KAFKAESQUE METAPHOROLOGY: FROM THE THEATRUM MUNDI TO THE ABSOLUTE METAPHOR OF CINEMA

Abstract

Benjamin maintained that Kafka’s world is a Universal Theatre. In this article we maintain, however, that the «absolute metaphor» (Blumenberg) of the world as theater is not enough to understand the Kafkaesque universe. There is another absolute metaphor, which has barely been explored, that perfectly complements that of theater: the world as a film or as cinema. The analysis of some passages from Kafka’s diaries and his conversation with Janouch, as well as writings by Benjamin and Adorno, will allow us to demonstrate that, for Kafka, the accelerated modern world resembles a film, whose images pass so quickly that they can barely be fixed on a set of gestures that are difficult to interpret. Finally, we will argue that these gestures perfectly express the Stimmung of Kafka’s time.