It is undoubtedly one of Kafka's finest erotic scenes – the description of K.'s furtive tryst on the tap-room floor. – Wrapped in Frieda's arms, he rolls back and forth through small puddles of beer and rubbish, her small body burning in his reluctant hands. "Hours passed there," writes Kafka, "hours breathing together with a single heartbeart [gemeinsamen Herzschlags], hours in which K. constantly felt he was lost or had wandered farther into foreign lands [der Fremde] than any human being before him ..." What makes this passage so compelling is the manner in which Kafka, in four short lines, manages to distil everything ambiguous and terrifying about the erotic relation into a scene which, otherwise, could almost pass for sentimental.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:560166 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Kuzma, Joseph Dlaboha |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/47816/ |
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