Into the white

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"Into the white" lays bare a hidden overall logic in Kafka's work. Kafka's fictitious characters, instead of restoring an initial balance - as it is the case in most fiction -, do everything they can to maintain the imbalance. The book shows that this should be linked to Kafka's own relationship to his calling as a writer. Although 'called', Kafka always felt that he could never really 'enter the gate of his vocation': he could only wait before the open but unapproachable entrance. Writing carried a promise for Kafka that was unfulfillable. Hence, by keeping open the imbalance of its fictitious characters, Kafka's prose tries to sustain the promise.