Abstract
How would it be if you were merely to observe the life of your family? The family would think that you were sharing their life and were content. And in fact this would be partly true. You would be living with your family, but on different terms from them. That would be all. You would be outside the circle, with your face turned inwards towards the family, and that would be enough. Perhaps now and then you might even see your own image reflected in your family’s eyes — quite small and as if drawn on a glass ball in the garden. (CK 183)
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Notes and References
The author gave this parable the title ‘Before the Law’ (Vor dem Gesetz). It was first published in the almanac Vom jüngsten Tag (Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1916), and later appeared in Kafka’s collection A Country Doctor (Ein Landarzt. Munich and Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1919).
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© 1999 Raymond Armstrong
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Armstrong, R. (1999). More Strange Than a Stranger: Family Voices . In: Kafka and Pinter Shadow-Boxing. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230376182_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230376182_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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