A Letter to Felice

A detailed Summary of A Letter to Felice

Examples of amae can also be found in Kafka's letters. Especially relevant in this context is a passage in a letter

to his fiance Felice Bauer (The Basic Kafka, pp. 286f) which he regarded as so important that he also noted it in

his diary and quoted it in a letter to his friend Max Brod, where he even proposes it as his epitaph.

The fact that Kafka copied this text twice shows how important it was to him. This is also indicated by the

expression "ultimate aim." It seems that Kafka here reveals an essential element of his view of life. Since he

takes the passage out of the context in two cases we may assume that he regards it as self-contained. Thus

one may interpret it without reference to the context.

In the first sentence, Kafka denies any highest moral authority ("a supreme tribunal") and any idea of absolute

moral values ("strive to be good"). Rather, and this he sees as "very much the opposite," he wants to be

"pleasing to everyone." What matters to him are not universal and absolute values but human relationships. This

is clearly opposed to the mainstream of the European tradition as it is for instance expressed in Kant's

categorical imperative ( "Act only on that maxim that you can a

creature; for me it is the only way to maintain an even keel, my boat is fragile." Then, after the passage referred

"actual" is not in the German original)? His deceiving should correspond to what was said above with reference

he really wants, and in this sense he seems to deceive them, is to "act out my inherent baseness." He does not

everyone's indulgence he wishes to behave ki-mama or even waga-mama, both central notions of the

Takeo Doi lists among the vocabulary of amae. Kafka seems to allow the others to amaeru by responding to their

from the point of view of the psychology of amae it seems to me, the aim of his letter can be understood: he

Approximate Word count = 958
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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