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Georges Bataille discussed this author's "perfect puerility" in a section of Literature and Evil. One essay about this author lists: a ninth-century apologue by Han Yu, Lord Dunsany's story "Carcassonne," and Zeno's paradox as a few of this author's "precursors." Another work about this author references an anecdote in which an insane man fishes in a bathtub, before noting that in one of this author's novels, "Flesh wins out." That appendix to a longer essay opens by stating that the "whole art" of this author "consists in forcing the reader to reread," and discusses the existence of (*) "hope" in his writings. This author is the exemplar of "aesthetically appealing, but decadent modernism," in contrast to "fruitful critical realism," in an essay titled after a choice between him and the author of "Felix Krull." Other critics have pointed out this author's debt to Dickens in his unfinished first novel centering on Karl Rossmann's arrival in the title country. For 10 points, name this author whom György Lukács contrasted with Thomas Mann, and who also wrote Amerika and The Trial.
Georges Bataille discussed this author's "perfect puerility" in a section of Literature and Evil.
Franz Kafka [accept "Kafka and his Precursors" or "Kafka y sus Precursores"; accept "Franz Kafka or Thomas Mann?" or "Franz Kafka oder Thomas Mann?"] 