Jan Kott
A CAGE IN SEARCH OF A BIRD
For Stefan Z6kiewski
In his admira ble study,
On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism,
Gershom Scholem cites a pa rable from
Patrologia Graeca
which
Origen has included in hi s commenta ry on the Psalms, a ttributing it
to an unknown ra bbi from the T a lmudic Academy in C ae a rea . The
Bible and all the sac red tex ts a re like a cas tle with thou ands and
thousands of rooms. At the foo t of the doo r
to
each room lies a key,
but a key to
another
door.
It is entirely poss ible tha t Ka fk a knew thi s pa rable. But I am
not conce rned here with the direc t influence, as philologists under–
stand it , of the K abba lah on K a fk a's symbolism . I am more inter–
es ted in the
reading
of this pa rable. Wha t is a wrong key? A wrong key
is the right key - for a nother door. This distinction between right
and wrong keys may be a rbitra ry, and is appa rent onl y with
reference to one doo r . Perhaps a nother di stinction is more to the
point: doo rs onl y, a nd not keys, a re e ither ri ght or wrong. There a re
no wrong keys, but each key fit s just one lock. The one and onl y key
that opens eve ry doo r is the fa lse key, the lock picker's key.
0
key is
false in the pa rable a bout keys by the T a lmudist from C aesarea;
howeve r , every key opens just one door , and all the keys have been
intercha nged .
But by whom? Who has interchanged the keys? And why? Was
it chance o r a n unfo reseeable interve ntion of cosmic fo rces? Was it
UFOs o r a prac ti cal j oke? Simple mi sma nagement or a se rvant's
revenge? Or maybe it was a tri a l se t up by the cas tle's wa rden , or
even by the Lo rd . Who has the a nswer?
A key is a n obj ec t; it could a lso be a prop . "The spirit becomes
free," writes Ka fk a in hi s
R dfections on Sin, Pain, H ope and the True
This essay was tra nslated from Polish by Michael Kott.
