The alley window

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Das Gassenfenster is a small prose piece by Franz Kafka that was published by Rowohlt Verlag in 1913 as part of the volume contemplation .

content

An anonymous narrator reflects the importance of an alley window to a lonely person. In addition to the general conditions and processes outside, the alley window also shows “ any arm that he could hold on to” . But if the lonely person is not looking for anything outside himself, a lively street scene with horses and noise will “ tear him apart” .

shape

The little piece consists only of two sentences that are not in opposition to each other, but complement each other. The first sentence says: The lonely person has to have the alley window as a connection to the human outside world. But the connection is only mentioned as a possibility (“could”). The second sentence actually says something similar. Only here it is the outside world that, through the vital events in front of the window, accesses the tired lonely person inside, so to speak, and thus leads to human connection, and now no longer just as a possibility, but as reality.

The signaling effect of the horse scene can also be explained by other Kafka pieces in which horses are a symbol of vitality and sexuality. Compare u. a. Desire to become an Indian , a country doctor .

The link between the first and second sentence is: "... he won't be long without an alley window" . This formulation is unusual. The word “drift” signals activity, bustle, debauchery and does not correspond to the image of the lonely narrator.

reception

  • von Jagow (p 405) states that the lanes window in the prose pieces of viewing inserts similar to the way home , the pre-run ends combine to introspection, observation of the outer space and the areas of the passers-by.

expenditure

  • Franz Kafka All stories edited by Paul Raab S. Fischerverlag 1977, ISBN 3-596-21078-X .
  • Franz Kafka The Stories Original version Fischer Verlag 1997 Roger Herms, ISBN 3-596-13270-3 .
  • Franz Kafka: Prints during his lifetime. Edited by Wolf Kittler, Hans-Gerd Koch and Gerhard Neumann . Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002, p. 32.

Secondary literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ von Jagow p. 406.

Web links

Wikisource: Das Gassenfenster  - Sources and full texts