david foster wallace kafka essay

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David Foster Wallace > Quotes > Quotable Quote

David Foster Wallace

“It's not that students don't "get" Kafka's humor but that we've taught them to see humor as something you get -- the same way we've taught them that a self is something you just have. No wonder they cannot appreciate the really central Kafka joke -- that the horrific struggle to establish a human self results in a self whose humanity is inseparable from that horrific struggle. That our endless and impossible journey toward home is in fact our home. It's hard to put into words up at the blackboard, believe me. You can tell them that maybe it's good they don't "get" Kafka. You can ask them to imagine his art as a kind of door. To envision us readers coming up and pounding on this door, pounding and pounding, not just wanting admission but needing it, we don't know what it is but we can feel it, this total desperation to enter, pounding and pushing and kicking, etc. That, finally, the door opens...and it opens outward: we've been inside what we wanted all along. Das ist komisch .”

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David Foster Wallace Reads Franz Kafka’s Short Story “A Little Fable” (and Explains Why Comedy Is Key to Kafka)

in Comedy , Literature | February 16th, 2016 3 Comments

Just last night I was out with a novelist friend, one of whose books a reviewer described as “the funny version of Kafka.” While he surely appreciated the praise, my friend had an objection: “But Kafka is already comedy!” Casual readers, many of whom haven’t set eyes on Franz Kafka since college, might carry with them a mental image of the early 20th-century Austria-Hungary-born writer as a craftsman of pure bleakness: of frustratingly inaccessible castles, of persecution for unexplained crimes, of hopeless battles with bureaucracy, of salesmen transformed into giant bugs. But Kafka enthusiasts know well the humor from which all that springs, and their ranks have always contained quite a few other novelists willing to point it out.

None of them have done it quite so eloquently as David Foster Wallace, who delivered a ten-minute speech on the subject at the 1998 symposium “Metamorphosis: A New Kafka,” which later appeared in print in Harper ‘s Magazine , where he acted as contributing editor. He begins, by way of illustrating Kafka’s comedy, with the shorter-than-short 1920 story “A Little Fable” :

“Alas,” said the mouse, “the whole world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into.” “You only need to change your direction,” said the cat, and ate it up.

He also mentions that he’d already given up teaching the story in literature classes (one of whose syllabi we’ve previously featured), which leads him to explain the “signal frustration in trying to read Kafka with college students,” that “it is next to impossible to get them to see that Kafka is funny… nor to appreciate the way funniness is bound up with the extraordinary power of his stories.” Part of the problem arises from the fact that “Kafka’s humor has almost none of the particular forms and codes of contemporary U.S. amusement,” especially to “children whom our culture has trained to see jokes as entertainment and entertainment as reassurance.” So what kind of jokes can we find in Kafka’s stories, if we know how to get them?

Therein, Wallace argues, lies another part of the problem: “It’s not that students don’t ‘get’ Kafka’s humor but that we’ve taught them that humor is something you get — the same way we’ve taught them that a self is something you just have,” all of which gets in the way of perceiving “the really central Kafka joke — that the horrific struggle to establish a human self results in a self whose humanity is inseparable from that horrific struggle.” Of course, as Wallace adds in one of his signature footnotes, since “most of us Americans come to art essentially to forget ourselves — to pretend for a while that we’re not mice and all walls are parallel and the cat can be outrun — it’s no accident that we’re going to see ‘A Little Fable’ as not all that funny.” But read enough Kafka, preferably outside the walls of a classroom, and you’ll get a much more expansive sense of humor itself.

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Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and style. He’s at work on a book about Los Angeles, A Los Angeles Primer , the video series The City in Cinema , the crowdfunded journalism project Where Is the City of the Future? , and the Los Angeles Review of Books’ Korea Blog . Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall or on Facebook .

by Colin Marshall | Permalink | Comments (3) |

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Comments (3), 3 comments so far.

Kafka was not, however, an ‘Austro-Hungary’ born writer, he was born in Prague, in Bohemia (at the time). His father came from a small town in southern Bohemia. This description subsumes this region into the identities of the rulers of Habsburg Empire, as if there were no other nationalities. The family were both Czech and German speaking.

It would be nice if the vaguely visible video were synchronised to the audio.

In this speech DFW is emphasizing that *US* college students don’t get Kafka’s humor because of the “adolescent” nature of US culture/humor, but the way it’s framed here elides this central point.

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David Foster Wallace - "Laughing with Kafka"

david foster wallace kafka essay

And html version if anyone prefers that.

Just bust a move!

I read this in Consider the Lobster and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it speaks volumes for how people view humor and canonical works. I never found Metamorphosis to be tragic or depressing; if anything, it was funny in an incredibly dark, deadpan way. I also enjoyed his thoughts on teaching literature in higher education.

I used to dream of studying English and Literature, but I have to wonder sometimes: would it have detracted from my own love of books and reading, having to scour everything for symbolism and meaning?

My experience (and this will vary based on your professor and classmates) is that studying symbolism and meaning is not going to be the center of a well-rounded English Literature education.

The study symbols and meaning (as well as setting, character, plot, etc) is part of Formalism, which was the method of studying English that historically put English education on the map. As a consequence, it predominates high school English as well as a part of undergraduate English (this again depends on where you are going and who is teaching you; some schools have "moved past" Formalism entirely while others only teach it). It's easy to work with, but it's not the only way English scholars study literature.

Most current critics have moved on from Formalism to other schools of criticism, some of which only seem tangentially involved with the work. Deconstructionism searches for breaks and ambiguity in works; it often destroys any meaning in works. Narratology studies the speaker--even with third-person omniscient points of view--and how the speaker interacts with the text. Gender studies look closely at how gender is utilized in the plot. There are tens to dozens more forms of criticism depending on who you ask.

At the end of a good English education, you should have not only a working knowledge of hundreds of important works of literature, but also a toolbox of methods of analyzing them. English is more cross-discipline right now than it has ever been, and virtually anything else you study can be used to illuminate what you read. Even physics has improved my understanding of literature--especially William Blake, who defines each sense as a dimension of space and infinity as a vortex; and Faulkner, whose characters often discuss principles of mechanics without really meaning to.

And if you don't want to illuminate meaning, you can choose to play instead. "An Eskimo 'A Rose for Emily'", an essay by Stanley Fish, makes the case that a reader could interpret "A Rose for Emily" in such a way that it included an Eskimo as a character. (Okay, he is actually doing something larger, using this example to justify that no reading of a work is outside of the realm of possibility, but I guarantee you that if you wrote a well-reasoned and plausible essay arguing that there is a Wookie in Keat's "Fall of Hyperion," it would be published.)

Now. Even if you can't find something to write about that appeals to you (or maybe your professors don't allow you to write about whatever craziness turns you on), getting an education in English still shouldn't be about scouring , but rather, reading closely . You'll learn how to pick up even the smallest details on a first reading; you'll recognize exactly which lines in Blood Meridian are Bible verses that you should Google for context; you will see authors set up systems and surfaces rather than characters and plots. And that, at least to me, has made literature more beautiful than ever.

Of course, so much of your English education is going to depend on the quality of your professors and classmates. There are many professors who don't trust their students to read closely, and instead, read the details to them, or that don't trust their students to interpret, and instead, assign essay prompts. And there are students who just won't get it if you're talking about something cool. Discussion flatlines and you never quite figure out what trick the writer pulled on you with some strange wording or beautiful parallelism.

If you've got the time, I would suggest reading a book or two on literary theory. I can personally recommend Beginning Theory by Peter Barry. It includes a brief history of theory and walks through about a dozen methods of criticism, including key quotes and summaries of the papers that defined them. (Once you read Baudrillard's "Simulacrum," you'll realize there's no bottom to this rabbit hole.)

TLDR: It's not just symbolism in meaning. It's reading closely with an open mind, and it will make you love literature even more.

I have my B.A. in music and will have an M.A. in music in less than a year. On the first day of my first music theory class at college, the professor asked us if we were worried if, by learning the processes and secrets of music theory, the "magic" of music would be ruined for us. He assured us that this was nothing to worry about, and after almost completing two degrees, I agree with him. No matter what, the music will always hold some kind of intangible effect on our souls, never losing that special feeling we got even before we knew what we were listening to. Rather, my education has allowed me to understand and appreciate that magic on a deeper level, and even create some of it myself.

I believe the same could be said for studying English or Literature. It will only deepen your love of books and reading.

Wonderful essay, thank you.

Whenever I read an article from Harper's, I cannot think about anything else but this .

I strongly agree. I am always worried when people say they don't find Kafka comedic. We had to read "The Judgement" on a timed essay for English class once and I was bursting out into laughter. One other person thought it was funny, but I was told by a girl that I was a sick person for laughing at that weird, tragic story.

I studied literature and write, and found my education has limited my ability to read most popular fiction. I find most writers are too wordy and pretentious. I do appreciate a great writer, but they are far and few between. Perhaps you may feel the same about pop music. With Kafka, I thought the humor was there, but I saw the Metamorphosis more as the isolation of being and loneliness of existing amongst others that don't get you.

If you're a writer, it's a good thing to have taste.

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David Foster Wallace on Kafka’s “A Little Fable”

David Foster Wallace is my latest literary obsession: a state of consumption and immersion in his essays, conversations, speeches, and thoughts. DFW was an influential writer and professor, who had an assignment to review Bryan Garner’s A Dictionary of Modern American Usage . The essay ran in Harper’s Magazine and created a buzz.

In a conversation, Garner asks Wallace about writers he admires.

So probably the smart thing to say is, if you spend enough time reading or writing, you find a voice, but you also find certain tastes. You find certain writers who when they write, it makes your own brain voice like a tuning fork, and you just resonate with them. And when that happens reading those writers …. become a source of unbelievable joy. It’s like eating candy for the soul. And I sometimes have a hard time understanding how people who don’t have that in their lives make it through the day. But it’s also true that my father can listen to classical music and be nourished in ways that I’ll never understand. Or my wife can go to some local gallery and look at art and come home looking . . . she’s a different person. She’s been changed somehow. ( Quack This Way , p. 61; an interview between Wallace & Garner, 2013)

Wallace has turned out to be that kind of writer, the writer who resonates, who delights, who, for this reader, sustains.

TheTreeHouse is a home for stories and fables and parables. So here is a ‘fun’ Kafka piece which Wallace discussed in a speech.

A Little Fable by Franz Kafka

“Alas,” said the mouse, “the whole world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into.”

“You only need to change your direction,” said the cat, and ate it up.

A video adaptation produced by Gustavo Munoz

Now that you’ve read the fable and seen the video, here is DFW’s speech. The five pages are a worthy investment of your time, providing an understanding of humor in America today, and a bonus Kafkaesque closing.

Das ist komisch. *

LINK to Harper’s Magazine reprint of speech:

Laughing with Kafka – Speech by David Foster Wallace

If you wish to listen to the speech, here it is.

* German for “That’s funny.” Franz Kafka wrote in German.

** Text in the original German

Kleine Fabel Franz Kafka »Ach«, sagte die Maus, »die Welt wird enger mit jedem Tag. Zuerst war sie so breit, daß ich Angst hatte, ich lief weiter und war glücklich, daß ich endlich rechts und links in der Ferne Mauern sah, aber diese langen Mauern eilen so schnell aufeinander zu, daß ich schon im letzten Zimmer bin, und dort im Winkel steht die Falle, in die ich laufe.

« – »Du mußt nur die Laufrichtung ändern«, sagte die Katze und fraß sie.

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David Foster Wallace on Kafka's Humor

In Consider the Lobster David Foster Wallace has a short essay titled "Some Remarks on Kafka's Funniness From Which Probably Not Enough Has Been Removed," in which he presents his case for reading humor in Kafka and how he tried to teach his students to do this when teaching Kafka. I liked this passage at the end and wanted to share it

It's not that students don't "get" Kafka's humor but that we've taught them to see humor as something you get - the same way we've taught them that a self is something you just have . No wonder they cannot appreciate the really center Kafka joke: that the horrific struggle to establish a human self results in a self whose humanity is inseparable from that horrific struggle. That our endless and impossible journey toward home is in fact our home.

The rest of the essays in the collection are great too. Some personal favorites include "How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart," "Authority and American Usage," and "Certainly the End of Something or Other, One Would Sort of Have to Think."

david foster wallace kafka essay

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That David's Father, James D. Wallace is a professor of Moral Philosophy at University of Illinois and has authored several books on the subject of Pragmatism.

click on title of essay for external link to essay's location:

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Everybody Else’s Biggest Problem: Everybody Worships

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COMMENTS

LAUGHING WITH
KAFKA. From a speech given by David Foster Wallace in ... Wallace isa contributing editor of Harper's.
Laughing with Kafka
David Foster Wallace. Laughing with Kafka. Editoras Note: From a speech given by David Foster Wallace in March 1998 at " Metamor- phosis : A New Kafka" a
Quote by David Foster Wallace: “It's not that students don't "get
David Foster Wallace — 'It's not that students don't get Kafka's humor but that we've taught them to see humor as something you get -- the same way we'...
'Laughing with Kafka' Speech by David Foster Wallace (1998)
A speech given by David Foster Wallace at "Metamorphosis: A New Kafka", a symposium sponsored by the PEN American Center in New York City to
David Foster Wallace Reads Franz Kafka's Short Story “A Little
None of them have done it quite so eloquently as David Foster Wallace, who delivered a ten-minute speech on the subject at the 1998 symposium “
David Foster Wallace
And if you don't want to illuminate meaning, you can choose to play instead. "An Eskimo 'A Rose for Emily'", an essay by Stanley Fish, makes the case that a
David Foster Wallace on Kafka's “A Little Fable”
David Foster Wallace is my latest literary obsession: a state of consumption and immersion in his essays, conversations, speeches
Some Remarks on Kafka's Funniness from Which Probably Not
As a college literature professor, David Foster Wallace has a difficult time teaching the work of Czech writer Franz Kafka (1883–1924).
David Foster Wallace on Kafka's Humor
David Foster Wallace on Kafka's Humor ... It's not that students don't "get" Kafka's humor but that we've taught them to see humor as something
David Foster Wallace's talk "Laughing with Kafka" is very insightful
For me, a signal frustration in trying to read Kafka with college students
Essays
From a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace to the 2005 graduating class at Kenyon College and published under the title "This is