The Burrow (short story)
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The Burrow is an unfinished short story by Franz Kafka in which a mole-like being burrows through an elaborate system of tunnels it has built over its life.
Allegedly, Kafka had written an ending to the story detailing a struggle with the encroaching beast, but this completed version was among other works destroyed by lover Dora Diamant following Kafka's death.
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[edit] Themes
Kafka's hyper rational creature parodies human reason. The creature in the story is completely paranoid about other creatures invading his burrow, interfering with his enjoyment of the burrow, which he had worked hard on to finish,preparing elaborate defenses and always thinking about the defense of his home, even though there is never any evidence he is in any danger until the end of the story.
The only direct reference to the creature being physiologically a mole is the line "my forehead -- that unique instrument," in reference to its capacity to burrow tunnels. The forebrain is also the seat of human consciousness.
[edit] Quotes
"Lying in my heap of Earth I can naturally dream of all sorts of things, even of an understanding with the beast, though I know well enough that no such thing can happen, and at the moment when we see each other, more, at that at the instant we merely guess at each other's presence, we shall both blindly bare our claws and teeth, neither of us a second before or after the other, both of us filled with a new and different hunger, even if we should already be gorged to bursting."
"But all remained unchanged."
--Muir Translation
[edit] References in other media
- A parody of the story appears as part of the short story "The Notebooks of Bob K." by Jonathan Lethem, which is collected in Kafka Americana. In the story Batman's Batcave is presnted as a version of the burrow.
[edit] Sources
Kafka, Franz. The Complete Stories. New York: Schocken Books, 1995.
| The Works of Franz Kafka |
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| Novels
The Metamorphosis • The Trial • The Castle • Amerika Short Stories 1904-1912: Description of a Struggle • Wedding Preparations in the Country • The Judgment • Contemplation • The Stoker 1914-1917: In the Penal Colony • The Village Schoolmaster (The Giant Mole) • Before the Law • Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor • The Warden of the Tomb • A Country Doctor • The Hunter Gracchus • The Great Wall of China• A Message from the Emperor • A Report to an Academy • A Dream • Up in the Gallery • A Fratricide • The Next Village • A Visit to a Mine • Jackals and Arabs • The Bridge • The Bucket Rider • The New Advocate • An Old Manuscript • The Knock at the Manor Gate • Eleven Sons • My Neighbor • A Crossbreed (A Sport) • The Cares of a Family Man 1917-1923: The Refusal • A Hunger Artist • Investigations of a Dog • A Little Woman • The Burrow • Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk • A Common Confusion • The Truth about Sancho Panza • The Silence of the Sirens • Prometheus • The City Coat of Arms • Poseidon • Fellowship • At Night • The Problem of Our Laws • The Conscription of Troops • The Test • The Vulture • The Helmsman • The Top • A Little Fable • Home-Coming • First Sorrow • The Departure • Advocates • The Married Couple • Give it Up! • On Parables Diaries, Notebooks and Essays The Diaries 1910-1923 • The Blue Octavo Notebooks • The First Long Train Journey (with Max Brod) • The Aeroplanes at Brescia Letters Letter to His Father • Letters to Felice • Letters to Ottla • Letters to Milena • Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors Collections The Complete Stories • The Sons • The Penal Colony • Parables and Paradoxes • The Great Wall of China • Dearest Father |
