Not P but DFW on Kafka

[Mike Jing]

>From "Some Remarks on Kafka's Funniness from Which Probably Not Enough Has
Been Removed":

The students usually end up engaged here, which is great; but the teacher
still sort of writhes with guilt, because the
comedy-as-literalization-of-metaphor tactic doesn’t begin to countenance
the deeper alchemy by which Kafka’s comedy is always also tragedy, and this
tragedy always also an immense and reverent joy.

What does "countenance" mean here?