Kafka's "Fat Man"

Deciphering Kafka's "Description of a Struggle" (2/2)

As I said last week, let’s dive back into Kafka’s “Description of a Struggle,” specifically the “Fat Man” section (PDF, pp. 44 to 68), which I believe should get its own dedicated post. Indeed, this is not a straightforward narrative! Kafka introduces a complex, intertwined structure, replicating the story’s surreal and disorienting effect. The tale unfolds like a set of Russian dolls (think One Thousand and One Nights) or a big-fish-eats-little-fish arrangement, each layer exposing a fresh and stranger subplot.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Big Fish Eat Little Fish, 1556.

At the outermost layer, we find the frame story we discussed in last week’s post. It centres on the unnamed narrator and his eccentric acquaintance wandering the streets of Prague. However, this frame soon dissolves, propelling the narrator into a phantasmagoric journey where he mounts his friend’s back and alters the cityscape through the power of his mind. But wait, there’s more! This sequence gives way to a new layer—t…