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Franz Kafka's Conception of HumourAuthor(s): H. S. ReissSource: The Modern Language Review, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Oct., 1949), pp. 534-542Published by: Modern Humanities Research AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3716589 .

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FRANZ KAFKA'S CONCEPTIONOF HUMOURKafka's work is born of the night of anguish. The physical world, he states in oneaphorism, is evil, and only the spiritual world possesses true reality. Evil, in hisview, looms large in life, especially in the guise of selfishness. It continuouslyfrustrates man's aspirations and endeavours. Kafka's universe is, on the whole,a spiritually desolate place where man can never satisfy his thirst for spiritualnourishment. Man'sisolation in a seeminglyhostile worldis as marked as his desireto escape fromthis state which to him seems to border on the limits of the bearable.The gulf betweenreasonand faith cannot be bridged,forreason is a stumbling-blockto faith and faith is foolishness to reason. Man'srational facultiesarguethe rightnessof their deductions, but experiencegives the lie direct to his arguments.The physicalworld appearsfull of absurditiesand contradictions,reflectingits evil nature. 'Wirsind nihilistische Gedanken,die in Gottes Kopf aufsteigen' runs one of Kafka's ob-servations. Likewise DerProze/3 eemsnothing but one long condemnationof the in-justice of life. Yet in Kafka's work the hero is incessantly assuredof the wrongnessof his reasoningwhich nevertheless he continues obstinately, a striking illustrationof spiritual and intellectual arrogancewhich Kafka regardsas mistaken. Like theauthor himself, his hero yearns for salvation, for an escape from the intolerableburden that life has placed on his shoulders, but on the whole he merely findshimself frustrated. His experience is that of the modern Orestes, Lord HarryMonchensey: I thought I might escapefromone life to another,And it may be all one life with no escape.2

While this attitude of frustration and gloom prevails in most of Kafka's work itdoes not present the whole picture. There are occasions, rarer in his imaginativework than in his diary, when the darknessof night has yielded to the light of dawn.The last chapter of the novel Amerikais the most outstanding instance, but thereare others, especially in the diaries, where he frequently gives expression to hisbelief that man belongs to God and that within him there is an indestructibleelement. Humility, patience and a self-conquest of his over-reliance on purelyhuman powers are undoubtedly the prerequisitesfor the attainment of this stateof hopefulness, borderingon joy. Yet another less obtrusive aspect, concealed inthe haze that envelops Kafka's work, is only too easily ignoredin the relief whichaccompanieshis hero's release from the nether world of fear and in the satisfactionwhich is derivedfrom the abandonmentof his arrogance.The overthrowof reasonhas to take place beforeKafka's hero can attain faith and adjust himself to life. Inhis endeavour to conquer evil, as manifested by human selfishnessand pride, hisrational faculties are smothered and his tormenting questions as to the justice oflife's pattern are dismissed.Yet none of these moods is stable. Neither hope nor despair prevails, but acontinuous oscillation between the two constitutes the action in Kafka's work. Thehero's reason, on the one hand, again and again disturbs his hopeful serenity, thefoundations of which are built on sand since it contradicts the conclusions drawn1 MaxBrod,FranzKafka,eineBiographiePrague,1937),p. 95.2 T. S. Eliot, TheFamilyReunion,p. 53.

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by his intellect. On the other hand, his despair is replaced by the surge of hope,occasioned by his belief in the possibility of salvation through admission into thecommunity of his fellow-men and through realizationthat he belongs to God. Thismovement in the direction of hope was, however, only rendered possible by arefusal to ask questions and search for answers.Analysis shows how the torments of Kafka's mind are reflected in his style. Justas he wavered between the hope of satisfying his craving for faith and fellowshipand the fear of incurring perpetual frustration, his sentences reveal a continuousshifting of emphasis and express his own uncertainty. This dialogue between hopeand fear, which constitutes the action of his work, found expression in manifoldvariations, each of which subjects every statement to further analysis and doubt.The existence of humorous moments within the gloomy scene that constitutesKafka's workis perhaps somewhat surprising. It might indicate occasional detach-ment or it might merely serve to throw the horrorsof Kafka's world into greaterrelief. A closeranalysis should depict the nature of his humour and its relationshipto the whole tenor of his work.

Humour has its place in the work of Franz Kafka. Max Brod has stated thatKafka, on readingthe first chapterof Der Prozepto his friends,used to laugh aloudand thus showed himself aware of the humorous elements in his work. In a mostsignificant episode in Das Schlop Jeremias, one of K.'s assistants, tells K. of themission which Galater who was deputizing for Klamm, the powerful official,entrusted to the assistants. They were summoned by him to be told of their dutiesin the village as the land-surveyor's assistants. When they replied they knewnothing about surveying he told them:Das ist nicht das Wichtigste.Wenn es n6tig sein wird,wird er es Euch beibringen.Das Wichtigste st aber,daB Ihr ihn ein wenigerheitert.Wiemanmirberichtet,nimmter alles sehrschwer. Er ist jetzt ins Dorf gekommenund gleichist ihm das ein grol3esEreignis,wahrendes in Wirklichkeitgarnichts ist. Das sollt Ihr ihm beibringen.lThese assistants play a curiousrole in K.'s life. They are sent to him fromthe castle,but K., in his arrogantreliance on his own rational powers, misunderstands themandignoresthis messagewhichthey bringto him. Instead of introducingthe warmthof kindly humour into his life, they are merely hindrances to him in his egocentricquest for access to the castle. He refuses to be cheered. By exaggerating his ownimportance and that of his experiences he treats the assistants wrongly and evenpunishes them out of fear of the irrational. Jeremias, one of the assistants, accuseshim with a great deal of justice of his lack of consideration. Only too late does K.realize that, by being selfishand inconsideratetowards his assistants, he missed theopportunity which they presented, but the harm cannot be undone.These two assistants seem in their gay and naive way like incarnations of thehumorous spirit. They never separate and take everything as cheerfullyas possiblewhile they are still in K.'s service. They part company only when K. has finallydismissedthem. Jeremiasremainsin the village, a sick and disgruntledman, whilethe other assistant, Artur, returns to the castle whence they came to lodge hiscomplaints against K. And K.'s mistaken attitude towards the assistants may

1 Franz Kafka, GesammelteWerke New York, 1946), I, 270.

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536 Franz Kafka's Conceptionof Humouractually have been an important cause of Frieda's desertion. So at least it appearsto her:

Im Grunde ist alles deine Schuld; hattest du die Gehilfen nicht verjagt und warest dujenen Leuten nicht nachgelaufen, wir k6nnten jetzt friedlich in der Schule sitzen. Nurdu hast unser Glick zerstort. Glaubst du, daB Jeremias, solange er im Dienst war, esgewagt hatte, miichzu entfuhren ? Dann verkennst du die hiesige Ordnung ganz und gar.Er wollte zu mir, er hat sich gequalt, er hat auf mich gelauert, das war aber nur einSpiel, so wie ein hungriger Hund spielt und es doch nicht wagt, auf den Tisch zu springen.Und ebenso ich.1K., of course, disagrees and produces counter-arguments, but Frieda points out theuselessness of his reasoning:

Sag' nichts dagegen, gewiB du kannst alles widerlegen, aber zum Schlul3ist gar nichtswiderlegt. Denk nur, Jeremias, er hat alles widerlegt....Aber angenommen, er hattealles widerlegt, was ware damit erreicht, was kiimmert es mich?2Thus K., in Brod's words, suffers 'a decisive defeat'. His life is poorer withoutFrieda, and he knows it. Frieda, who, as her name suggests, was to bring him peace,leaves him for Jeremias, and K. is isolated once more.These two assistants, however, who to K.'s rational mind appear as hindrances,are perhaps also to be symb6ls for the humorous element in life. For their part inthe life of K. seems to indicate Kafka's suggestion of the need for an acceptanceof life which then can be a way out of an otherwise hopeless maze. Comingfrom the castle, they perhaps suggest' a way of access to it by means of a genialhumour which would enable K. to accept the human condition, and thus seem topoint to an approach to salvation. If the hero, however, refuses to look at life ina conciliatory spirit, as K. does in the castle by ignoring the assistants' message,the humour loses its genial aspect and turns bitter. It becomes ironic and grotesque.Artur's departure for the castle possibly symbolizes this change and suggests thatkindly humour derives its inspiration from the castle which in a way is a symbolfor man's longings and hopes-and perhaps even for divine grace and salvation, forGod. Without this link humour no longer reflects Kafka's hopes, but it is an expres-sion of his fears and despair which at times it even emphasizes by way of grotesqueand ironic laughter.Thus, in Kafka's opinion, genial humour can help man in his efforts to live inhappiness and inner peace, by suggesting to him a true idea of his place in life.Man must look at his experiences in that spirit if he is to endure the horrors andabsurdities, if, indeed, he is to conquer his fear and his isolation. It is, however,a fault of Kafka's heroes that they are too serious. On account of their desperateseriousness and egocentricity, they are, on the whole, incapable of escaping fromthe prison of their own self and merely perceive the absurdly grotesque spectacle offoiled human endeavour and the contradictory manifestations of human existence.Acceptance of life in surrender, in patience and humility is the task which is set forthem, but which is often incapable of fulfilment. Their rational mind does notallow them to find a possible and harmonious way of life in a world which seems,in their view, to be dominated from within and without by irrational forces whichappear unfathomable and meaningless.Kafka usually opens a work by creating a startling situation which is so unusualand often so absurd that it must immediately arouse the reader's attention.Grotesque humour is introduced by the reaction of Kafka's hero who seeks to grasp

1 iv, 258. 2 iv, 294.



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H. S. REISS 537the new situation by his own inadequate reason. If the mood of the scene is gloomyand the hero, in his arrogance, imagines himself to be entirely capable of under-standing the irrational forces that confront him, his humour is bitter, ironic and notgenial. Kafka then develops the situation by adding little touches here and thereemphasizing the mistaken attitude of the hero.The first scene of Der Prozef/ is an excellent example of this kind of grotesquesituation. The sudden arrest of Joseph K. is the startling opening. The absence ofany intelligible reason for K.'s arrest, his confusion, his inability to understandwhat is happening, the indifference of the warders to his confusion, can hardly fail toappeal to one's sense of the grotesque. The opening is most skilfully handled. K. isplaced from the very beginning in a ludicrous situation. The element of the ridiculousis emphasized by his arrest in bed following the unexpected arrival of the twowarders instead of his landlady's cook who usually brings his breakfast. The factthat the scene is watched by a curious old woman from a window of a house oppositealso adds to the comic effect. Other striking touches round off the picture. Thewarders laugh ruthlessly at K.'s absurd assertion of his right. K. almost appearsbefore the inspector in a night-shirt. The warders not only prevent him from doingso, but also discuss night-shirts at length, suggesting that K. will have to wear fromnow on a much coarser variety. They tell him to leave his clothes with them ratherthan at the depot from which clothes are often stolen. K. reacts to these events inhis typical rationalist manner, which is the real source of the grotesque humour ofthat scene, for he seeks to be rational about the irrational. When looking for hisidentification papers he at first almost hands his bicycle-licence to the warders.When he finds his birth-certificate the warders cannot read it and are completelyuninterested. K.'s attempts to weigh these events against the background of hisrational experience show how much he is at a loss and to what extent this mis-conception gives rise to grotesque moments.This grotesque humour basically depends on K.'s attitude. We laugh at hisuncertainty in his relations with the,warders and later with the inspector, for K.does not know how much weight he is to attribute to the arrest. Uncertain whetherit is a serious matter or a practical joke, he becomes engaged in a futile quest topreserve his dignity and assert his importance in either case. His arrogance is partlycaused by his lack of assurance. It explains the strange reply which he gives to theinspector, when he is asked whether the events of the morning have surprised him:

Sie sind durch die Vorgange des heutigen Morgens wohl sehr uberrascht? fragte derAufseher, und verschob dabei mit beiden Handen die wenigen Gegenstande, die aufdemNachttischchen lagen, die Kerze mit dem Zundholzchen, ein Buch und ein Nadelkissen,als seien es Gegenstande, die er zur Verhandlung ben6tige. GewiB, sagte K., und dasWohlgefuihl, endlich einem vernunftigen Menschen gegeniiberzustehen und iiber seineAngelegenheit mit ihm sprechen zu konnen, ergriff ihn. GewiB, ich bin iiberrascht, aberich bin keineswegs sehr uberrascht. Nicht sehr uberrascht ?fragte derAufseher und stelltenun die Kerze in die Mitte des Tischchens, wahrend er die anderen Sachen um siegruppierte. Sie milverstehen mich vielleicht, beeilte sich K. zu bemerken. Ich meinehier, unterbrach sich K. und sah sich nach einem Sessel um. Ich kann mich doch setzen,fragte er. Es ist nicht iiblich, antwortete der Aufseher. Ich meine, sagte nun K. ohneweitere Pause, ich bin allerdings sehr uberrascht, aber man ist, wenn man dreiflig Jahreauf der Welt ist und sich allein hat durchschlagen miissen, wie es mir beschieden war,gegen Uberraschungen abgehartet und nimmt sie nicht zu schwer. Besonders dieheutige nicht.1

m, 21.



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Franz Kafka's Conceptionof HumourSince K. does not feel sure of his ground, he gives this circumstantial answer andproceeds to question the validity of the authority on which he has been arrested.His arguments and his questions, expressed as they are in sentences where everypossible point seems carefully weighed and counterweighed,reflect his own per-plexity which he seeks to palliate in his role as a man of the world. The falseness ofthe attitude which he has adopted in front of the inspector is demonstratedby thereply of the latter who clearly tells K. how mistaken he is. K. is annoyed by thisrebuke and seeks to regainhis dignity by demandingto telephone to a lawyer-friendof his. He is, however, merely informedthat he certainly may do so, but that itwill have no effect whatsoever on his case. This episode indicates the incongruity ofhis position. K., pathetically, feels himself lost like a man in'a forgotten office.This note of forlornnessand despair has hardly been sounded when surprisinglyanironic twist is given to the scene. K. is told by the inspectorthat now, since he hasbeen informed of his arrest, he can go to the bank as usual.

Little grotesque incidents enhance the picture. We read how:...irmmerwieder stie13der Bauch des zweiten Wachters es konntenja nur Wachtersein- formlichfreundschaftlichn ihn, sah er aberauf, dann erblickteereinzu diesemKorpergarnicht passendes, rockenes,knochigesGesichtmit starker,seitlichgedrehterNase, das sich iiberihn hinwegrnitdem anderenWachterverstandigte.1On another occasion when K. most seriously argueswith one of the warders,thelatter dips a roll into a honey-jug while he is replying to K. The inspector playswith a match-box and counts the matches, while K. argues with tremendous forcebut apparently without any relevance.Trivialoccurrencesof that nature contributeto the atmosphere of the scene because they emphasize the irrelevance of K.'sargumentsand the insignificanceof his personwhich he overrates to such an extent.In Der Proze3, the most pessimistic of his novels, a vein of sombre humourappears. The various humorous episodes which occur, such as the scene with theadvocate or that in the painter's studio, are viewed with bitter irony. While thehumour on the one hand brings the tragic features of K.'s situation into greaterrelief, it also mitigates its horror somewhat. Thus the absurdity in the solemnmoments which lead up to K.'s execution reveals his misconception of life, butalso suggests that his own despair may well be ultimately irrelevant since it ismerely a reflexion of the insignificance of his own efforts within a pattern whichmay appear inscrutable and even meaningless to his reason, but still may not be

without a purpose.In Das Schlof3, ust as in DerProzep,the humouris a result of the conflictbetweenthe irrational and the rational within the hero's mind. Instead of accepting theirrational with a sense of kindly humour, his own rational arguments only appearludicrousand the representativesof the irrationalgrotesque. Just as in Der Proze/,the humorous aspects of the novel can only be appreciatedby relating them to theirrelevant anxiety of the hero.In the dealings with the castle the rational course is not the right one. When K.desires to discuss with the castle the arrival of the two assistants he uses thetelephone as the most natural means of communication, only to discover it to bea frustrating instrument for that purpose. The village superintendent later tellshim that the telephone is never used as an ordinary channel of communication

1 m, 14.

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H. S. REISS 539between the village and the castle, and he points out to him that there is no tele-phone in his office.Another misconception of that kind is that K. acts on the belief that Barnabasoccupiesa very powerful positionin the castle hierarchy. In fact, the latter, a dulland stupid cobbler,is completely at sea inthe castle-service where he merely standsaround in the officesamong a host of officialswho either workhard or seem to sleepsoundly at their desks. Life, as Kafka sees it, is full of erroneousconceptions andgrotesque situations. Its great moments are spoilt by trivialities. When K. waitsfor Klamm he spills cognac over the interior of the sledge. When Frieda and K.have spent their first night of love they awake in the morning on the beer-stainedinn-floor and find K.'s assistants sitting stupidly on the window-sill laughing at thetwo lovers. When by mistake K. enters Biirgel's bedroom he finds this powerfulofficialwho allegedly can help him to realize his longings crouchedup in bed. Oneof the most striking passages, conceived in that vein, is Barnabas's description ofthe castle-bureaux,where K. depicts the impressionthese bureaux make on a naivemind:

Der Lange nach ist dieses Zimmer durch ein einziges, von Seitenwand zu SeitenwandreichendesStehpult in zwei Teile geteilt, einen schmalen,wo einanderzwei Personennur knappausweichenkbnnen,das ist der Raum der Beamten, und einenbreiten,dasist der Raum derParteien,derZuschauer,derDiener,derBoten. Auf dem Pult liegenaufgeschlagengrol3eBucher, eines neben dem anderen, und bei den meisten stehenBeamteund lesen darin. Doch bleiben sie nicht immer beim gleichenBuch, tauschenaber nicht die Bucher,sondern die Platze, am erstaunlichsten st es Barnabas,wie siesich bei solchemPlatzewechselaneinander orbeidruckenmiissen,ebenwegenderEngedesRaumes.Vorn,engam Stehpultsind niedrigeTischchen,an denenSchreiberitzen,welche,wenndieBeamteneswiinschen,nachihremDiktatschreiben. Immerwundert ichBarnabas,wie das geschieht.Es erfolgtkein ausdrucklicherBefehl der Beamten,auchwird nicht laut diktiert, man merkt kaum, da13diktiert wird, vielmehrscheint derBeamtezu lesenwie friiher,nurda13 r dabei noch flustert und derSchreiberhorts. Oftdiktiert der Beamte so leise, daB der Schreiberes sitzend gar nicht h6renkann, dannmu13er immer aufspringen,das Diktierte auffangen,schnell sich setzen und es auf-schreiben,dann wieder aufspringenund so fort. Wie merkwiirdigdas ist! Es ist fastunverstandlich. Barnabasfreilich hat genug Zeit, das alles zu beobachten,denn dortim Zuschauerraum teht er stunden-undmanchmaltagelang, ehe Klamms Blick aufihn fallt. Und auch wenn ihn Klammschongesehenhat und Barnabas sich in Habt-achtstellung aufrichtet, st nochnichts entschieden,dennKlamm kannsich wieder vonihm dem Buch zu wendenund ihn vergessen,so geschiehtes oft.l

Such descriptions reveal how ludicrous it is for the human mind to seek to under-stand the workings of the castle, which to K.'s imagination is so powerful and toK.'s reason is so ridiculous, while Barnabas's naive mind accepts it as reasonableand never examines its justification. In these episodes Kafka skilfully ridiculesevents of ordinary everyday life, such as telephone conversations or bureaucraticmachinery, by depicting the grotesque moments which arise from the breakdownofmechanical instruments or from the absurd exaggeration of routine events, but heattains his real effect by endowing them with symbolic significance and makingthem reflect the spiritual situation of his hero.In Amerika, the least readable of his novels, where the contrast between theirrationaland the rational worlds is least pronounced and is at times even bridged,only a few humorous moments enliven the book and constitute its most excitingmoments. The farcical and almost tragi-comic scene in which the stoker puts forth1 iv, 209.



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540 Franz Kafka's Conceptionof Humourhis claims for justice, Karl's awkwardness in the house of his uncle and in that ofMr Pollunder, his experience with his companions Delamarche and Robinson aswell as those in the Hotel Occidental contain many humorous incidents whichserve as a criticismand correction of Karl's naive acceptanceof the world. The scenein the Head Porter's office,where Karl escapes from the Head Porter who wants torevengehimself on him, is an instance of successful comicwriting. In the microcosmof the hotel world an army of under-portersand messenger-boysis perpetually atwork, some gabbling forth information across counters and others whisperinganswers to questions into telephones, while messenger-boys hurry to and fro. Inthe midst of this turmoil the Head Porter, a greedy and spiteful individual, rulesabsolutely. Karl escapes into the street where he finds a row of cars passing thehotel:

DieseAutomobilewaren,um nurso bald als moglichzu ihrerHerrschaftzu kommen,geradezu ineinandergefahren, edes wurde vom nachfolgenden vorwartsgeschoben.FuBga'nger, ie es besonderseilig hatten, auf die Stral3ezu gelangen, stiegen zwar hieund da durchdie einzelnenAutomobilehindurch,als sei dort einoffentlicherDurchgang,es warganz gleichgiiltig,ob im Automobilnur derChauffeurund die Dienerschaftsa13oderauch die vornehmstenLeute.1The only time where there is a fusion of the irrational and the rational world inAmerikais in the last chapter, the nature theatre of Oklahoma, the mood of whichis one of joy and fulfilment. A kindly note is struck, not an ironic one. We readthat the angels blow into trumpets from large pedestals and look somewhat absurdwith their large wings and their smallhuman-sized heads while Karl is amazedat thevarious tunes which one can blow on these trumpets. The whole scene is steeped ina kindly humour.In tales such as Poseidonor Gibsauf there is a humorouselement, too. While thenote of despairis soundedin the descriptionof the hopeless, endless task of Poseidonor the pointless quest of the man in search of the right way in the latter story, thehope for freedomin the last hour, which may, after all, not be an illusion, sustainsPoseidon in bearingthe condition of his life. Likewise this hope is indicated by thegenialsmileof the Policeman in Gibsauf, where one finds a recognitionof the sense-lessness of rationalendeavourin Kafka's world and of the need of patience, humilityand kindly humour.Theistory Forschungeneines Hundes indicates that Kafka at times at least wascapable of attaining freedom by smiling with detachment at the comedy of humanerrorsand of rising beyond the darknight of his fears and obsessions to the dawn ofhope. The dog smiles at the aberrations of his youth, at his mistaken, if indispensablequest for truth. The hero in Beim Bau der ChinesischenMauer can sit in his roomand smile at his folly in expecting the imperialmessage to reach him when he doesnot even know whetherthe Emperoris still alive to give it or whether the messengerwill ever be able to leave the palace. While a situation is merely grotesque in theeyes of the underdog who, in his misplaced arrogance, feels that he should havea better deal from life, Kafka's hero in these tales can laugh genially and humbly athis own follies, and thus by patience and faith and also by a refusalto use his reasonand to ask questions attain some measure of happiness in accepting the universewith all its contradictionsas perceived by the human mind.

1 n, 201.



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In Kafka's workthen the humorous scenes just as much as his naturalist descrip-tion correspond o the mood of the episode. The genial smile and the ironic, despair-ing laughter have their counterpartsin the moods of the hero through whose eyeswe look at the world. On the one hand, out of despair he ridicules the hopelessendeavour and the mistaken claims of the underdog as he aims at a better deal inlife. Kafka expresses this aspect by means of many grotesque scenes. Humour isa corollary of anguish. On the other hand, laughter can also help to save man.Through it man's intolerable burden can be eased and the human situation can beaccepted. This is not done in an ironic frame of mind, by laughing aloud in despairat the grotesqueaspects of human life, but by gently and indulgently smiling at theinevitable human aberrations. A sense of kindly humour, however occasional itsoccurrenceis, can help man to realize that even the most desperate situations arenot as hopeless as they may often seem. It allows Kafka to show some sympathywith the frailty of man and to add a human touch which his inexorable 'either/or'could never otherwise permit.In their conception of these two aspects of humour a link can be establishedbetween Kafka and Kierkegaard,whose work reassuredhim like that of a friend.Kierkegaardgave religious significanceto 'humour', which he calledthe 'incognitoof religion'. 'Humour' is a way out from man's finite condition. Kierkegaardcon-ceived it as a means of attaining a religious conceptionof life. If, however, 'humour'is deprived of its religiousnature, it turns into irony, often a cruel counterpart,ona lowerlevel, of genialhumour. For Kierkegaard, ikeKafka, the humorousmomentsarise from the clash between man's finiteness and eternity at which, however, thetrue humorist can laugh genially. His illustrations of humorous instances resemblethose of Kafka, forthey are an expressionof the disproportionbetweenhuman effortand eternity. Pointless human effort out of proportion produces comedy. A manwho gazes at the stars and then falls into a hole appears comic because of thedisproportionbetween his high ambition and his all-too-human accident; Kafka'sconception of humour, like that of Kierkegaard,is an expression of his inner life.For Kafka it illustrates the problemcreated by the absurdposition of man: a finitebeing longing for the infinite, but caught in the whirlpool created by the irrecon-cilableclash between reason and unreason. His treatment of humour,with emphasison the grotesque, reveals the distortion in his attitude towards life, reflecting hislack of assurance and the morbidity of his mind. Kafka's laughter at the absurdstruggle of his characters then expresses his preoccupation with the problem ofa rational understanding of the universe which is always eluding his grasp. Theretwo attitudes basically prevail: the laughter of despair or the smile of serenity.They reflect the moods of despair and hope between which he alternated con-tinuously. This alternation was obsessive in its nature, and never developed intoan upwardmovement, so that it prevented him fromtruly crystallizing his experi-ence. Kafka can laugh with bitterness or with geniality at the human situation,but his inability to conquerthe perpetual to and fro of his mind causes him alwaysto shift his ground, and results in his failure to create anything but fragmentarypieces.The limitations of his vision are revealed, then, in the incomplete pattern of hisart. His sense of humour is fed by one source: the incompatibility between thepattern conceived by his reason and that experienced in practical reality. It ismarkedby a certainrepetition, as is, in fact, the whole of Kafka's work. It reveals

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542 Franz Kafka's Conceptionof Humourthe limits of his scope, causedby lack of breadth. His humorousmoments, however,do not lack a certain incisiveness which indicates the intensity of his experienceand helps to explain the effect of his work on the reader, upon whom it oftenexercises a fascination, verging at times on morbidity.

For the lop-sidedness of his universe, as his humorous scenes depict it, reflectsnot only the morbid and even pathological quality of Kafka's appeal, but also thedistorting nature of his work. A world is here portrayed that is out of joint. Theauthor views it from an ever-shifting standpoint, which reveals his awarenessof thecrisis confronting our age where values seem relative and uncertain, where ourconception of reality is changing and where man seems far away from God.The humour in Kafka is then closely linked both to his thought and to his art.Another variation on his dialogue between reason and faith, it is based on theapparently evil and hopeless nature of the physical world and on his craving tofind salvation and to grasp the meaning of life. It illustrates the ever-recurringfrustration and anguish of his hero and his difficulty of realizing fulfilment andharmony. It also indicates the method of his writing which consists of imposingupon the world of actual experience an irrational superstructure,caricaturingthepattern of actual life. It depicts the absurd position of man who was seeking tounravel the mystery of the irrational by rational means. It does, however, notonly demonstrate the fusion between the realist and symbolist aspects of his work,but also the startling nature of his technique which is prompted by the need toresolve his inner conflict. Thus by means of scenes which are as disturbing as theyare unexpected, he ushers his hero into the climate of the absurdand confrontshimwith the necessity of changing his manner of living and of realizing the mistakennature of the position which he has adopted in face of life. The humorous elementin Kafka's work reflects both in content and in form the crisis in which his minddwelt. H. S. REISSLONDON

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