Literatura académica sobre el tema "Criticism and interpretationkafka, franz , 1883-1924"

In this study, a thematological comparison is made between Knut Hamsun's (1859-1952) “Sult” (1890) and Franz Kafka's (1883-1924) “Der Hungerkünstler” (1922) and the film “The Hunger Games” (2012) directed by Gary Ross (1956-). In this study, which theoretically falls within the scope of comparatistics (comparative literary studies), two cult texts by two distinguished authors from Norwegian and Austrian literature and a famous feature film are analysed comparatively on the axis of a common theme. Knut Hamsun, the Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun gained worldwide fame with his novel, originally titled “Sult” in Norwegian and translated into Turkish as “Hunger”. The novel, which has autobiographical features, explores the inner world of the main character, who is a writer like Hamsun himself and suffers from both mental and spiritual starvation, while also addressing the changes in social-cultural values, perspectives and living conditions. In his narrative “The Hunger Artist” (“Der Hungerkünstler”), Franz Kafka tells the story of a man who becomes a professional hunger artist and makes a living by starving himself for a long time. In the film “The Hunger Games”, a young woman living in poverty and other lower-class people like her fight for life and death in a game played by the upper classes. The aim of the study is to compare the common theme we have identified in these two cult texts representing the epic genre written in two different European countries with the cinema film “The Hunger Games”, a different media (art) product that became famous in our country in a short time. In this way, the aim of the study is to reveal the similarities and/or differences in the theme of hunger in different arts/media of different times, different countries and different arts/media, and to reveal the basic phenomenon lying behind this, namely the criticism of the bourgeoisie capitalist order, the main common target where the arrows of criticism of the artists meet. (Extended English summary is at the end of this document) Özet Bu çalışmada Knut Hamsun'un (1859-1952) “Sult” (1890) ve Franz Kafka'nın (1883-1924) “Der Hungerkünstler” (1922) adlı metinleri ve Gary Ross’un (1956-) yönettiği “The Hunger Games” (2012) adlı sinema filmi arasında tematolojik bir karşılaştırma yapılmıştır. Kuramsal açıdan komparatistiğin (karşılaştırmalı yazınbilim) kapsam alanına giren bu çalışmada, Norveç ve Avusturya yazınlarından iki seçkin yazarın iki kült metni ile ünlü bir sinema filmi, ortak bir tema ekseninde karşılaştırmalı olarak analiz edilmiştir. Nobel edebiyat ödüllü Norveçli yazar Knut Hamsun, Norveççe orijinal adı “Sult” olan ve Türkçeye “Açlık” diye çevrilen romanıyla dünya çapında bir ün kazanmıştır. Otobiyografik özellikler taşıyan roman, Knut Hamsun’un kendisi gibi bir yazar olup hem zihinsel hem de ruhsal açıdan büyük bir açlık çeken ana karakterin iç dünyasını keşfe çıkarken, toplumsal-kültürel değerlerin, bakış açılarının ve yaşam koşullarının değişimini de ele alır. Franz Kafka “Açlık Sanatçısı” (“Der Hungerkünstler”) adlı anlatısında, profesyonel bir açlık sanatçısı olup uzun zaman aç kalarak geçimini sağlayan bir adamın öyküsünü anlatır. “Açlık Oyunları” (“The Hunger Games”) filminde ise yoksulluk içerisinde yaşayan genç bir kadının ve onun gibi diğer alt sınıftan gelen insanların, üst sınıflar tarafından oynatılan oyundaki ölüm-kalım savaşını anlatır. Çalışmanın amacı; iki farklı Avrupa ülkesinde kaleme alınan epik türün temsilcisi bu iki kült metinde tespit ettiğimiz ortak temayı, ülkemizde de kısa sürede ünlenen farklı bir medya (sanat) ürünü olan “The Hunger Games” adlı sinema filmiyle karşılaştırmaktır. Bu şekilde çalışmada ulaşılmak istenen hedef; açlık temasının farklı zamanların, farklı ülkelerin, farklı sanatlarında/ medyalarında hangi açılardan benzerlik ve/ veya farklılıklar gösterdiğini ortaya koyarak, bunun arka planında yatan temel olguyu, yani sanatçıların eleştiri oklarının buluştuğu asıl ortak hedefi, burjuvazi kapitalist düzen eleştirisini açığa kavuşturmaktır.

The following study investigates the fictional works of an early twentieth century Czechoslovakian writer named Franz Kafka. "The space of Kafka" is explored primarily through the "identity" of his characteristic monster figures and the temporally disjunctive narratives through which they travel. Monstrosity is qualified here as a principal mode of translation through which Kafka engaged the very terms of "identity" which an "individual" faces in the appearance of any "work". The intimations of a monstrous self are probed through Kafka's work in relation to human experience, intentionality, alterity and a "present" which is en-acted specifically as one form of the past. Through Kafka's paradigmatic "monster", "double" and "bachelor" figures, we find not "alternative" orientations of the "self" which contemporary literature and architecture may choose to undertake, but intrinsic re-presentations of the very relation which any self, any author, already is in the appearance of a "work".

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) wrote this little phrase one day in a notebook: Writing as a form of prayer. This dissertation will examine his highly personal and Judaic conception of the act of writing in order to demonstrate that it constitutes in fact the cornerstone of Kafka's activity as a writer and that it can be traced in a significant number of his literary works as their regulating instance.
In order to do so, we will first examine the social, political and economic conditions prevailing in Central Europe at the turn of the 20th century, in order to ascertain its tremendous impact on the Jewish communities living in that part of the world, in terms of loss of traditional Jewish identity culminating in many cases in assimilation. Kafka's work will thus firstly be situated in the historical and political context out of which it emerged.
In the course of this work, we have used the concepts of sacre and profane as developed by the historian of religions Mircea Eliade throughout in order to demonstrate that there exists in Kafka's work a constitutive tension articulated between those two poles, not only at the level of the plot, but at the level of language itself.
Since the central element at the root of this tension is expressed in terms of presence and absence, we have also analysed the philosophy of language of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem, which are themselves articulated exactly in those terms.
The use of these categories has helped us show that if Kafka's work is indeed at time very close to that of Scholem and Benjamin, especially in its literary rendition of motives underlining the absence of the divine in language, it also distinguishes itself markedly from the work of the two philosophers by the use of other motives which underline the immediate presence of the message of Revelation, made directly accessible within the modern and profane language, which is also that of literature.

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
This study is dedicated to the knowledge of writer Franz Kafka’s literature, under the egis of the religious mystic interpretation. In order to accomplish this goal, Franz Kafka’s biography is presented, to allow his “personality enclosed by a glass wall” to be accurately exposed. Kafka’s life and work are so inextricably combined that it would not be possible to appropriately enlighten his literature without previously understanding his conflicting relationship with parents and girlfriends, as well as his difficulties with work – done with anxiety and discouragement – and with Judaism, basis of his family formation. Following this, this study comprehends analytical multiple visions, emphasizing the hermeneutic polissemy and difficulties of univocally understanding Kafka, without taking into consideration his “literature astonishment”, responsible for making him one of the authors that were mostly read and commented during XX and XXI centuries. Essential scope of the third session is offering a critical view about the efforts to interpret his writings under the religious mystic harness. For this, “Max Brod case” will be discussed and the hypothesis brought by the religions historian Gershom Scholem who presented Kafka as a heretic cabalist. Last but not least, textual hermeneutics will be made (Die Verwandlung, Der Prozess, Der Brau and Forschungen Eines Hund) under cabalistic perspective, trying to uncover Deus Absconditus who is shown in Kafka’s literature with the diversity of chromatic and sonorous tones as a small light shining in the dark
Este estudo é dedicado ao conhecimento da obra do escritor Franz Kafka, sob a égide da interpretação religiosa-mística. Para que logre esse intento, apresenta a biografia de Franz Kafka, a fim de desvelar acuradamente a sua “personalidade encerrada por uma parede de vidro”. Em Kafka, vida e obra se misturam inextricavelmente, de tal maneira que não se pode esclarecer convenientemente a sua literatura sem antes saber de sua relação conflituosa com os pais, com as namoradas, as suas dificuldades concernentes ao trabalho – realizado sob ansiedade e desalento – e com o judaísmo, constitutivo de sua formação familiar. A seguir, este trabalho estuda as multivisões analíticas, sublinhando a polissemia hermenêutica e as dificuldades de se compreender Kafka de maneira unívoca, isto é, sem levar em consideração o “assombro de sua literatura”, responsável por transformá-lo num dos autores mais lidos e comentados no deambular dos séculos XX e XXI. A terceira sessão tem como escopo fundamental oferecer um olhar crítico sobre as tentativas de interpretar os escritos sob o jaez místico-religioso. Para tanto, discute-se o “caso Max Brod” e a hipótese aventada pelo historiador das religiões Gershom Scholem, segundo a qual teria sido Kafka um cabalista herético. Finalmente, faz-se a hermenêutica textual (O Covil, A Metamorfose, O Processo e Investigações sobre um Cão) sob o ponto de vista cabalístico, ou seja, tentando deslindar o Deus Absconditus que, na diversidade de tons cromáticos e sonoros, incide na obra de Kafka como pequena luz brilhando nas trevas

Le present essai propose en premier lieu une analyse de la theorie linguistique de Walter Benjamin telle qu'enoncee dans son essai de 1916, Uber Sprache uberhaupt und uber die Sprache des Menschen. Dans un meme temps, il propose aussi une analyse de la theorie linguistique de la Kabbale telle qu'elaboree par Gershom Scholem tout au long de sa vie, dans un nombre non negligeable de publications, theorie dont il chercha a faire la synthese dans son essai de 1970, Der Name Gottes und die Sprachtheorie der Kabbala.
Cet essai se propose ensuite de demontrer comment Scholem et Benjamin ont trouve dans l'oeuvre de Franz Kafka l'expression litteraire de leurs theories linguistiques.
En conclusion, cet essai se propose de demontrer comment Scholem et Benjamin, a partir de leurs theories linguistiques respectives, et malgre la proximite indeniable de celles-ci, en sont venus a interpreter Kafka d'une facon diametralement opposee. Scholem, en effet, voyait dans cette oeuvre l'expression d'une des theories les plus nihilistes de la Kabbale: Die Unvollziehbarkeit der Offenbarung, une negation de la Revelation divine; Benjamin voyait pour sa part chez Kafka l'expression d'une tres mince possibilite de redemption.

This thesis approaches literature and language as processes of conflict. Conflict is defined according to the philosophy of ‘negativity’ and an applied understanding of Hegelian dialecticism. Conflict, in simple terms, is a process in which language simultaneously asserts and negates. The literary text, or object, is lisible both structurally and thematically in terms of conflict. The key texts examined in this thesis are Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick (1851); Franz Kafka’s The Castle (1926); and Maurice Blanchot’s Thomas the Obscure (1950) and Awaiting Oblivion (1962). Several features emerge in a literature of conflict. There is a textual ‘law of separation’ by which the literary object maintains a pretence or artifice of separation between the world of the real and the narrative world. Relations, and relationism, become primary modes of narrative progression, in place of cause and effect, or any logically orthodox telos. Although the parameters of this thesis are not broad enough to allow definitive conclusions to be drawn about the conflictual nature of language, some symmetries and correspondences do appear. For example, structural linguistic conflict (conflict at the level of grammar, voice, pronoun and so on) corresponds to the formal mode of the literary narrative, particularly in terms of separation and relationism. The central contribution of this thesis is to elaborate conflict as a new theoretical foundation for the reading of literary texts and for the understanding of language. In demonstrating this approach, several innovations are made in the more refined contexts of Melville, Kafka and Blanchot studies. Further scope for development of the analysis mounted by this thesis exists, not only in terms of the philosophy of ‘negativity’ and its relation to writing, but also in the context of the application of Hegelian dialecticism to language, writing and more generally, aesthetics.

This thesis examines the literary dream in selected works by Kafka, Kubin, Meyrink, Musil and Schnitzler, with a particular focus on the redefinition of subjectivity through dreamlife. The introductory chapter contextualises these case studies in the broader field of oneirocriticism, emphasising the dream's ancient role as fixtional template and its specific significance in the destabilised environment of German Central Europe during the early twentieth century. Alfred Kubin's Die andere Seite (1909), which uses the 'other side' as metaphor for both oneiric and artistic experience, reveals the inherent dualism of the literary dream and its close relationship with creativity. In Robert Musil's Die Verwirrungen des Zdglings Tdrlefi (1906), the protagonist serves as the model for a new type of self-determining subject who draws on the knowledge of dreams and irrationality. Franz Kafka's texts reveal techniques for integrating the dream into fictional worlds that are already dreamlike through the prevalence of (literalised) metaphor and free association. Gustav Meyrink, in Der Golem (1915), shares Kafka's interest in concretised metaphor, but also explores the dream's associations with occult practices, used as a defence against the threatening claims of science. Finally, Arthur Schnitzler's literary dreams offer a direct confrontation with psychoanalysis and a dismantling of nineteenth-century ideals of gender and bourgeois love. Overall, it is argued that the literary dreams by these authors hold varied responses to fragmentation of the Ich in the face of psychological 'vivisection', theories of relativity, and the collapse of old social orders. The dream, as a nightly 'psychosis', crystallised the pervasive fears of self-loss during this period; however, in its perennial role as micro-narrative, it also provided a site for re-construction of the subject. The incorporation of dreams in fictional lives served as a metonymical guide for the integration of un- and subconscious experience overall.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The focus of this study will be on the unique way in which language is used in Marlene van Niekerk‟s collection of short stories, Die sneeuslaper (2010). When reading Die sneeuslaper it is impossible not noticing the number of Dutch words, as well as words and phrases from other foreign languages, as Bargoens, Rotwelsch, German, French, Italian, Hebrew, Greek and Maltese. Some of the characters‟ speech, as well as so called sound poems (or nonsense verses) are characterised by a number of newly invented words. However, the meaning of some of these words or phrases remains unclear. Other themes in the four short stories which will be analysed are the so called political responsibility of the artist, as well as music, rhythm and bird-noises. As a theoretical basis of this study, Deleuze and Guattari‟s Kafka Toward a Minor Literature will be used. In Kafka Toward a Minor Literature Deleuze en Guattari formulate their ideas regarding minor literature. They describe a major language as a language of dominance and power, while a minor language is a language without any power. According to them the three characteristics of minor literature are: the minor deterritorializes the major, minor literature is always political, and minor literature always has a collective function. Deleuze and Guattari‟s, as well as Bogue‟s writing regarding the territorialization and deterritorialization of the refrain, is also explored briefly. Deleuze en Guattari‟s theories regarding minor literature is used in this study to read Die sneeuslaper. In the end it is concluded that the unconventional use of language in this short story collection can be associated with the political nature of some of the stories. The unique usage of language in Die sneeuslaper, the way in which Afrikaans is transformed into a language that stammers, stutters and mumbles, can be seen as a subtle form of political protest. Therefore this collection of short stories can be seen as a form of minor literature.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op die vreemde wyse waarop taal in Marlene van Niekerk se kortverhaalbundel, Die sneeuslaper (2010), aangewend word. Met die lees van Die sneeuslaper is die hoeveelheid Nederlandse woorde, asook enkele woorde en frases uit ander vreemde tale, soos Bargoens, Rotwelsch, Duits, Frans, Italiaans, Hebreeus, Grieks en Maltees, opvallend. Verder is daar in die karakters se spraak, sowel as in klankgedigte (of onsinverse), vele nuutskeppings waarvan die betekenis nie altyd so duidelik blyk nie, teenwoordig. Ander temas wat in die vier verhale figureer en ondersoek sal word is kunstenaarskap, die sogenaamde politieke verantwoordelikheid van die kunstenaar, asook musiek, ritme en voëlgeluide. As teoretiese vertrekpunt vir die studie word Deleuze en Guattari se Kafka Toward a Minor Literature, waarin hul idees oor mineurlettekunde geformuleer word, gebruik. Deleuze en Guattari onderskei tussen ‟n dominante majeurtaal en ‟n mineurtaal wat sonder mag is. Volgens Deleuze en Guattari is daar drie kenmerke van mineurletterkunde, naamlik dat die mineur die majeur deterritorialiseer, dat mineurletterkunde altyd polities is, en laastens dat mineurletterkunde altyd kollektief van aard is. Bykomend word daar ook kortliks gekyk na Deleuze en Guattari, sowel as Bogue, se skrywe oor territorialisering en deterritorialisering in die refrein. Deleuze en Guattari se teorie oor mineurletterkunde word in hierdie studie as ‟n agtergrond gebruik om Die sneeuslaper te lees. Daar word uiteindelik tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat die onkonvensionele taalgebruik in die kortverhaalbundel wel geassosieer kan word met deterritorialisering en dat dit aansluit by die politieke aard van sommige van die verhale. Die wyse waarop Afrikaans in Die sneeuslaper getransformeer word na ‟n taal wat stamel, stotter en struikel, kan dus as subtiele, politieke protes gesien word en daarom kan dié kortverhaalbundel inderdaad as ‟n vorm van mineurletterkunde beskou word.

Informada pelos pressupostos da área interdisciplinar conhecida como estudos animais, esta tese propõe uma leitura a contrapelo das figuras animais na literatura, na qual elas não são entendidas apenas como metáforas de certos aspectos da vida humana, mas como presenças textuais com um estatuto de personagens e, nessa condição, são interrogadas em sua alteridade. A questão central em pauta é: o que a metáfora diz sobre os animais e sobre a relação entre os animais e os seres humanos e o que significa des-figurar a metáfora e explorar a possibilidade de re-significar, a partir da textualidade ficcional, a relação humano-animal. Para tanto, desenho um panorama dos estudos animais, abordando o estado da arte no Brasil, inserindo tais estudos nas possibilidades de inovação no campo da literatura comparada. A seguir, elaboro um aporte teórico a partir da filosofia animal de Jacques Derrida, ao qual incorporo e coloco em discussão posicionamentos teóricos de Calarco (2008), Krell (2013), Lawlor (2007) e Naas (2010) sobre a questão em pauta. Por fim, realizo leituras comparadas entre A metamorfose (1915), de Franz Kafka, e Porcarias (1996), de Marie Darrieussecq, ambos sobre o tornar-se animal, e entre Flush (1933), de Virginia Woolf, e Timbuktu (1999), de Paul Auster, ambos sobre a domesticação de animais.
Following the tenets of the interdisciplinary area of animal studies, this dissertation presents a reading of animal figures in literature against the grain, which means that they are not taken only as metaphors of certain aspects of human life but as textual presences with a status assigned to characters and, in this condition, are interrogated in their alterity. The central question to be explored is: what the animal metaphor says about animals and the relation of animal and human beings and what it means to de-figure the metaphor in order to explore the possibility of re-signifying, in ficcional textualities, the human/animal relation. In order to address these issues, I draw a panorama of animal studies, including the state of the art in Brazil, to contend that this area adds to the possibilities of innovation in the field of comparative literature. Then, I consider a theoretical framework of Jacques Derrida’s animal philosophy, also discussing theoretical positions of Calarco (2008), Krell (2013), Lawlor (2007) and Naas (2010) on this topic. Finally, I propose comparative readings of Franz Kafka’s The metamorphosis (1915) and Marie Darrieussecq’s Pig tales (1996), from the perspective of becoming animal, and of Virginia Woolf’s Flush (1933) and Paul Auster’s Timbuktu (1999), both on domesticating animals.