I think the writer here is resisting Kafka's message.<p>In a classic adventure, the hero fights bravely against the odds and succeeds. In Kafka, the hero fights bravely against the odds and fails. Like Camus, Kafka finds vitality (not hope!) in the impossible struggle.
>“The true way is along a rope that is not spanned high in the air, but only just above the ground. It seems intended more to cause stumbling than to be walked along.”<p>Is this a reference to Nietzsche?
The full essay is available on Gwern's site - <a href="https://gwern.net/doc/fiction/humor/1922-kafka-investigationsofadog.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://gwern.net/doc/fiction/humor/1922-kafka-investigation...</a>