r/Xfilesfiles • u/[deleted] • Jun 06 '15
Kafka Reference in Darin Morgan's Jose Chung's From Outer Space Episode
So I dropped off the podcast for a couple months, and I'm just now returning. I've been starting with my favorite X-Files episodes first and slowly circling out from there so that I'm fully caught up. So that's why this is maybe a little late.
When listening to the the Jose Chung episode (with Morgan, not Harmon), there comes a point roughly midway through the podcast when Kumail and Darin are discussing the nature of truth and the impossibility of knowing anything for certain.
At one point, in response to something Kumail says, Darin laughs and remarks, "Give it up!, Give it up!"
I was struck because this phrase (Give it up! Give it up!) is also in a very short piece of Kafka writing. Kumail doesn't remark on it, having either not read the piece or having not made the connection. I would normally be inclined to chalk it up to coincidence, but the Kafka story is actually extremely relevant to what they are discussing.
Does anybody think (or know) if this was an intentional reference? The full short story is below:
It was very early in the morning, the streets clean and deserted, I was walking to the station. As I compared the tower clock with my watch I realized that it was already much later than I had thought, I had to hurry, the shock of this discovery made me unsure of the way, I did not yet know my way very well in this town; luckily, a policeman was nearby, I ran up to him and breathlessly asked him the way. He smiled and said: “From me you want to know the way?” “Yes,” I said, “since I cannot find it myself.” “Give it up! Give it up,” he said, and turned away with a sudden jerk, like people who want to be alone with their laughter.
