Reading Kafka’s Mind: Categories, Schemas, Metaphors by Michael Eugene Huffmaster A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in German in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Claire Kramsch, Chair Professor Niklaus Largier Professor Anton Kaes Professor Eve Sweetser Fall 2010 Reading Kafka’s Mind: Categories, Schemas, Metaphors © 2010 by Michael Eugene Huffmaster Contents Dedication iii Acknowledgments iv 1 Kafka’s Art and the Fundamentals of Human Cognition 1 Generic versus Specific Conceptual Structure 2 Categories 4 Image Schemas 6 Metaphor 13 UNDERSTANDING IS HEARING 18 2 “Von den Gleichnissen” 22 A Generic Concept 23 A Generic Text 27 A Generic Proposition 31 Image Schemas and Their Transformations 35 Generic and Primary Metaphors 38 Gleichnisse in Literature and Life 43 3 Das Urteil 49 Speech as Action and Its Consequent Susceptibility to Failure 49 Austin’s Anxiety about Speech as Action 51 Failed Speech Acts in Reported Thought 54 Failed Speech Acts in Reported Speech 58 Failed Speech Acts in Direct Speech 62 The Father’s Judgment 71 The Father’s Sentence 74 The PATH of Speech Acts 80 4 The Zürau Aphorisms 83 Image Schemas in the Zürau Aphorisms 83 The PATH in the Zürau Aphorisms 88 Highlighting Generic Structure to Critique Conventional Thinking 103 The PATH of the Zürau Aphorisms 106 5 Ein Bericht für eine Akademie 109 The PATH of Rotpeter’s Transformation 109 The Beginning of Rotpeter’s PATH 111 The PATH through Rotpeter’s Story 116 The PATH and CONTAINER of Rotpeter’s Ausweg 118 The PATH of Rotpeter’s Story 120 The PATH in and of Ein Bericht’s Reception History 124 Rotpeter’s Story and the Evolution of Narrative 136 iii 6 Epilogue: Kafka’s Multilingual Imagination 139 Categories 140 Generic Conceptual Structure 144 Image Schemas and Metaphors 150 Being Multilingual during a Sprachkrise 153 Works Cited 156 iv To my parents, for their lifetime of unwavering support “Liebe Eltern, ich habe euch doch immer geliebt” v Acknowledgments Thanks go first of all to my advisor and mentor, Claire Kramsch, whose influence on my intellectual development can hardly be overstated. It was in courses with her that I first learned of speech act theory, which forms the main theoretical underpinning of the third chapter of this study, and which I have employed in several other projects and will no doubt continue to draw on in future work. Above all, it was the seminar she offered on linguistic approaches to literature in the fall of 2006 that was life-altering. That course represented the turning point in my graduate career that made it possible for me to pursue my lifelong dream of attaining a doctorate in German literature while remaining true to my deeply-held conviction that literature is first and foremost language, a particular discourse and a social linguistic practice. Furthermore, it was through discussions with her about Kafka that I was able to overcome my own monolinualist preconceptions, fostered by the dominant language ideology of the culture we live in and reflected in most Kafka scholarship, in order to understand Kafka as the multilingual he truly was. Inseparable from this realization is the radically new understanding I have come to of myself as a multilingual, rather than just a native speaker of English who happens to possess some (in our culture) relatively rare skills. Her most recent book, The Multilingual Subject, has also influenced this study significantly, especially the conclusion. For all these reasons, I will remain eternally grateful. Next, I want to thank Eve Sweetser, who has been my mentor and guide into the field of cognitive science. Her influence on this study is unmistakable. The paper I wrote for a seminar with her on mind and language became the basis for the fourth chapter of this study and allowed me to recognize the enormous potential of a cognitive approach to Kafka’s work. The insightful advice and suggestions she has offered in discussions about Kafka over the past two years have helped me more than any other single factor to articulate a compelling overarching argument for the study that gives it a coherent shape, which it otherwise would not have. I am grateful for her enthusiasm for this project, for her constructive criticism, and especially for the supportive and encouraging manner in which her advice was always offered. I am deeply indebted to Niklaus Largier for his invaluable professional and personal advice, for many stimulating conversations over the years, and for his moral support. He has accompanied me at every major milestone of my graduate career, from my Master’s exam to my qualifying exam to the final completion of this dissertation, always with friendly encouragement all along the way. He is an individual I aspire to emulate as a teacher, a scholar, and a person, and I feel extremely fortunate to have had the privilege to know him. Special thanks go to Tony Kaes for the original suggestion to write my dissertation on Kafka and language, without which this study literally never would have happened. I am also grateful for the countless engaging conversations over the years, for his professional and personal advice, and for his consistently enthusiastic support for this project from beginning to end. In addition, I am thankful for the constant constructive reminders that language is always historically situated, a fact I address in the epilogue to this study. vi Among other professors in the German Department at Berkeley, thanks go first of all to Elaine Tennant for her habitually encouraging attitude, her invaluable moral support, and especially her constructive criticism of earlier draft titles of the study which led to the current, final one. (The subtitle, which I am still not completely satisfied with, I take full responsibility for.) I would also like to thank Karen Feldman for her generous sage professional advice and encouragement. Winfried Kudszus deserves my thanks for always being a source of friendly encouragement and also for his assistance in administrative matters that were essential to the successful completion of my degree. I also thank Jeroen Dewulf for his encouragement and support. I am especially grateful to Niko Euba for his excellent pedagogical training, for the many stimulating conversations about language learning over the years, and for concrete assistance with practical matters of teaching. I would also like to thank Joseph Vogl, who as a visiting professor in the German Department at Berkeley in the fall of 2007 offered a seminar on Kafka that contributed significantly to this project. Other individuals at Berkeley I wish to thank include Rick Kern, Director of the Berkeley Language Center, for his constructive feedback on the project I undertook while a fellow at the Center, for his generous spirit, and for introducing me to Eve Sweetser; Linda von Hoene, Director of the GSI Teaching and Resource Center, for the many valuable workshops that have helped me become a better teacher, for the opportunities to contribute to improving teaching at Berkeley, and for the always encouraging personal and professional advice; and Jim Spohrer, librarian for Germanic collections, for assistance with numerous research projects over the years, including this dissertation. I would be remiss if I neglected to thank members of the staff in the German Department and the Spanish and Portuguese Department at Berkeley, since, although they may not have contributed directly to the content of this dissertation, their assistance in completing my graduate studies and attaining my degree has been indispensable. I thank Elisabeth Lamoureaux for years of advice on navigating the university bureaucracy and for her moral support. Very special thanks also go to Verónica López for these same reasons. I also thank Cathie Jones, Nadia Samadi, and Mari Mordecai for their assistance in the innumerable administrative matters that working as a Graduate Student Instructor and completing a doctoral degree at Berkeley entail. Numerous friends and colleagues in the German Department at Berkeley deserve my thanks for countless conversations over the years that have contributed in major and minor ways to this project. Thanks to Gabriel Trop, Sabrina Rahman, Rob Schechtman, Chantelle Warner, David Gramling, Zach Dziedziak (specifically for the tip about neurological research on bilingualism), Don Backman (the first person to point out to me that we do not know that Georg Bendemann dies), Eric Savoth, Paul Dobryden, Robin Ellis, Melissa Etzler, Jacon Haubenreich, Meredith Kolar, David Martin, Annika Orich, Priscilla Layne, Ashwin Manthripragada, Emina Musanovic, Kurt Beals, Kevin Gordon, Aida Sakalauskaite, Peter Woods, Tim Price, Mason Allred, Jeremy Bergerson, Erik Born, Bob Clarke, Jennifer Kapczynski, Michael Cowan, Emily Banwell, Tonya Dewey, Julie Koser, Katra Byram, Azadeh Yamini-Hamedani, Jason Kooiker, and Dayton Henderson. Friends and colleagues in other departments at Berkeley have similarly contributed to the successful completion of this project through conversations about the ideas developed in the study as well as through their friendship and support. Thanks to vii Sonja Bertucci-Trop, Dave Malinowski, Usree Bhattacharya, Jonathan Haddad, Liz Boner, Tim Wolcott, Joshua Marker, Vito Evola, Alex Bratkievich, Frances Nkara, Gina Zepsuch, David Divita, Nick Baers, Joe Jordan, and Miranda Ko. Other friends during my time at Berkeley have helped me maintain my sanity during what has often felt like a crazy-making process. Thanks to John Hayden, Heather and Paul Hernandez, Erik and Liz Vance, David and Sapna Thottathil-Gardner, Rachel Brule, Michael Arnold, Joe Kaminski, Omar Restom (a bilingual friend who basically disproves everything I argue in the epilogue to this study and so helps me keep it real), and Zack Thompson (for introducing me to CrossFit, a fitness program that has had a hugely beneficial influence on my mental attitude over the past few months and thereby contributed significantly to the successful completion of this work).