Investigations of a Dog

Investigations of a Dog (German: Forschungen eines Hundes) is a short story by Franz Kafka written in 1922. It was published posthumously in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer (Berlin, 1931). Told from the perspective of a dog, the story concerns the nature and limits of knowledge, by way of the dog's inquiries into the practices of his culture.



Investigations of a Dog was written in September and October 1922, soon after Kafka ended work on his unfinished novel The Castle. Similar to other Kafka stories such as A Report to an Academy, Josephine the Singer, and The Burrow, the protagonist is an animal.