Poseidon (Kafka)

Poseidon is a small piece of prose of Franz Kafka from the year 1920.

The sea god Poseidon is here presented as a dissatisfied manager of water,, do not really know his own profession, namely the sea.

Formation

In the fall of 1920, Kafka broke away from his lover Milena Jesenska. In a productive push a series of short prose pieces were produced. These are, The City Arms, The helmsman, at night, Community, Our little town is situated ... (also known under the title Rejection of 1920 ), the question of law, the levy of troops, Testing, The Vulture, The gyro, Small fable and just even Poseidon. These small plants with their inner contexts Kafka has not even published, the title was mainly produced by Max Brod.

Content

Poseidon is sitting at the desk and provides on calculations of the water, he has to manage. For his work he could rely on unskilled labor, but she does prefer himself with his work, he is unhappy. But all considerations of how to deal with it differently, lead to no result, since he ultimately wants to accept another job.

Above all, Poseidon angry at the idea that people commonly forms of it, namely, that he continually kutschiert with his trident by the floods. Instead, he sits in the depths of the oceans, calculates continuously and has barely seen the seas themselves. Only sometimes when he makes a trip to Jupiter, which he mostly angry returns, he sees the sea volatile when piece ascent to Olympus. He thinks he should probably wait until the end of the world until a quiet moment will arise and he could make a small tour of the sea.

Form

The little story consists of two paragraphs. The narrative perspective is not unique and shifts between the first and second paragraph. Not Poseidon says, but an anonymous figure next to him. An impersonal " one " perspective from a waiting obviously above Poseidon looks down on him and on his grievances and grumblings. It strives apparently about handling things in the sense of Poseidon. The following passages from the first paragraph testify:

• "You could not possibly be him ... "
• "If you then made him different proposals ... "
• " And he was offered a position outside ... "
• "By the way no one took his complaints actually serious ... "

Who is this " you " of the work sensibilities of the sea god half dealt with carefully, but ultimately negated? It could be a greater God, maybe Zeus, the chief of the Greek gods. But then even the supreme god was just a working administrator and bureaucrat. One, obviously, this higher court looks with clear irony to the sea god.

The second paragraph is completely dominated by the unwillingness of Poseidon, his own view appears now though more pronounced, but again he is not the narrator.

Text analysis

So Poseidon has infinite work with the management of the waters, which he calculated. What he actually calculates whether tides, flooding, certain water levels, we do not know and can therefore assess whether it is meaningful work either. So is also the question of whether Poseidon is unhappy because of senseless work, do not answer. Poseidon comes to meet us like a grumpy official who quarrels with his work responsibilities, but ultimately can not solve them, because to do otherwise would not satisfy him. " [ S] a divine breath fell into disarray, his brazen chest swaying " at the idea of ​​working out of the water. Of course, he was " since the very beginning [ ... ] has been appointed as god of the seas ."

The point whether Poseidon has also counted from the very beginning to exclusively is not addressed. But our current conception of Poseidon, as he crosses with his trident the floods, but somewhere must have their origin. But this current conception angry Poseidon in particular. He just sits reckoning on the seabed and knows the seas barely. This means, however, he managed something that he does not know, an evil and a typical manifestation of bureaucracy.

If one were from this story the few divine attributes, replacing "Poseidon" eg " Dr. K., "it would be the perfect description of an official world.

Poseidon sees the seas only fleetingly in the ascent to his trips to Jupiter. These trips are now seeing subject. Jupiter is the chief of the Roman gods. Why is the Greek god Poseidon goes to the top Roman god? Perhaps related to the change of the gods together, the degradation of Poseidon? Has a meaning or is it simply an oversight Kafka?

The small piece ends almost serene. But Poseidon's notion that he means what he has failed in his professional life, which is to sail the seas, in a "quiet [n ] moment " of world destruction would be able to catch up, seems very bizarre, because these two elements are incompatible.

Relation to other work Kafka

In this piece of prose occur a whole lot of Kafka typical themes, and there are various references to a number of other works. Poseidon does not trust his assistants, as well as the two helmsmen from The helmsman, the team did not use to steer the ship or the surveyor K. of The Castle does not feel his two assistants as helpful. Another reference to the castle is that the perspective is reversed. In the distant castle high officials are the subject of village monitoring and longing. Even divine - - Officials presented, but there is nothing sublime in Poseidon were, the top one is us.

An internal reference is to see the new lawyer. There transforms the steed of Alexander of Macedon, including a mythical figure, in a lawyer and immerses himself in the old books, but he does not suffer from this change.

From the same creative period as Poseidon comes The city arms. Here organizational and bureaucratic barriers at the Tower of Babel are presented, which can only be lifted by the longed-for destruction of the city. So here is a hope for the clarifying and purifying function of destruction.

Quotes

• [ ... ] If a mighty torments, one must him apparently even in the most hopeless matter yield to try;
• He used to say he was waiting so until the end of the world, then will probably still result in a silent moment he just before the end, after reviewing the final bill still fast a small tour will be able to make.

Text output

• Poseidon.. Created 1920 First published: Description of a Struggle. Edited by Max Brod. Prague 1936, pp. 100 et seq. ( Title by Max Brod)
• Poseidon: Franz Kafka: All narratives. Edited by Paul Raabe. Frankfurt q.s. 1977. Pp. 405 ISBN 3-596-21078- x
• Franz Kafka: The narratives original version. Edited by Roger Hermes. Frankfurt q.s. 1997. ISBN 3-596-13270-3
• Franz Kafka: Posthumous writings and fragments II Edited by Jost Schillemeit. Fischer, Frankfurt q.s. 1992, p 300-302.