Abstract
The historico-philosophic shame about myth (closure) might even facilitate Benjamin’s interest in those who are deemed foolish by mythic standards. This interest might be, above all, commendation of a wisdom that elicits, gives prominence to, or even somehow promotes, such fools or foolishness. This wisdom would arise both from receptive attention to the tension that the fools represent in relation to discernible closure, and from the previously discussed underlying and correlative shame about closure. In this way, the philosophic in Kafka’s works and in Benjamin’s criticism is itself foolish. It has departed from the demands of recognizable myths.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
See too the notes towards a revision of the 1934-essay: II:3, 1250 (# 13).
- 2.
Also see the remarks (from 1918) arguing, against Kant , that the “concept of ‘inclination’” can be made into “one of the supreme concepts of ethics [der Moral]” (“Zur Kantischen Ethik ,” VI, 55).
- 3.
It will not be a purpose of this study to determine the validity of the associations with Taoism. With regard to Kafka, some tentative remarks may be found in Weiyan Ming 48–49, 51–53. Less tentative and more elaborate conclusions are developed in Joo-Dong Lee. Also see Wasserman, as well as Jianming Zhou. Concerning Benjamin on Kafka and the Tao , see Müller, passim but especially 205–19.
- 4.
Kafka , “On Parables,” Kafka’s Selected Stories, 162/ Kafka, Nachgelassene Schriften und Fragmente II, KA, 532.
- 5.
See Lao Tzu , 87 and Kafka , “Das nächste Dorf,” Drucke zu Lebzeiten, KA, 280. Benjamin is responding somewhat critically to Soma Morgenstern , who reportedly said in a conversation that there is in Kafka the air of a village , as there is with all “‘great founders of religions’” (SW2, 805/ II:2, 423; see too: II:3, 1231).
- 6.
See too the letter to Kraft on November 12, 1934, C 453/ GB 4, 526.
- 7.
For further relevant remarks on fools, see: II:3, 1212; SW2, 798, 813, 816/ II:2, 414, 434, 438.
- 8.
In German, the noun “Schlemihl” can be used to refer to “an unfortunate person,” someone who recurrently suffers bad luck or misfortune. More narrowly, “Schlemihl” pertains to Adelbert von Chamisso’s Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte (1814). This story of the man who sold his shadow is referred to in various ways in Benjamin’s work, including in the Kafka-essay itself (SW2, 814/ II:2, 436).
Arendt , of course, develops in assorted works the notion of the Jew as “Schlemihl.” Rahel Varnhagen’s outsider-standing is formulated in terms of being-schlemihl (Schlemihlsein): “not rich, not beautiful, and Jewish” (Arendt , Rahel Varnhagen, 102/ 34). Adapting Heinrich Heine , Arendt refers more broadly to the schlemihl who is innocent partly by virtue of being excluded and having no desire to be included (Arendt, “The Jew as Pariah,” The Jew as Pariah, 70–73). With regard to Kafka, however, she says the “traditional traits of the Jewish pariah, the touching innocence and the enlivening schlemihldom, have alike no place in the picture” (83–84). “Kafka’s heroes,” she claims, “face society with an attitude of outspoken aggression.” Kafka’s weapon is “thinking” (83). Arendt is emphasizing the heroes, apparently K. in The Trial and K. in The Castle , and associates them with thinking. Benjamin is emphasizing the assistants, and – as will be elaborated below – considers them to occasion thinking, even if they are not terribly interested in it themselves.
- 9.
See too II:3, 1266.
- 10.
See too: II:3, 1245, 1246. For Scholem’s letter of July 17, see: The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem, 126–27/ Benjamin, Scholem , Briefwechsel, 157–58. The formulation “Nichts der Offenbarung” is given in Benjamin’s letter as though it is a quotation from Scholem’s letter. It is not actually a quotation, although Scholem does say: “Kafka’s world is the world of revelation, but obviously in the perspective in which this world of revelation is brought back to its nothingness” (126/ 157). In a poem Scholem sent to Benjamin on July 9, 1934, Scholem writes that only as “nothingness” is “revelation” experienceable (124/ 155). The relationship of nothingness and revelation will continue to concern Benjamin and Scholem in their exchanges on Kafka. Benjamin asks for clarification (C, 453–54/ GB 4, 479). Scholem responds briefly, even using the expression “‘Nichts der Offenbarung’” (The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem, 142/ Benjamin, Scholem, Briefwechsel, 175). Some of these discussions will be of concern in Part II below.
- 11.
In an article of 1916, Brod says of Kafka: “Although the word ‘Jew’ never occurs in his works, those works belong to the most Jewish documents of our time” (Brod , “Unsere Literaten und die Gemeinschaft,” 464). Benjamin might agree, even if he disagrees with Brod concerning the kind of Judaism in Kafka’s works. Brod ’s remark is quoted in “Jews in German Culture” (II:2, 813), which appeared in 1930 under Benjamin’s name although it is unclear how much of the article was edited and reworked by others (see quotation of Benjamin’s marginal hand-written comments, II:3, 1521, and Scholem , Walter Benjamin, 160/ 199–200).
- 12.
See Scholem , The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem, 127n3/ Benjamin, Scholem , Briefwechsel, 159n3. Kafka’s Judaism in his writing is, of course, a widely discussed topic. For some discussions in this context, see Robertson, Kafka; Grözinger, Mosès, and Zimmerman eds.; Grözinger; Suchoff; essays in Liska, When Kafka Says We. Many more sources could be added.
- 13.
See Kafka , Nachgelassene Schriften und Fragmente II, KA, 405–11. The story released by Brod as “The Animal in our Synagogue” first appeared in 1937.
- 14.
Kafka , Nachgelassene Schriften und Fragmente II, KA, 411.
- 15.
The reference is to the official, Sortini, who – despite his legs being weary from desk work – reportedly jumps over the shafts of a fire engine in order to endear himself to Amalia (Kafka , The Castle, 197/ Kafka, Das Schloß, KA, 311).
- 16.
See Moran, “Nature, Decision, and Muteness,” 79.
- 17.
The translation given here of Olga’s statement is a very slightly amended version of the translation given in Franz Kafka, The Castle, translated by Anthea Bell, 173. Bell’s translation is an imaginative and very pertinent rendering of the German, which states: “‘Unglückliche Beamtenliebe gibt es nicht’” (Kafka, Das Schloß, KA, 310). See too the Harman translation that has otherwise been primarily used in this study (Kafka , The Castle, 196–97). For the comment by Olga that she loved Amalia when she was so tired, see the Bell translation (169) and the Harman translation (191), both of which were modified here (Das Schloß, KA, 302).
- 18.
In introduction of the Bell-translation cited above, Robertson claims that there is indeed brief and faint love between K. and Frieda, the barmaid of the Castle Inn, although Robertson finds Frieda’s love more sincere than K.’s love; K. does not want the relationship if it becomes a deterrent in his practical life and in his quest to get an appointment (“Introduction,” xxi-ii. See too: xii).
- 19.
Although many of Benjamin’s works advance notions of love (see Rrenban for recurrent discussion of this), even one of his previously mentioned notes of 1918 wonders if “inclination” could take the ethical place occupied by “love” (VI, 55)
- 20.
Stevens , “Angel Surrounded by Paysans,” in “The Auroras of Autumn” (1950), The Collected Poems, 496. Alter’s book dealing with Kafka, Benjamin, and Scholem uses the notion of “necessary angel” as a leitmotif, as does Cacciari. Of course, Stevens adopts the leitmotif for his own collection of critical essays, The Necessary Angel (1951).
- 21.
Benjamin’s ostensible quotation actually paraphrases the relevant sentence from the letter by Kafka that is cited in Brod ’s Kafka-biography (151). Kafka’s letter is from March 1918 (see Kafka, Briefe 1918–1920, KA, 35).
- 22.
In Kafka, Deleuze and Guattari seem more inclined to regard women as the principal “connectors” who facilitate greater proximity to the continuous nature that is otherwise disregarded. “It is almost always a woman who finds the service door, that is, who reveals the contiguity of that which one had thought to be faraway and who restores or installs the power of the continuous.” And: “Leni has webbed fingers like some sort of leftover from a becoming-animal. But women present an even more precise blend of things; they are part sister, part maid, part whore. They are anticonjugal and antifamilial” (64). See the elaboration on 65 ff. Somewhat more than the English translation refers to “young woman” or “young women,” the French in these – as well as other passages – often refers to “jeune femme” or “jeunes femmes” (117).
- 23.
A claim made in Gasché, The Honor of Thinking, 24–25.
- 24.
Erasmus , 52–53.
- 25.
Agamben, Profanations, 29–30. It seems Agamben is adapting Benjamin’s remarks on Kafka as well as some of Benjamin’s remarks on Walser (SW2, 798/ II:2, 414).
- 26.
Agamben, Profanations, 29–35. Benjamin is not mentioned as often as he could be in these pages by Agamben, but the influence is obvious.
- 27.
For Scholem’s relevant letter (the letter to which Benjamin is responding), see The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem, 126–27, especially 126/ Benjamin and Scholem, Briefwechsel, 157–59, especially 157.
- 28.
Concerning Jizchak Löwy , see Stach, especially 56–64. Löwy is mentioned and briefly discussed in Brod ’s Kafka-biography, which Benjamin read shortly after its publication in 1937. For Brod ’s remarks on Löwy, see Brod , Franz Kafka. Eine Biographie in Max Brod über Franz Kafka, 35, 98–102, 171.
Benjamin’s comment about Brod being the Hardy to Kafka’s Laurel is made as early as material written in preparation for the 1934-essay. In this material (II:3, 1220), he also characterizes Kafka as Pat looking for his Patachon – a reference to the Danish (initially silent) film comic duo that was very popular in Germany.
- 29.
Scholem, Letter of July 17, 1934 to Benjamin, The Correspondence of Walter Benjamin, 126/ Benjamin, Scholem Briefwechsel, 157–58.
- 30.
Perhaps it is relevant here too for Benjamin that Pat and Patachon played Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in a film that initially appeared in 1926.
- 31.
See too II:3, 1220, 1246. For Kafka’s piece on Sancho Panza , see Nachgelassene Schriften und Fragmente II, KA, 38.
- 32.
Benjamin is responding to comments on the type that are made by Adorno in the context of Benjamin’s Arcades-study (letter of February 1, 1939 in Adorno and Benjamin, 298–306/ 388–99).
- 33.
Benjamin mentions Schlegel’s notion of “Witz” and the essential dependence of “Witz” on word, and contends that this is entirely distinct from humour. The “most profound problematic of humour” is, nonetheless, the relationship of the laughter with “the right word” (VI, 130). This is at least an acknowledgement that humour – even in its judgementless participation in the relevant act – may involve very pointed usage of words. This rough note was written, of course, as Benjamin would have been concerned with the early German Romantic theories of wit that he discusses in his Der Begriff der Kunstkritik in der deutschen Romantik (SW1, 140–41 /WuN, vol. 3, 52–54).
- 34.
This might be implied by some of Benjamin’s remarks in the 1934-essay (SW2, 809/ II:2, 429).
- 35.
This example from The Trial (80–87, especially 83/ Der Proceß, KA, 108–17, especially 112) does not seem to be used by Benjamin. Nor does he seem to say anything about K. becoming laughable.
- 36.
Kafka, The Trial, 265/ Der Proceß, KA, 353–54.
- 37.
Walser , 136/ 141–42.
- 38.
Weber , 192.
- 39.
Walser , 138/ 145.
- 40.
Kafka , The Zürau Aphorisms, 89/ Nachgelassene Schriften und Fragmente II, KA, 78. Cited by Benjamin in II:3, 1243.
- 41.
Unger , 8.
- 42.
This note juxtaposes Chaplin’s comedy with Hitler . More extensive consideration of Benjamin’s views on horror would have to include consideration of two fragments that the editors estimate were written in 1920–22: see “Über das Grauen I” and “Über das Grauen II” (VI, 75–77).
- 43.
The view of comedy in tragedy is borrowed from Hermann Cohen . See especially, “Fate and Character,” SW1, 206 /“Schicksal und Charakter,” II:1, 178. Tragic myth is most extensively discussed in O, especially 100–38/ I:1, 279–316. In volume 2 of Ästhetik des reinen Gefühls (1912), Cohen discusses the way in which comedy shows the “invalidity” or “frailty” (Hinfälligkeit) of “all great forms,” such as tragedy, that advance or acclaim the victory of the “totality” (Gesamtheit) (67). The tragedy accordingly presses beyond itself into comedy (115; see too 117).
- 44.
Benjamin is quoting Kafka’s “Die Sorge des Hausvaters” (see Kafka , “The Worry of the Father of the Family,” Kafka’s Selected Stories, 73/ “Die Sorge des Hausvaters,” Drucke zu Lebzeiten, 284). For further discussion of the “little hunchbacked man,” see the end of “Berlin Childhood around 1900” (SW3, 384–85/ IV:1, 302–3/ VII:1, 429–30/ Berliner Kindheit um neunzehnhundert [Gießener Fassung], 109–11). For the verse “Das buckliche Männlein,” see “Kinderlieder” in Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Alte deutsche Lieder, Vol. 3, 54–55. Benjamin cites as his source not this Arnim-Brentano collection but Georg Scherer’s Das Deutsche Kinderbuch (SW3, 385/ IV:1, 303/ VII:1, 430/ Gießener Fassung, 109). For remarks on Benjamin’s source, see Herwig, 55–56.
- 45.
Brecht , “Legende von der Entstehung des Buches Taoteking auf dem Weg des Laotse in die Emigration,” Gedichte 2, Werke, Vol. 12, 32. Brecht’s complete poem (32–34) is also available in German and in English in SW4, 243–47.
- 46.
Plato , Phaedrus, 249d (37).
- 47.
Plato , Apology, 30e, The Trial and Death of Socrates, 33.
- 48.
Shakespeare , 713 (5:1).
- 49.
Nietzsche , Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 323/ Also Sprach Zarathustra, 398.
- 50.
1. Corinthians 1: 21–28 and 3:18–19, The New English Bible (Oxford Study Edition), 202–3.
- 51.
Heidegger , “Introduction to ‘What is Metaphysics?’” (1949), Pathmarks, 288/ Wegmarken, 379.
- 52.
In this regard, see too the 1916-analysis on “The Significance of Language in Trauerspiel and Tragedy ,” SW1, 60–61/ II:1, 138–40 and the Trauerspiel-book, O, 127/ I:1, 306.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Moran, B. (2018). Foolishness of Philosophy. In: Politics of Benjamin’s Kafka: Philosophy as Renegade. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72011-1_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72011-1_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-72010-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-72011-1
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)