ABSTRACT

Franz Kafka (1923), an expert on paranoia, gave a vivid description of some of the characteristics of the paranoid personality in his story ‘The burrow.’ The story is written in the first person by some unidentified creature describing the construction of his hidden underground burrow. I shall quote some excerpts from the beginning of the story:

I have completed the construction of my burrow and it seems to be successful. All that can be seen from outside is a big hole.That, however, really leads nowhere . . . True, some ruses are so subtle that they defeat themselves. I know that better than anyone . . . but you do not know me if you think I am afraid or that I built my burrow simply out of fear . . . Someone could step on the moss or break through it and then my burrow would lie open and anybody who liked – please note,however, that quite uncommon abilities would also be required – could make his way in and destroy everything for good. I know that very well and even now, at the zenith of my life, I can scarcely pass an hour in complete tranquility . . . All this involves very laborious calculations and the sheer pleasure of the mind in its own keenness is often the sole reason why one keeps it up . . . For despite all my vigilance may I not be attacked from some quite unexpected quarter? . . . I certainly have the advantage of being in my own house and knowing all the passages and how they run. A robber may very easily become my victim and a succulent one, too . . . And it is not only by external enemies that I am threatened, there are also enemies in the bowels of the earth . . . But the most

beautiful thing about my burrow is the stillness. Of course, that is deceptive. At any moment it may be shattered and then all would be over.