The Giant Mole

Franz Kafka

The Complete Works of Franz Kafka 13권 · Continental Press

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"The Giant Mole" ("Der Riesenmaulwurf") is an unfinished short story by Franz Kafka, likely written between 1914 and 1915. It was published posthumously in 1931. The story reflects Kafka's fascination with bureaucracy, misunderstanding, and the struggle for recognition, along with his characteristic blend of the surreal and the mundane. The storys narrator is a schoolmaster who becomes fascinated by reports of a mysterious and enormous mole in a rural area. He dedicates himself to investigating the phenomenon and writing an academic report about it. However, his work is met with skepticism and ridicule, particularly from a newspaper editor whom he hopes will publicize his findings. The editor dismisses the story as unworthy of serious consideration, leaving the schoolmaster increasingly alienated and consumed by his quest for acknowledgment. Kafka uses the giant mole as a symbol of the absurd and the unknowable, illustrating the difficulties of communicating and legitimizing ones efforts in a world governed by dismissive authority and rigid conventions. The schoolmasters frustration parallels Kafkas own feelings about his literary work, particularly his struggles with validation and the reception of his writings. The storys unfinished nature adds to its enigmatic quality, leaving readers to ponder the ultimate fate of the schoolmaster and his obsessive pursuit of the truth about the giant mole.

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A Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, Kafka's work, which fuses elements of realism and the fantastic, typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. His writings, such as "The Metamorphosis" and "The Trial," explore themes of alienation, existential anxiety, and guilt, and are influential in modernist literature.