Abstract:

In Franz Kafka's novel The Castle, the protagonist K. claims that he is a land surveyor by profession. However, K. has no land to survey, which undermines the certainty of K.'s profession. Why, then, did Kafka choose this ancient profession for his protagonist? The uncertainty of K.'s identity, the paper claims, implies that K. is in essence an explorer of existence. Thus, Kafka was a pioneer of existentialist writers. Giorgio Agamben argues that the protagonist K. gets the name from kardo, an old instrument for land surveying. The land surveyor's work is to establish and to break boundaries — not only those between lands, but also those between men, between man and deities, and between men and their selves. Man's existence lies forever between boundary establishment and abolishment.

Key words: Franz Kafka, The Castle, K., land surveyor