The Burrow (Der Bau)
after Franz Kafka
by and with Max Simonischek
by and with Max Simonischek
Kafka’s short story The Burrow is the account of an underground world in which happiness and paranoia are closely related. It describes the mental landscape of some kind of anthropomorphised animal. This creature – a sentient Kafkaesque animal – lives life on an intellectual crusade. It is caught in a permanent state of panic directed at the outside world, against possible intruders and anything unfamiliar. The smallest noise causes the burrower maximum stress.
The Burrow is a parable about how society constantly creates risks by trying to prevent them. As in all of Kafka’s stories, the creatures, animals and people are mercilessly driven by the consequences of their actions and thoughts, and for the most part, have lost all sense of reality.
The Burrow is a parable about how society constantly creates risks by trying to prevent them. As in all of Kafka’s stories, the creatures, animals and people are mercilessly driven by the consequences of their actions and thoughts, and for the most part, have lost all sense of reality.