THE NEED FOR MYSTERY AND TRUTH

“When Kafka saw a crime novel among the books in my briefcase, he said,

“There is no need to be ashamed of reading such things. Dostoievski’s Crime and Punishment is after all only a crime novel. and Shakespeare’s Hamlet? It is a detective story. At the heart of the action is a mystery, which is gradually brought to light. But is there a greater mystery than the truth? Poetry is always an expedition in search of truth.”

“But what is truth?”

Kafka was silent, then gave a sly smile.

“That sounds as if you had caught me out in an empty phrase. In fact, it is not so. Truth is what every person needs in order to live, but can obtain or purchase from no one. Each person must reproduce it for themselves from within, otherwise they must perish. Life without truth is not possible. Truth is perhaps life itself.”

from Gustav Janouch, “Conversations with Kafka”

Franz Kafka