'Blumfeld, the elder bachelor' is a short story by Kafka. It is around 40 pages long. It deals with Blumfeld who upon ariving at his apartment where he stays alone, one night, after having thought once again about the prospect of buying himself a dog, discovers that two elastic balls are there to greet him, bouncing up and down on their own.
As the story develops the balls persist to move on their own, and appear to be following Blumfeld's moves, from behind, as if he is their respectable employer. Blumfeld only finds some counter-measures against the balls in regards to how much noise they make by bouncing, by carefully placing some small carpets below them, and therefore neutralising part of their ability to be heard. In this way he manages to at least get some sleep, although he is again woken up by the balls, which have found a way, working all through the night, to free themselves of the carpets, while remaining loyal to their calculated routes which have to be close to Blumfeld.
Later on he manages to give them away, or rather abandon them, to two girls of elementary school age. His original plan was to donate them to the son of his woman-servant, but due to the timidity and low intelligence of that boy in the end he is forced to give up and choose the girls over him.
The story has some undertones of psychosomatic problems, which Kafka had as it is known from his diaries. The bouncing balls ofcourse can symbolise a multitude of things, but a psychosomatic problem is easily one of them, if one takes into account their semi-dependence on how Blumfeld is moving, which is like the dependance of a hypochondiac symptom from the conscious observation of it by its sufferer. Also it would definately have been easy for Kafka to focus on such a problem, since it would be readily observable, moreover for a person with a schizoid personality and an ability to use symbolism.
I hadnt read the story in a while, and started reading it this afternoon with some joy, remembering the first time i had looked at it. I was in London, one summer, in 1999, and had brought the book with me, and i was laying down on the grass in St. James park preparing to re-read some parts of the stories, However i was very surprised to find another story, this of Blumfeld, which had not been noticed by me before. Definately it was a very pleasant surprise, and i think that i went on to read the entire tale there.
The story uses many of Kafka's ussual ways of describing his world. One reads everything from the point of view of the main character, who sheds light around him as he moves around, or recollects his past. There are very few descriptions of colours, and even none at all in the first pages. The room is described, but the sense of orientation is not perfect, due to the lack of characterisations about its size, and the various bits and pieces of furniture. The two bouncing balls in reality help bring the space into existence, since it is their own movements which allow for more descriptions that provide slowly a bigger sense of orientation.
I will note more things after i have read again the entire story.
As the story develops the balls persist to move on their own, and appear to be following Blumfeld's moves, from behind, as if he is their respectable employer. Blumfeld only finds some counter-measures against the balls in regards to how much noise they make by bouncing, by carefully placing some small carpets below them, and therefore neutralising part of their ability to be heard. In this way he manages to at least get some sleep, although he is again woken up by the balls, which have found a way, working all through the night, to free themselves of the carpets, while remaining loyal to their calculated routes which have to be close to Blumfeld.
Later on he manages to give them away, or rather abandon them, to two girls of elementary school age. His original plan was to donate them to the son of his woman-servant, but due to the timidity and low intelligence of that boy in the end he is forced to give up and choose the girls over him.
The story has some undertones of psychosomatic problems, which Kafka had as it is known from his diaries. The bouncing balls ofcourse can symbolise a multitude of things, but a psychosomatic problem is easily one of them, if one takes into account their semi-dependence on how Blumfeld is moving, which is like the dependance of a hypochondiac symptom from the conscious observation of it by its sufferer. Also it would definately have been easy for Kafka to focus on such a problem, since it would be readily observable, moreover for a person with a schizoid personality and an ability to use symbolism.
I hadnt read the story in a while, and started reading it this afternoon with some joy, remembering the first time i had looked at it. I was in London, one summer, in 1999, and had brought the book with me, and i was laying down on the grass in St. James park preparing to re-read some parts of the stories, However i was very surprised to find another story, this of Blumfeld, which had not been noticed by me before. Definately it was a very pleasant surprise, and i think that i went on to read the entire tale there.
The story uses many of Kafka's ussual ways of describing his world. One reads everything from the point of view of the main character, who sheds light around him as he moves around, or recollects his past. There are very few descriptions of colours, and even none at all in the first pages. The room is described, but the sense of orientation is not perfect, due to the lack of characterisations about its size, and the various bits and pieces of furniture. The two bouncing balls in reality help bring the space into existence, since it is their own movements which allow for more descriptions that provide slowly a bigger sense of orientation.
I will note more things after i have read again the entire story.
His bouncing balls make so much noise, he put carpet underneath them? 
You remember what happened in the original dark theme poll #3 due to similar comments 
