"THE GATE TO JUSTICE IS LEARNING"

Walter Benjamin, Illuminations, edited and with an introduction by Hannah Arendt , translated from the German by Harry Zohn (New York: Schocken Books, 1978) (From "Franz Kafka: On the Tenth Anniversary of His Death": "Werner Kraft once wrote an interpretation of this story [Franz Kafka's K.). After giving careful attention to every detail of the text, Kraft notes: 'Nowhere else in literature is there such a powerful and penetrating criticism of the myth in its full scope.' According to Kraft, Kafka does not use the world 'justice,' yet it is justice which serves as the point of departure for his critique of the myth. But pnce we have reached this point, we are in danger of missing Kafka by stopping here. Is it really law which could thus be invoked against the mythic in the name of justice? No, as a legal scholar Bucephalus remains true to his origins, except that he does not seem to be practicing law--and this is probably something new, in Kafka's sense, for both Bucephalus and the bar. The law which is studied and not practiced any longer is the gate to justice." "The gate to justice is learning." Id. at 111, 139.).