Review: "This Fact Can Even Be Proved..." Charlie's Kafka-esque short story

May 30th sees the release of A Cage Went in Search of a Bird: Ten Kafkaesque Stories, (affiliate link!) in which we’ll find a new short story by Charlie, called ‘This Fact Can Even Be Proved by Means of the Sense of Hearing." HOORAY! I have an early copy of the book—big thanks to Charlie’s UK editor Anna Kelly!—so here comes a relatively spoiler-free review of Kaufman’s latest foray into prose fiction, his first since Antkind back in 2020.

If you want to go in blind as to the story’s general plot but want to know basically what you’re in for, I can tell you that readers of Antkind will find the voice here familiar—Charlie’s style is consistent with Antkind, and we have another self-reflective character obsessing over every little thing, including his own thoughts. Again the story is essentially stream-of-consciousness as our character deals with a Kafkaesque conundrum. So if you liked Antkind, you’ll like this; if you thought Antkind would’ve been better if it were less bloated, give this a try; and if you haven’t tried Antkind, you might want to start with “This Fact Can Be Proved,” because it’s a brief but satisfying taste of what Kaufman in book form is about.

A Cage Went in Search of a Bird

The plot, such as it is—and you might want to skip this paragraph, though what I’m about to say will crop up in the first couple of pages anyway—concerns a writer known only as “I.,” who has reached the Q&A portion of a public reading from his newest book. His interviewer asks about a particular quote from the book… and it’s a quote “I.” doesn’t recognise, one he can’t remember having written, one whose presence in his book he cannot understand. Things gradually spiral out from there as we’re taken along with I. and his obsessive thoughts.

I have a feeling this one was inspired by a nightmare of CK’s, or by a fear of his. Come on, the character is named “I.”

The whole thing is pretty funny and odd, fitting of a Kafka tribute, and it sits comfortably within Charlie’s oeuvre as a whole, especially his most recent stuff. (Well, not Orion.) We know that CK is a Kafka fan, and while he’s loath to talk influences, we can see here where his own work and Kafka’s would meet on a Venn diagram.

Worth noting: Charlie’s bio in the back of this book is sort of hilarious, when you put it alongside the bios of other authors in the collection. I got a good chuckle out of it.

Aside from Charlie’s story, you’re in for 9 other literary takes on Kafka-esque tales, and an intro by Becca Rothfield—an essayist, critic, philosopher and author whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement and Washington Post. Plus her dog is named Kafka apparently. FULLY QUALIFIED FOR THE JOB.

I’ve said a few times, if Charlie ever ditches film for a full-time switch to prose fiction, I’m on board, and his new story doesn’t change my mind.

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