- Emily Troscianko: http://www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/660-3008/Dr-Emily-Troscianko.html - Web Art Science Camp London 2010: http://webartsciencecamp.org

1. Franz Kafka, 1883-1924
The Literary Science of the ‘Kafkaesque’

2. Change Blindness Demo: Gradual Change
Used in Simons, D.J., Franconeri, S.L., and Reimer, R.L. (2000) ‘Change blindness in the absence of a visual
disruption’, Perception 29: 1143–1154.
what changes in this video?

3. Franz Kafka, Das Schloβ
Da blieb Barnabas stehen. Wo waren sie? Gieng es nicht mehr weiter?
Würde Barnabas K. verabschieden? Es würde ihm nicht gelingen. K.
hielt Barnabas' Arm fest, daß es fast ihn selbst schmerzte. Oder sollte
das Unglaubliche geschehen sein, und sie waren schon im Schloß oder
vor seinen Toren? Aber sie waren ja, soweit K. wußte, gar nicht
gestiegen. Oder hatte ihn Barnabas einen so unmerklich ansteigenden
Weg geführt? „Wo sind wir?“ fragte K. leise, mehr sich als ihn.
Then Barnabas stopped. Where were they? Weren’t they going on?
Would Barnabas take his leave? He wouldn’t be able to. K. held
Barnabas’ arm so tightly that he himself almost felt the pain. Or should
the inconceivable have occurred, and they were already in the Castle or
before its gates? But as far as K. was aware, they hadn’t climbed at all.
Or had Barnabas led him on such an imperceptibly climbing path?
“Where are we?” K. asked quietly, more to himself than to Barnabas.
Das Schloβ, ed. Malcolm Pasley (New York: Schocken, 1982), 50-1

4. Franz Kafka, Der Proceß
Da erinnerte sich K. daß er das Weggehn des Aufsehers und
der der Wächter gar nicht bemerkt hatte, der Aufseher hatte
ihm die drei Beamten verdeckt und nun wieder die Beamten
den Aufseher. Viel Geistesgegenwart bewies das nicht und K.
nahm sich vor, sich in dieser Hinsicht genauer zu beobachten.
Then K. remembered that he hadn’t noticed at all the
departure of the inspector or that of the guards, the inspector
had hidden the three clerks from him and then the clerks in
turn the inspector. That did not testify to great presence of
mind, and K. resolved to be more careful in this regard in
future.
Der Proceß, ed. Malcolm Pasley (New York: Schocken, 1990), 28-9

5. ‘we enact the world by skillful exploration’ (Noë forthcoming, 18).
‘we enact the world by skillful exploration’
Alva Noë (2005), ‘Real presence’, Philosophical Topics 33: 244

6. Enactivism lets us
escape from the
Cartesian Theatre
(Dennett)

7. Franz Kafka, Der Proceß
Jemand mußte Josef K. verleumdet haben, denn ohne daß er etwas Böses getan
hätte, wurde er eines Morgens verhaftet. Die Köchin der Frau Grubach, seiner
Zimmervermieterin, die ihm jeden Tag gegen acht Uhr früh das Frühstück brachte,
kam diesmal nicht. Das war noch niemals geschehn. K. wartete noch ein
Weilchen, sah von seinem Kopfkissen aus die alte Frau die ihm gegenüber wohnte
und die ihn mit einer an ihr ganz ungewöhnlichen Neugierde beobachtete, dann
aber, gleichzeitig befremdet und hungrig, läutete er. Sofort klopfte es und ein
Mann, den er in dieser Wohnung noch niemals gesehen hatte trat ein. […] „Wer
sind Sie?“ fragte K. und saß gleich halb aufrecht im Bett.
Someone must have falsely accused Josef K., because without his having done
anything wrong, one morning he was arrested. His landlady Frau Grubach’s cook,
who brought him his breakfast at about eight o’clock every morning, didn’t come
this time. That had never happened before. He waited a little while longer, saw
from his pillow the old woman who lived opposite and who was watching him
with a quite uncharacteristic curiosity, but then, at once disconcerted and hungry,
he rang the bell. Instantly there was a knock at the door, and a man whom he had
never seen in the house before came in. […] “Who are you?” K. asked, and
immediately half sat up in bed.
Der Proceß, ed. Malcolm Pasley (New York: Schocken, 1990), 7

8. Pilot Study, Bristol Grammar School, December 2006
Franz Kafka, The Castle
Chapter 1: Arrival
It was late evening when K. arrived. The village lay deep in snow. There was nothing
to be seen of the castle hill, fog and darkness surrounded it, not even the faintest
glimmer of light hinted at the great castle. For a long time K. stood on the wooden
bridge that leads from the country road to the village and looked up into the apparent
emptiness.
[…]
This is the opening paragraph of Kafka’s final, unfinished novel, The Castle.
On the separate paper provided, please draw as well as you can the image this
passage conjures up for you.

19. Pilot Study, Bristol Grammar School, December 2006
Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5 your reactions to the text, by placing a number after each
question to indicate your response.
1 = no, definitely not ----------------------------------------------------------- 5 = yes, definitely
1. Is this description realistic?
2. Can you imagine clearly the scene that is described?
3. Is your image of the scene seen from a particular point of view?
4. Is your image of the scene seen from the point of view of the character in the text?
5. Does the scene seem visually and spatially logical to you?
6. Do you identify with the character in the text?
7. Does the passage make a strong impact on you?
8. Is the passage written in a ‘literary’ style?
9. Are you keen to find out what happens next?
10. Compared to other fiction that you read, does the passage give you more of a mental image of
what is described?
11. Compared to other fiction that you read, does the passage emotionally affect you more?
12. Compared to other fiction that you read, does this passage force you to work harder to create
a mental image of what is described?

20. Pilot Study, Bristol Grammar School, December 2006
Which of the following statements best describes how you imagine the scene?
Please tick one.
1. My image of the scene is perfectly clear and as vivid as normal vision.
2. My image of the scene is clear and reasonably vivid.
3. My image of the scene is moderately clear and vivid.
4. My image of the scene is vague and dim.
5. I have no image at all of the scene, I only ‘know’ that I am thinking of it.
Please add in the space below any further comments on your impressions of the
text or of the scene it conjures up for you.

21. Kafkaesk/Kafkaesque (adj.)
in der Art der Schilderungen Kafkas; auf rätselvolle Weise
bedrohlich
(Duden, 1999)
(of a situation, atmosphere, etc.) impenetrably oppressive,
nightmarish, in a manner characteristic of the fictional world
of Franz Kafka
(Oxford English Reference Dictionary, 2002)

22. The ‘Kafkaesque’: compelling yet unsettling…
…because cognitively realistic

23. MY CURRENT RESEARCH
Investigating the cognitive realisms of
Realism and Modernism
through
attention, agency, emotion, and memory
emily.troscianko@sjc.ox.ac.uk

24. An Empirical Study on Reader Responses
Thank you for agreeing to take part in this study. You will be reading a short story (of around
1,300 words) divided into 34 short segments of up to four sentences. I would like you to
respond orally, in English, to each segment. Please read a segment and then describe any and
all aspects of your reading experience: any thoughts, feelings, interpretations, evaluations,
personal memories, ideas or images that are conjured up for you by what you read. It will be
helpful if you can give some indication of the segment you are currently responding to, for
instance by quoting a few words of it. You need not respond to any given segment if you feel
no inclination to do so. If after reading the whole story you would like to say anything more
general about your experience, please do.
Please use the down-arrow on the keyboard to begin reading, and to move on to the next
segment when you are ready.
After you have read the story there will be three supplementary questions for you to answer.
Please come to ask me now if anything is unclear – or at any subsequent point if there is any
problem.
Otherwise, please now say your name clearly.
And now, please press the down-arrow if you are ready to begin reading.

25. Sample text segments
Wir lagerten in der Oase Gemalja. Die Gefährten schliefen.

26. Ein Beduiner, hoch und weiß, gieng an mir vorüber, er hatte die Kamele versorgt
und ging zum Schlafplatz.

27. Ich warf mich rücklings ins Gras, über mir das ungeheuere Firmament, ich wollte
schlafen, ich konnte nicht, das Klagegeheul eines Schakals in der Ferne, ich saß
wieder aufrecht.

28. „Rede nicht so laut“, sagte ich, „es schlafen Araber in der Nähe.“

29. „Du hast recht, Herr“, sagte er, „wir lassen sie bei ihrem Beruf, auch ist es Zeit
aufzubrechen. Nun gesehen hast du sie. Wunderbare Tiere, nicht wahr? Und wie
sie uns hassen!“
(The End)
(please press the down-arrow again when you have said all you want to)

30. Additional questions
Thank you for reading the story. There are now three questions for you to
answer. Please introduce your answers by saying ‘question one’, ‘question two’,
and ‘question 3’ respectively.

31. Question 1:
Do you remember having read the story before? If so, can you name the story or
say anything else about it?

32. Question 2:
If you have not read the story before, can you make a guess at the author and/or
period or genre of the text?

33. Question 3:
Please say briefly what each of these terms means to you, if anything:
a) surrealist
b) the Absurd
c) Kafkaesque
d) realistic

34. That’s it!
Thank you!
Please say if you would like to be sent the results of the experiment once it is
completed.
Please now leave everything as it is, and complete the two questionnaires on
paper.
When you have completed them, please leave them here, and come to let me
know you’ve finished.
Thank you again, immensely, for your time and your invaluable help.

35. Sample responses 1
1. Short sentences. Lots of sleeping.
3. Sleeping again, and ‘Schakale’ – reminds me of Schakale und Araber.
4. Distances are coming closer into you – it’s claustrophobic.
8. ‘fauchend’ – reminds me of my cat. Again […?], the claustrophobia of them
circling around him.
10. There’s so much sleeping! – ‘es schlafen Araber’
11. Strange with the animals talking to the man – it’s like being in an odd dream. But
it’s so normal to him.
13. That’s a horrible image of the dog breathing quickly – it makes your heart beat
faster when you read it. And you get scared by their mentioning taking the blood, and
that will be the end of the fight – you worry about what’s going to happen.
[…]
21. Horrible bodily images, ‘Knochen’, ‘Klagegeschrei’.
22. They want purity, well it’s not a very pure way of getting it. Dirt and colours and –
oh, the smells that are evoked – it’s all disgusting.
23. ‘…mit dieser Schere mit Hilfe deiner alles vermögenden Hände die Hälse durch’ –
that’s awful. It’s really revolting. It makes you feel a bit sick to imagine him having to
do that. And it’s ridiculous that he’s supposed to do it with nail scissors that are rusty.
But they think it’s so simple; it’s not simple. I’m starting to see them as ridiculous, the
animals.

36. 24. That’s nice, to have another human in the picture; it was getting a bit odd, a bit too
strange and unnerving. I think I feel a bit relieved that the Arab man’s come and
confirmed that these dogs are a bit crazy – I don’t know what’s true or not, but it’s a
feeling of relief.
[…]
30. Oh, it’s horrible images of blood and the neck cutting through the throat,
‘Schlagader’ und ‘rasende Pumpe’ and so much blood. ‘…zuckte jede Muskel’ – ah.
I’ve got a lump in my throat – it hurts – I find it really disgusting, what they’re doing.
31. (sighs deeply) I can’t stand this image of this camel being torn apart, lying there in a
pool of blood, it really, it’s really really disturbing me; I can’t actually concentrate on
anything else apart from this image.
32. I’m actually finding it difficult to read the next passage, because I just see this camel,
and the blood, and it’s disgusting, and it’s unfair.
34. Why ‘wunderbare Tiere’, why? (sighs) It’s really tiring; it’s tiring to read that. My
head hurts and I have a lump in my throat, and I don’t really understand what I’ve just
read, I just have horrible images of blood and tearing bodies apart and I’d have to read it
again to really actually take in what’s just happened.

37. Sample responses 2
[…]
26. That’s absurd! Why are these scissors always walking with them? I feel I should
realize something by now which I haven’t realized – something, it seems like this
statement is mean to clarify things, like the end of a fairytale. But the Arabic guy
seems to be really friendly […]
27. So they approach everyone, he says, and tell everyone this big story; but why these
scissors? […] but he’s very sympathetic – he’s saying, but we like them, they’re just
clowns, and everything’s fine; that’s very relaxing in the end, very calming-down, in a
way; but why is there this camel – is that just changing the topic?
28. Aha, so we have a corpse here, and they want to eat now, and is it that they’re
going to be more – are they going to comply more now, given that they’ll have some
food? ‘mit dem Leib den Boden streifend’ – that sounds really depressed and really –
they failed again, and this camel, is that the same one he fed a couple of sentences
ago? Probably not – so this just seems to serve as a device to make the Schakals accept
their defeat.
29. So they indeed admit defeat: they want to get rid of the Arabs, but the corpse is
just far too attractive; and that’s interesting: that seems to say, you can solve a
tremendous conflict just by finding something that people find more important to share
– if the Arabs today in Israel would forget about their conflict, because they were more
caring about football, then the situation would be solved; and I don’t know if that’s
realistic, but at least it is in this case.

38. […]
30. So he starts sucking and biting the corpse, and that actually sounds really
disgusting; it’s not the Arabs who seems to be disgusting – he’s like a vampire, he
approaches them straightaway, and he knows what he’s doing: he’s like a
professional killer, almost […]
31. That’s sweet! That’s a strange feeling – that sounds really like the conflict’s
over, the children were rebellious, but as soon as you give them some chocolate
they all start complying again, and so it seems they’re all busy now, and
everyone’s fine.
[…]

39. Categories and dimensions derived from subjects’
responses
1. Anticipation/excitement
2. Association
3. Description
4. Discomfort/fear
5. Frustration/annoyance
6. Identification (empathy)
7. Moral judgement/shock
8. Recognition of inconsistency
9. Recognition of pattern
10. Relief/pleasure
11. Speculation/extrapolation
12. Surprise
13. Sympathy/pity
14. Uncertainty/confusion
Positive-Negative
Cognitive-Emotional

40. Results: what Kafka makes us feel