Researches a Dog

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Researches a Dog is a broad-based story with a fable character by Franz Kafka , written in 1922 and published posthumously. As the title (by Max Brod ) suggests, it's about a dog's search for knowledge. This is doomed to failure because it cannot recognize fundamental facts, namely the existence of people.

content

An old dog shares his futile, lifelong research into the fundamental issues of canine life. The research began when the dog, at a very young age, experienced seven dogs in a bright glow, which dance in a non-dog-like way and which emanate a music. Although he repeatedly storms the other dogs with questions about it, the little dog receives no explanation for the appearance. So he withdraws more and more from the other dogs.

The dog now turns to the question of food. He thinks it is related to sprinkling the floor (i.e. urinating). But the food comes from above, sometimes the food even seems to float next to the dog. In order to find out the essence of food, the dog goes hungry. But he doesn't find a solution.

Another phenomenon drives the dog, namely the "air dogs". They float and hardly move on the ground. Usually they are small, well-coiffed creatures that are well nourished. Although reproduction is hard to imagine, they seem to be increasing in number.

As an old dog he experiences something similar to what he did in childhood, namely a dog from whom music emanates. The scene takes place in the forest. The dog calls itself a hunter. He not only emits special tones himself, but music also emanates from his surroundings.

At the end, the dog speaks of the realities of science, music and food science. He admits his scientific ineptitude and refers to his instinct. He cites freedom, but a restricted one. The last sentences read: “Of course, freedom as it is possible today is a poor plant. But at least freedom, at least a possession. "

Interpretative approaches

The narrative initially demands less a literary interpretation than an explanation. All cognitive problems of the dog arise from the fact that it is obviously not able to recognize the human being and its effects on the dog society. Because the word human does not appear once. Kafka's research on a dog thus represents an alternative to Oskar Panizza's From the Diary of a Dog (1892), whose reflections focus exclusively on humans.

The dog is an animal that is common to Kafka and refers to the creeping, unworthy or lowly. Incidentally, in the animal stories, Kafka partly orientated himself very much on the descriptions from Brehm's animal life.

Explanation

At the beginning the dog tells that he would live in the midst of the canine community, and this is immediately denied by the statement "As far as I know, no creature lives so widely dispersed". However, he does not recognize that the dogs do not live in a self-determined manner, but that they are assigned to humans. These also provide the food, which mostly comes from above. This shows that the dogs do not live in a free pack because they do not procure the food themselves.

The appearance of the seven dancing dogs, who were surrounded by music, is a scene from the vaudeville or circus. The dog presses itself "into a tangle of woods"; so rows of chair legs. When observing the food issue, the dog could not get to the edge because there is simply no connection between getting food and urinating. The air dogs are obviously lap dogs. It is particularly clear here that the narrator cannot register the person holding the lap dog. It does not escape him, however, that the lap dog is becoming more and more fashionable, that is, is multiplying. The last dog encounter was a hunting dog. On the one hand, it makes sounds in a special way and on the other hand, it is surrounded by the sound of hunting horns.

If, in the end, the dog describes today's freedom as poor, he seems to have foreshadowed the freedom of the wild dogs of the past. At the same time, he has no idea how much his freedom is really restricted.

Interpretative approach

This animal story is related to other Kafka stories. Figures (or animals) also appear in Der Bau or Der Dorfschullehrer , who subject a certain fact to a detailed examination, but fail. There are also parallels to the monkey Rotpeter from A report for an academy with its limited view of the human world. Paranoid loners are presented here.

In the present story, the reason for the failure is now explicitly provided. In a figurative sense, the narrative says something about the human search for knowledge. The individual lacks so many real facts and especially the overriding knowledge. So he will only ever be able to register a segment-like and thus completely distorted section of the world. He cannot even see all the various restrictions on his freedom.

The many misjudgments and wrong teachings of the past sufficiently show that. And this is exactly how it goes for today's and future people in their search for truth. This reflects the hubris and delusion of the human urge to research.

Max Brod describes this animal story as the melancholy travesty of atheism . Just as the dog does not recognize the human being (or only partially), the human being also hardly recognizes God and only vaguely.

expenditure

  • Franz Kafka: All the stories. Published by Paul Raabe , Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1970, ISBN 3-596-21078-X .
  • Franz Kafka: The stories. Original version, edited by Roger Herms, Fischer Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-596-13270-3 .
  • Franz Kafka: Post-legacy writings and fragments 2. Edited by Jost Schillemeit, Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, pp. 423–482 a. 485-491.

Secondary literature

Web links

Wikisource: A Dog's Research  - Sources and Full Texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The diversity in Kafka's life and work Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler, Norbert Winkler Vitalis Verlag ISBN 3-89919-066-1 , pp. 86–89
  2. ^ Peter-André Alt: Franz Kafka: The Eternal Son . Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2005 ISBN 3-406-53441-4 , pp. 653-656.
  3. ↑ Peter-André Alt, p. 652
  4. ↑ Peter-André Alt, p. 656
  5. ↑ Max Brod Desperation and Redemption in the work of Franz Kafka S. Fischer 1959, p. 9