SOURCE: Band, Arnold. “The Kafka-Agnon Polarities.” In The Dove and the Mole: Kafka's Journey into Darkness and Creativity, edited by Moshe Lazar and Ronald Gottesman, pp. 151-60. Malibu, Calif.: Undena, 1987.

In the following chapter from a book of essays on Franz Kafka, Band reviews previous criticism comparing Kafka's and Agnon's writings, arguing that many of the alleged similarities in the works of the two writers have been overemphasized.

The comparison of Kafka with other writers of the modern period has become such a beaten path in Kafkakunde that one often shudders upon encountering another “Kafka and …” study. Despite this academic ennui, we should, nevertheless, discriminate between comparisons that are gratuitous and those that are grounded and illuminating. In referring to the Kafka-Agnon polarities, I am attempting to avoid the tedious “Kafka and …” formula while calling attention to an area of research virtually unknown in Kafkaist circles since it...