„den letzten Zipfel des Gebetsmantels“ – Komische Inkongruenzen und ‚religiöser Humor‘ in Franz Kafkas Tagebuchaufzeichnungen und Briefen

Abstract

Kafka’s humor and the comic aspects of his texts recently have been focused extensively by scholars. Both can be observed particularly in Kafka’s confrontation with his religious environment. This is pointed out on the example of his diaries and letters. Referring to Henri Bergson, Kafka’s specific comical imagery is shown as an effect of the observed incongruencies between assimilated Western Judaism and Hasidic Judaism. With reference to Felix Weltsch and Søren Kierkegaard, Kafka’s humor is emphasized as an expression of his own religious inquiries.

Keywords

• Franz Kafka
• humor
• comic
• Judaism