Traum-Schrecken

Kafka, paranoic doubles and the brain: hypnagogic vs. hyper-reflexive models of disrupted self in neuropsychiatric disorders and anomalous conscious states

“…Kurz [14] observes that "the wriggling out of the horses from out of the door-whole ( Türloch ) describes a process, which has an erotic meaning" (p. 121, my translation). But it is not only that, the process also suggests a birth.…”

“…Let us start with Kafka's early story, " Unhappiness " (written in 1910) [ 10 ]. For our purposes, we may start with nearly any of Kafka's stories to demonstrate the same structure of doubling [ 10 - 14 ], i.e., of the writer's self in the protagonist, iii and then, a further doubling of the protagonist in the characters he encounters. iv…”

“…It is also known that he drew from hypnagogic imagery in his stories [ 40 ]. In his Diaries , Kafka describes his nocturnal writing as conducted "entirely in darkness, deep in his workshop" [ 26 ], p. 518; see also [ 14 ]. As Kafka reports, writing without sleep enables access to unusual thoughts and associations which otherwise would be inaccessible: "How easily everything can be said as if a great fire had been prepared for all these things in which the strangest thoughts emerge and again disappear" [ 26 ], pp.…”

“…The man, a servant, who eventually overpowers the doctor, is often interpreted as representing the doctor's/Kafka's primitive instinctual side. He is somehow acquainted with the doctor's thoughts and wishes without the doctor having to express them [ 14 ], p. 120. In a dream (or fictive narrative) all characters are to a certain extent projections of the dreamer's/author's mind.…”

“…These are unusually familiar gestures for a first meeting. xx The ensuing dialogue occurs like a "conversation with oneself" ( Selbstgespraech ) [ 14 ], p. 125. The youth asks the doctor to let him die, but the doctor believes there is nothing wrong with him.…”