Question

A David Foster Wallace essay on this author’s “Funniness” (15[1])examines a very short story by this author in which a mouse laments how “the whole world is growing smaller every day,” only to be eaten by a cat. The narrator explains how people confuse present emperors with dead ones in a story by this author that justifies (-5[1])the piecemeal construction method for building the Great Wall of China. The narrator of a story by this author recalls struggling to learn to (*) drink alcohol during a talk on his past life as an ape. A panther replaces a performer who admits on his deathbed that he could never find food that he liked in a story by this writer whose title references the concept of the “starving artist.” For 10 points, name this Czech (10[1])author who imagined Gregor’s transformation into a giant bug in The Metamorphosis. ■END■

ANSWER: Franz Kafka [accept “Some Remarks on Kafka’s Funniness”]
<CM, European Literature>
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PlayerTeamOpponentBuzz PositionValue
Kevin YeBerkeley CStanford A815
Anuttam RamjiBerkeley BBerkeley A56-5
Shahar SchwartzBerkeley ABerkeley B13210

Summary

2023 ARCADIA at UC BerkeleyPremiereY2100%50%50%70.00
2023 ARCADIA at Carleton UniversityPremiereY3100%33%0%68.33
2023 ARCADIA at Claremont CollegesPremiereY1100%100%0%31.00
2023 ARCADIA at IndianaPremiereY5100%40%0%82.60
2023 ARCADIA at RITPremiereY2100%100%0%38.50
2023 ARCADIA at WUSTLPremiereY3100%67%0%59.33