Here, Kafka precisely describes the activity of the (male only) flaneur, who emerged in the second half of the 19th century. Much later, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the concept of the flaneur was taken up and modified in new, playful and analytical ways as psycho-geography: one walks about, or has only an abstract destination in mind, one’s movement influenced by all kinds of situations – and one thus experiences being alive.

This, however, does not only apply to walking, but also to writing, which develops in the process of writing; similarly, this is also true for hearing or tasting, even in love or in life itself.