Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor

"Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" (German: "Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle") is an incomplete story by Franz Kafka. Probably written at the beginning of 1915, it first appeared in 1936 in the collection Beschreibung eines Kampfes (Description of a Struggle).

It relates part of the life of Blumfeld, an elderly bachelor, who upon arriving home finds two balls bouncing off the ground of their own accord. The balls follow him wherever he goes, and they clearly annoy him. The action continues into the next day, following his attempt to be rid of the balls. After finding an apparent solution, he goes off to work, where he interacts with those around him.^[1]

An entry from Kafka's Diaries, dated February 9, 1915, could refer to "Blumfeld":

Just now read the beginning. It is ugly and gives me a headache. In spite of all its truth, it is wicked, pedantic, mechanical, a fish barely breathing on a sandbank.^[2]

A reimagining of the story by Carter Scholz is featured in Kafka Americana.

External links

"Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" in A Franz Kafka Encyclopedia

Footnotes

^ Kafka, Franz. The Complete Stories. New York City: Schocken Books, 1971
^ Kafka, Franz. Diaries 1910-1923. New York: Schocken Books, 1988.

Franz Kafka (works)

Novels

The Trial
The Castle
Amerika

Short stories

1902–1912	"Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart" "Description of a Struggle" "Wedding Preparations in the Country" "The Judgment" "The Stoker" The Metamorphosis "The Aeroplanes at Brescia"
1914–1917	"In the Penal Colony" "The Village Schoolmaster" "Before the Law" "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" "A Country Doctor" "The Hunter Gracchus" "The Great Wall of China" "A Message from the Emperor" "A Report to an Academy" "A Dream" "Up in the Gallery" "A Fratricide" "The Next Village" "A Visit to a Mine" "Jackals and Arabs" "The Bridge" "The Bucket Rider" "The New Advocate" "An Old Manuscript" "The Knock at the Manor Gate" "Eleven Sons" "My Neighbor" "A Crossbreed" "The Cares of a Family Man"
1917–1923	"The Refusal" "A Hunger Artist" "Investigations of a Dog" "A Little Woman" "The Burrow" "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" "A Common Confusion" "The Truth about Sancho Panza" "The Silence of the Sirens" "Prometheus" "The City Coat of Arms" "Poseidon" "Fellowship" "At Night" "The Problem of Our Laws" "The Conscription of Troops" "The Test" "The Vulture" "The Helmsman" "The Top" "A Little Fable" "Homecoming" "First Sorrow" "The Departure" "Advocates" "The Married Couple" "Give It Up!" "On Parables"