Das 'Blumfeld-Fragment': vom Unglück verwirklichter Hoffnung. Noch einmal zur Frage der Komik bei Franz Kafka

This article contains a critical survey of the most important interpretations of humour in Kafka and develops a new approach based on the study of the specific aesthetic quality of absurd contradictions in general and their specific function in the ‘Blumfeld’ fragment. In contrast to conventional wisdom, this article does not view the use of humorous effects in Kafka as a distraction from and happy alternative to the ‘sad message’. Rather, literary humour is seen a san aesthetic visualisation of the conflict between the individual with his various concerns and an apparently purposeful world, which, however, when it comes into contact wit the subject does not turn out to be subject-friendly.