Franz Kafka's “The Burrow” (“Der Bau”): An Analytical Essay

Abstract

Previous commentaries have emphasized the correlation between this piece and the host of motifs and problems that Franz Kafka never tired of treating. While this method seems mandatory in an overall account and has led to stimulating insights as well as aberrations on various levels of symbolic interpretation, a close analysis of “The Burrow” on the primary level, granting the given data of its non-Euclidean geometry, is attempted for the first time. Outstanding features include a demonstration of the unique quality of the recital as the synchronous coexistence of a ninety-minute monologue in the form of an emergent or progressive present with a life span of many years extending from maturity to senility. The progressive derangement and deterioration of the hero are analyzed, and his persecution mania is correlated with manifestations of a repressed, abnormal libido that allows inferences regarding a traumatic experience of his youth. Finally, it is shown on inner grounds of both a formal and a material nature that the piece is complete, allowing of no meaningful continuation.