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Eoghan Mc Loughlin 07534868- Kafka presentation

Memory and testimony in Franz Kafka’s ‘Letter To The Father’.

Franz Kafka, born in Prague in1883 and deceased 1924, was a figure of simple
means but an with an intensely emotional livelihood that greatly overshadowed any
supposed bleakness in his life, and is considered among the most original writers in
modern Western Literature, and certainly among the most influential of the German
existentialist movement of the 20th Century. Nonetheless, his entire catalogue of works
are either of a novel or autobiographical nature, making contributions to existentialist
thought and literary theory all the more fascinating. Apart from the many publications
which are still widely circulated today, there are multiple posthumously published letters
and diary entries in existence, the most widely read of these I shall now discuss.

Written in November of 1919, the piece which is known as Kafka’s ‘letter to his
father’ is a lengthy piece recounting his childhood, centering on the man ‘he feared more
than anyone’, his father. Kafka opens this letter with the words “You asked me recently
why I maintain that I am afraid of you.”1 In its most basic sense, it is fair to describe this
letter as an attempt at the most possibly comprehensive answer to this question. It
remains today the most personal and telling piece written by Kafka which, considering
the autobiographical nature of much of his novels, makes it surprising that it was never
meant to be published.

The structure of the letter is made up of Kafka’s memories of the torment his
father put him through, the strict rules and regulations which the Kafka household abided
by, and the effect which these occurrence had on him as a child. These recollections are
of course supplemented with analysis by Kafka from his current stance as the writer of
this letter, offering the insight of the man who has grown up in the bounds of these very

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http://www.kafka-franz.com/KAFKA-letter.htm
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occurrences. Thus, the letter amounts to somewhat sharp criticisms of both himself and
his father.

In this presentation I shall discuss firstly the memories which Kafka recollects,
under consideration of how the presentation of these memories gives insight into the
childhood lack of understanding of the law the father represents, which is often broad
considering the clarity of these memories, and the fearful uncertainty which resulted in
his childhood. Following from this I shall then contrast the view given by these memories
with the testimony of the psychological analysis mounted by Kafka, questioning the
validity of claims made by the adult Kafka about the figure of his father and the effect he
has had on his son, offering parallels in works of fiction by Kafka which can be
understood as further testimony by Kafka on the subject of law in the Kafka household.

The memories which Kafka recounts, in their considerable specificity, are

assumably supposed to represent the overall nature of the father, they are general
examples of a much wider picture, that is- they are the memories which left the most
lasting effect. Of these, the most influential example appears to be the memory of his
father putting him out on the balcony during a freezing night. The clarity of this memory
is made all the more crystalline by the fact that he recounts it in terms of how he saw it at
the time, rather than in terms of the further adult understanding of the situation in mind at
the time he was writing this. He describes how all he had wanted was a drink of water,
and how for years he was “tormented by the thought that this giant man, my father, could
almost without reason come to me in the night, and lift me out of bed, and leave me on
the balcony.”2 Here we see a complete lack of understanding in his attribution of a lack of
reason to his fathers’ actions, and when one takes into account the fact that this episode is
presented as clear as if it happened five minutes ago, it is interesting that he tells it
exactly as he understood it so many years before. I find this the most telling of Kafka’s
childhood memories as it perfectly symbolizes the notion of his father ‘pushing him
away, yet not letting him escape’. In fact, it is a valid suggestion that as Kafka leads off

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Kafka, F. Trans. Coyler, H. ‘Letter To My Father’ (Lulu.com 2008) p8
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from this memory to others which share similar torment, he sees himself as being
permanently symbolically perched on that balcony, forever doomed to isolation.

Many more memories are given to us that show a lack of understanding in the
young Kafka, and the viciousness of his fathers’ ways. He describes an overview of what
a meal at the Kafka family table was like, and his memories amount to the fact that his
father seemed to be exempt from the rules he himself was imposing. “The quality of the
food was not to be discussed- but you yourself often found the food inedible, called it
“This swill.””3 As he recounts these scenes with his confusion intact, I find it interesting
that he did not raise the following point in his analysis of the situation.
It should be considerable to anyone with a philosophical mind such as his, and indeed
anyone who spent their youth with their parents, that the things we give out about the
most are usually those things which we know we are guilty of, the small things about
ourselves which we loath the most.

When speaking of what could not have amounted to anything short of a somewhat
over-protective father, Kafka describes the effect he felt of his fathers’ harsh treatment of
his sons’ friends. “What was always incomprehensible to me was your total lack of
feeling for the suffering and shame you could inflict on me with your words and
judgments.”4 Here the particular use of the word ‘judgment’ shows us how, in his
childhood, Kafka did indeed see his father as the law in itself, as opposed to the mere
representation the considerations of this letter show him to be. Furthermore, Kakas’
understanding of his fathers’ ways later on as a young man can be seen in a contrasting
example of his fathers’ treatment of him around his friends. Once while strolling with his
friend Gustav Janouch in Prague, Franz ran into Hermann Kafka leaving his shop. As
they drew near, Hermann boomed, "Franz. Go home. The air is damp."5 In a whisper,
Kafka explained, "My father. He's worried about me," adding, "Love often wears the face
of violence."6 This shows a clear contrast between the ways he presents his memories in

3
http://www.kafka-franz.com/KAFKA-letter.htm
4
Kafka, F. Trans. Kiesel, H. Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” and Other Writings (Continuum International
Publishing Group ltd., 2002) p182
5
Janouch, G. Conversations With Kafka (W. W. Norton & Co. 1971) p24
6
ibid
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the letter, permeated at first by no more understanding than was present when these
memories actually occurred, and the reasoning he did attempt to attribute to his fathers
way as he matured to a man.

Testimony of Kafka’s relationship with his father is offered in the letter in the
way of various passages of interpretation and evaluation, with psychological analysis of
situations that shows a skill of dissection similar to that seen in his works of fiction.
The real task at hand in a consideration of these testimonial passages is to see if they are
really valid, truthful representations of Kafka’s state of mind, of the effect that his father
has had on his disposition. When speaking of what Kafka might aim to achieve in writing
this letter, he says “- not, I Think, a new life, we are both much too old for that- but still,
a kind of piece; no cessation, but still a diminution of your unceasing reproaches.”7 Here
we are lead to believe a particular pessimism is prevalent in Kafka’s thoughts, through
the despair of his fathers torment. Even his language here- ‘we are both much too old for
that’- seems extreme considering he was only at the age where one would these days be
likely to begin a mid- life crisis and indeed form a new life. Even if Kafka did completely
believe in his pessimism at the exact time he wrote this letter, it does not seem to ring
through to the same extent in other writings from that period. Indeed one can see from
various other pieces of correspondence and diary entries that this was not the only feeling
present to him, he constantly moved between feelings of despair and equal measures of
hope. In a diary entry not long after this was written, he writes “Again pulled through this
terrible, long narrow crack; it can only be forced through in a dream.”8 Wile this is of
course still nowhere near what one could call happy, there seems to be more hope present
here than he claims in the letter, where he is forever bound as a subject of the his fathers
law.

Moreover, one can claim there to have been much more hope in his life that he
shows in the letter, simply from the point of view that he managed to continue on writing
with such gusto after the period in which this letter was written. For instance in the only

7
Kafka, F. Trans. Kiesel, H. Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” and Other Writings (Continuum International
Publishing Group ltd., 2002) p176
8
Kafka, F. The Diaries of Franz Kafka (Schocken Press 1988) p390
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full length publication after the letter, The Castle, there is no real hint of a subplot
symbolic of any paternal- struggle, while this theme certainly ran through early books
such as the judgment. While one may rather claim that this is only evidence of some
successful therapeutic benefit in the writing of the letter, it can certainly be seen as
suggesting that Kafka’s testimony of the pessimism that overshadows his livelihood
cannot be as truthful as it may seem.

It is interesting to note that books such as The Metamorphosis and The Judgment,
which I mentioned, do give testimonial accounts of the father- son relationship which
prove to be similar to that of the letter in the way they take the presentation of one very
specific incident and show it to be implicative of the overall relationship in general terms.
The fathers’ whole persona is encompassed by each short example in the letter, i.e.
Kafkas recollection of his fathers incessant rule making at the dinner table is indicative of
his overall mode of authority, and parallel to this, the story which is told in The Judgment
is based over the course of just a few minutes yet it gives us as clear a picture of their
entire relationship as any. Other, more symbolic parallels have been pointed out which
show testimony of claims very similar to the letter. For instance, Heinz Politzers’
suggestion has been pointed out by George Gibian, that the people walking nonchalantly
along the bridge as Kafka’s character jumps over it to his death appear in a very similar
way to those who Kafka describes in his letter as occupying a third world, free from the
paternal constraints he must endure.9

Lastly, I think it is important to consider the fact that the letter was never
delivered, and the implications this has for the validity of the testimony within it. In a true
sense, can Kafka really be said to have admitted anything to his father? While it is true
that he gave the letter to his mother to pass on, this never happened and though it was
given back to him, it seems that if it was really that important it would have reached his
father somehow. It would also be hard to claim that any hope present in writings after the
letter could be proof of the therapeutic effect the letter had on him, considering he knew
it never was sent. Furthermore, his entrusting the letter with his female companion also
9
Gibian, G. ‘Dichtung und Wahrheit: Three Versions Of Reality in Franz Kafka’, The German Quaterly,
Vol. 30, no. 1 (Blackwell Publishing 1957) p26
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begs the question of its actual importance to him. If he really believed this letter to be
admittance that he could never be free of his fathers’ shadow, it seems odd that he would
put it in the care of a person towards which he holds such affection, putting himself
deliberately in such a vulnerable position. One would think that the last way to attempt an
escape from the law would be to make others aware of its grip on you. Also, the fact that
it appears as though he may have never intended the letter to be sent has odd implications
for the rebuttal which he ends the letter with on behalf of his father. If he never really
envisaged his father reading the words that were put in his mouth, one could claim that
Kafka never really wanted to hear a reply from his father, or at least a positive one, due to
the inevitable fear that it would destroy the writing with which he is trying to provide an
alternative.

Bibliography

Kafka, F. Trans. Coyler, H. ‘Letter To My Father’ (Lulu.com 2008)

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Kafka, F. Trans. Kiesel, H. Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” and Other Writings (Continuum

International Publishing Group ltd., 2002)

Kafka, F. The Sons (Schocken Publishing 1989)

Janouch, G. Conversations With Kafka (W. W. Norton & Co. 1971)

Kafka, F. The Diaries of Franz Kafka (Schocken Press 1988)

Gibian, G. ‘Dichtung und Wahrheit: Three Versions Of Reality in Franz Kafka’, The
German Quaterly, Vol. 30, no. 1 (Blackwell Publishing 1957)

Robertson, R. Kafka: Avery short introduction (Oxford University Press 2005)

http://www.kafka-franz.com/KAFKA-letter.htm- accessed 25/11/2010