CONVERSATIONS WITH KAFKA
173
I quoted, from Grusemann's book on the author of
The Pos–
sessed)
the sentence; "Dostoevsky is a fairy story drenched in blood."
Franz Kafka said in reply, "There are no bloodless fairy stories.
Every fairy story comes from the depths of blood and fear. In this
all
fairy stories are alike. Only the surface differs. Northern fairy
stories lack the exuberant fauna of the imagination found in the
fairy
stories of the African Negro, but the core, the depth of longing,
is
the same."
... Some time later he recommended me to read Frobenius' col–
lection of African folk-tales and fairy stories.
A walk on the quay.
I asked the meaning of the word "Diaspora." Kafka said it
was the Greek expression for the dispersion of the Jewish people.
The Hebrew word is
((Galut.
JJ
He said, "The Jewish people is scattered, as a seed is scattered.
As
a seed of corn absorbs matter from its surroundings, stores it up,
and achieves further growth, so the destiny of the Jews is to absorb
the potentialities of mankind, purify them, and give them a higher
development. Moses is still a reality. As Abiram and Dathan opposed
Moses
with the words
(Lo naale!
We will not go up!' so the world op–
poses
him with the cry of anti-Semitism. In order not to rise to the
human condition, men sink into the dark depths of the zoological
doctrine of race. They beat the Jews, and murder humanity."
"Jews al1d Germans have much in common," said Kafka, in
a conversation about Dr. Karl Kramar. "They are energetic, able,
industrious, and thoroughly detested by everyone else. Jews and
Gennans are outcasts."
"Perhaps they are hated for the very qualities you mention,"
I said.
But Kafka shook his head.
"Oh, no! There is a much deeper reason. In the end, it is a
religious reason. In the case of the Jews, this is clear. In the case of
the Germans, it is not so apparent, because their temple has not yet
been destroyed. But that will come."
"What do you mean?" I said in bewilderment. "After all, the
Gennans are not a theocracy. They have no national God in a
temple of his own."
