A Gender Study of Franz Kafka and His Work The Metamorphosis
Keywords:
Beauvoirian reading, feminism, Franz Kafka, Freudian reading, gender study, The Metamorphosis
Abstract
The study of all of Franz Kafka's work with a gender-based concern has been central to the study of the author's text ever since the evolution of gender studies. The Metamorphosis by Kafka is his most significant work. A critical analysis of the characters of the novella, via the gender lens, unveils the social and political changes that Kafka encapsulates in his short prose about his time. This paper attempts to evaluate a rereading of Kafka's text, its character and the metaphors in the story correlated with the author's biography. The same has been done with the help of Freudian reading, Beauvoirian reading, and theories, and arguments propounded by Mary Wollstonecraft, Judith Butler, and a few other critics.
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References
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37. Sokel, Walter H. “Kafka's ‘Metamorphosis’: Rebellion and Punishment.” Monatshefte, vol. 48, no. 4, 1956, pp. 203–214. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30166165. Accessed 27 Oct. 2020.
38. ---. The Writer in Extremis: Expressionism in Twentieth-Century Literature. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1959.Signs, vol. 14, no. 3, 1989, pp. 651–667. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3174406. Accessed 20 Oct. 2020.
39. Sweeney, Kevin W. “Competing Theories of Identity in Kafka’s Metamorphosis”. Mosaic, 23.4, 1990, pp. 23-35.
40. Tearle, Oliver. The Secret Library. London: Michael O'Mara Books Limited, 2016.
41. Torton Beck, Evelyn. "Kafka's traffic in women: Gender, power, and sexuality." Literary (The) Review Madison, N. J 26.4, 1983, pp. 565-576.
42. Updike, John. Foreword. The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka. The New Yorker, 1983.
43. Webster, Peter Dow. "Franz Kafka's 'Metamorphosis' as Death and Resurrection Fantasy." The American Imago, vol. 16, no. 4, 1959, pp. 349–365. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26301687. Accessed 27 Oct. 2020.
44. Wiegman, Robyn. "Academic Feminism against Itself." NWSA Journal, vol. 14, no. 2, 2002, pp. 18–37. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4316890. Accessed 22 Oct. 2020.
45. Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. London: Penguin Books, 2004.
2. Bergmann, M. S. In the Shadow of Moloch: The Sacrifice of Children and its Impact on Western Religions. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992.
3. Bernofsky, Susan. "On Translating Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis.'" The New Yorker, The NewYorker, 14 Jan. 2014, www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/on-translating-kafkas-the-metamorphosis
4. Brod, Max. Franz Kafka: A Biography. New York: Schocken Book, 1960.
5. Bouson, Brooks J, "The Repressed Grandiosity of Gregor Samsa: A Kohutian Reading of Kafka's Metamorphosis". Narcissism and the Text: Studies in Literature and the Psychology of Self. New York University Press, 1986.
6. Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, 1990.
7. Camus, Albert. "Hope and Absurd in the Work of Franz Kafka." The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays. Trans. Justin O'Brien. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955.
8. Canetti, Elias. Kafka's Other Trial: The Letters to Felice, trans. Christopher Middleton. New York: Schocken, 1974.
9. Cantrell, Carol Helmstetter. "'The Metamorphosis': Kafka's Study of a Family." Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 23, no. 4, 1977, pp. 578–586. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26282050. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.
10. Cerfeda, Davide. The Performance of Perversion in Kafka's Literature and Its Adaptations. Diss. 2019. Melbourne: Minerva Access, The University of Melbourne, 2019.
11. Chodorow, Nancy J. The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender. Oakland: University of California Press, 1999.
12. Coble, Mary, and Louise Wolthers. “Gestures of Defiance.” The Defibrillator Gallery, Goteborg University, 12 June 2014, gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/42215.
13. Corngold, Stanley. “Kafka's ‘Die Verwandlung’: Metamorphosis of the Metaphor.” Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, vol. 3, no. 4, 1970, pp. 91–106. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24776235. Accessed 30 Oct. 2020.
14. de Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. Paris: Gallimard, 1949.
15. de Franca Costa Lima Neto, Luiz. The Limits of Voice: Montaigne, Schlegel, Kafka. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996.
16. Deleuze, Gilles, Felix Guattari, and Marie Maclean. "Kafka: Toward a minor literature: The components of expression." New Literary History 16.3, 1985.
17. Felisati, D., and G. Sperati. "Franz Kafka (1883-1924)." Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica 25.5, 2005.
18. Friedländer, Saul. Kafka: The Poet of Shame and Guilt. Yale University Press, 2013.
19. Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979.
20. Gilman, Sander L. Frank Kafka: The Jewish Patient. New York: Routledge, 1995.
21. Hayman, Ronald. A Biography of Kafka. New Haven: Phoenix Press, 2001.
22. Hoofman, Emily. “The Ruth Puzzle”. Words on Plays. New York: American Conservatory Theater, 2011.
23. Holland, Norman N. "Realism and Unrelaism Kafka's 'Metamorphosis.'” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 4, no. 2, 1958, pp. 143–150. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26277167. Accessed 29 Oct. 2020.
24. Kafka, Franz. Letter to his Father, in Wedding Preparations in the Country and other Posthumous Stories. London: Secker & Warburg, 1973.
25. ---. The Metamorphosis. Translated from German by Ian Johnston. Malaspina University-College Nanaimo, BC, 1999.
26. ---. The Trial. Translated from German by Breon Mitchell. New York: Schocken Books, 1998.
27. Mazumdar, Arunima. "I Am Gregor Samsa: Experiencing the First Ever Virtual Reality Adaptation of 'The Metamorphosis'." The Hindu, The Hindu, 16 Nov. 2019, www.thehindu.com/books/i-am-gregor-samsa-experiencing-the-first-ever-virtual-reality-adaptation-of-the-metamorphosis/article29980561.ece. Accessed 29 Oct. 2020.
28. Montagu, MF Ashley. "On the physiology and psychology of swearing." Psychiatry 5.2, 1942, pp. 189-201.
29. Paik, Shailaja. Dalit Women's Education in Modern India. New York: Routledge, 2014.
30. Pattnaik, Devdutt. "From Oedipus To Yayati." Devdutt, 16 May 2019, devdutt.com/articles/from-oedipus-to-yayati/.
31. Pawel, Ernst. The Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giraux, 1984.
32. Roeckelein, Jon E. Elsevier's Dictionary of Psychological Theories. New York: Elsevier Science, 2006.
33. Rieck, Gerhard. Kafka konkret – Das Trauma ein Leben. Wiederholung Motive im Werk als Grundlage einer psychologischen Deutung. Königshausen & Neumann, 1999.
34. Scherr, Arthur. "Maternal destructiveness in the life of Franz Kafka." The American Journal of Psychoanalysis 47, no.3, 1987, pp. 651-667.
35. Seidlitz, Lisa. "Frieze Lecture: "The Metamorphosis" 100 years later." YouTube, uploaded by Augustana College (IL), 2 Nov. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGYW0GYmOhM
36. Straus, Nina Pelikan. “Transforming Franz Kafka's ‘Metamorphosis.’” Signs, vol. 14, no. 3, 1989, pp. 651–667. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3174406. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.
37. Sokel, Walter H. “Kafka's ‘Metamorphosis’: Rebellion and Punishment.” Monatshefte, vol. 48, no. 4, 1956, pp. 203–214. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30166165. Accessed 27 Oct. 2020.
38. ---. The Writer in Extremis: Expressionism in Twentieth-Century Literature. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1959.Signs, vol. 14, no. 3, 1989, pp. 651–667. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3174406. Accessed 20 Oct. 2020.
39. Sweeney, Kevin W. “Competing Theories of Identity in Kafka’s Metamorphosis”. Mosaic, 23.4, 1990, pp. 23-35.
40. Tearle, Oliver. The Secret Library. London: Michael O'Mara Books Limited, 2016.
41. Torton Beck, Evelyn. "Kafka's traffic in women: Gender, power, and sexuality." Literary (The) Review Madison, N. J 26.4, 1983, pp. 565-576.
42. Updike, John. Foreword. The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka. The New Yorker, 1983.
43. Webster, Peter Dow. "Franz Kafka's 'Metamorphosis' as Death and Resurrection Fantasy." The American Imago, vol. 16, no. 4, 1959, pp. 349–365. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26301687. Accessed 27 Oct. 2020.
44. Wiegman, Robyn. "Academic Feminism against Itself." NWSA Journal, vol. 14, no. 2, 2002, pp. 18–37. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4316890. Accessed 22 Oct. 2020.
45. Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. London: Penguin Books, 2004.
Published
2021-05-15
How to Cite
Joshi, S. “A Gender Study of Franz Kafka and His Work The Metamorphosis”. Contemporary Literary Review India, Vol. 8, no. 2, May 2021, pp. 57-90, https://mail.literaryjournal.in/index.php/clri/article/view/871.
Section
Research Papers
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