Page 38 - GALIET KAFKABEL JOB, KANT AND MILTON: Omnipotence, Impotence and Rebellion IV+

Galiet & Galiet
Kafka’s moral demands were severe on himself,183 says Brod 3⁄4 “‘to be near God’ and ‘to live rightly’ were identical for Kafka’184 3⁄4 Kafka was no ‘cultural critic.’”185 However, his works are ample critiques of “Moral Judgment” and “Guilt” theologies. In this paradox, Josef K enunciates Kafka. Josef K is a most potent, yet impotent Court critic.186
Just as Josef K’s revolt leads him to suffering, impotence and the Judge, Kafka’s sufferings connect him “with a higherreality.”187 IfKafkaandJosefKsuffer,itisbecausetheyareawarebeings“belongtoeternity”188andthatthe absent Judge somewhere exists (T213). If Job suffers, it is because Yahweh has abandoned him. Both instances 3⁄4 absence and abandonment, in engendering a metaphysical crisis 3⁄4 merit the lectors’ mercy and pity.
If to Kafka Job is perfect, Kafka knew himself to be imperfect.189 As a result, institutions such as The Trial’s Court, manned by imperfect men like Kafka, or Everyman like Josef K, mirror men’s flaws and imperfections. If the tyrannous Court neglects rights to a hearing, it is because Kafka’s domineering father, too, is absent and neglects a genuine hearing of his son.190 Just as Kafka hates his father’s estrangement, he disproves of theological excommunication. Hence, none of Josef K’s trespasses merit the excommunication of a merciless execution. Kafka’s Courts 3⁄4 the intermediaries between God and men, discredits Lasine’s munificent view. It is evil, bureaucratic and oppressive. “Intermediate courts, full of malice and poison,” says Brod of Kafka’s anxieties, “thrust their ways bureaucratically between and continually hinder the Good.”191 To Kafka, they cause a “desperate complication” between God and man.192 As platforms, they indoctrinate everyone to be a judge in his own block watch-theatre court.
Nowhere is Kafka’s “desperate complication” between God and man more evident than in the priest’s reaction to Josef K’s cry for pity and in the block watch theatre-courts. To the priest, K’s maxim “we are all human after all,” repels (T213). It is a fleeting excuse. If Job morally stands in his oath of innocence, there is no absolute moral stance in Josef K’s words. They are too wishy-washy. Where the wind blows, there, Josef goes. Yet worse 3⁄4 the sneering priest despises K’s cross-examination. He abhors the hasty “we,” and K’s critique of the Parable of the Law (T213). Just to dare defy and question courtly, priestly and its political authority and dominion, suffices to impute guilt. “That is how the guilty speak,” retorts the priest (T214). When Josef K too recoils against the necessary system of universal lies expounded by the Parable of the Law, the priest tells him he disrespects the text, that he changes the story (T217). If Josef K manipulates the story, he becomes the Doorkeeper’s victim just as he perceives himself the
183 Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. A Biography. Trans. By G. Humphreys Roberts (Chapter I to VII) and by Richard Winston (Chapter VIII). New York, Schocken Books, 1937. 180
184 Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. A Biography. Trans. By G. Humphreys Roberts (Chapter I to VII) and by Richard Winston (Chapter VIII). New York, Schocken Books, 1937. 174
185 Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. A Biography. Trans. By G. Humphreys Roberts (Chapter I to VII) and by Richard Winston (Chapter VIII). New York, Schocken Books, 1937. 180
186 Dodd, William. Der Prozess. Scotland: University of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1991. 38
187 Robertson, Ritchie. “Kafka as Anti-Christian. “Das Urteil,” “Die Verwandlung,” and the Aphorisms.” In Rolleston, James. A Companion to the Works of Franz Kafka. New York: Camden House, 2002. 120
188 Robertson, Ritchie. “Kafka as Anti-Christian. “Das Urteil,” “Die Verwandlung,” and the Aphorisms.” In Rolleston, James. A Companion to the Works of Franz Kafka. New York: Camden House, 2002. 120
189 Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. A Biography. Trans. By G. Humphreys Roberts (Chapter I to VII) and by Richard Winston (Chapter VIII). New York, Schocken Books, 1937. 181
190 Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. A Biography. Trans. By G. Humphreys Roberts (Chapter I to VII) and by Richard Winston (Chapter VIII). New York, Schocken Books, 1937. 181
191 Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. A Biography. Trans. By G. Humphreys Roberts (Chapter I to VII) and by Richard Winston (Chapter VIII). New York, Schocken Books, 1937. 184
192 Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. A Biography. Trans. By G. Humphreys Roberts (Chapter I to VII) and by Richard Winston (Chapter VIII). New York, Schocken Books, 1937. 184
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