting on in years (p. 327). The time encompassed by his act of storytelling, beginning at this moment, is not, however, simply time that might be taken to utter thirty-five or so pages of text: although there are no typographical breaks to mark breaks in time of narration, there