Sounding out the Silence of Gregor Samsa: Kafka's Rhetoric of Dys-Communication
Through his transformation, Gregor Samsa, rather than simply silencing himself, allows his repressed voice to be heard palimpsestically in the language of his family and the boarders. His story is one of inverted—rather than aborted—communication. An analogous inversion governs the relationship betw...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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New Prairie Press
1993-06-01
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| Series: | Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature |
| Online Access: | http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol17/iss2/7 |
| _version_ | 1818294037573009408 |
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| author | Robert Weninger |
| author_facet | Robert Weninger |
| author_sort | Robert Weninger |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Through his transformation, Gregor Samsa, rather than simply silencing himself, allows his repressed voice to be heard palimpsestically in the language of his family and the boarders. His story is one of inverted—rather than aborted—communication. An analogous inversion governs the relationship between Kafka and his father and Kafka and his interpreters. As a child, Kafka could make little sense of his father's rules and his contradictory actions; later, he reduplicates in his writings this grammar of "dys-communication." Our puzzled and often frustrated reactions to Kafka's texts can therefore be seen to mirror his equally puzzled and frustrated reactions to his father's discourse. Thus a comparison of the basic situation of communication displayed in Kafka's "Letter to his Father," "The Metamorphosis," and Kafka-scholarship discloses a symmetry of responses behind the child's perspective, the Samsas' tale, and our quest for meaning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T03:25:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fa810dc104424ea49739ba1b213e9ca9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2334-4415 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T03:25:23Z |
| publishDate | 1993-06-01 |
| publisher | New Prairie Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature |
| spelling | doaj.art-fa810dc104424ea49739ba1b213e9ca92022-12-22T00:01:16ZengNew Prairie PressStudies in 20th & 21st Century Literature2334-44151993-06-0117210.4148/2334-4415.13255631249Sounding out the Silence of Gregor Samsa: Kafka's Rhetoric of Dys-CommunicationRobert WeningerThrough his transformation, Gregor Samsa, rather than simply silencing himself, allows his repressed voice to be heard palimpsestically in the language of his family and the boarders. His story is one of inverted—rather than aborted—communication. An analogous inversion governs the relationship between Kafka and his father and Kafka and his interpreters. As a child, Kafka could make little sense of his father's rules and his contradictory actions; later, he reduplicates in his writings this grammar of "dys-communication." Our puzzled and often frustrated reactions to Kafka's texts can therefore be seen to mirror his equally puzzled and frustrated reactions to his father's discourse. Thus a comparison of the basic situation of communication displayed in Kafka's "Letter to his Father," "The Metamorphosis," and Kafka-scholarship discloses a symmetry of responses behind the child's perspective, the Samsas' tale, and our quest for meaning.http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol17/iss2/7 |
| spellingShingle | Robert Weninger Sounding out the Silence of Gregor Samsa: Kafka's Rhetoric of Dys-Communication Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature |
| title | Sounding out the Silence of Gregor Samsa: Kafka's Rhetoric of Dys-Communication |
| title_full | Sounding out the Silence of Gregor Samsa: Kafka's Rhetoric of Dys-Communication |
| title_fullStr | Sounding out the Silence of Gregor Samsa: Kafka's Rhetoric of Dys-Communication |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sounding out the Silence of Gregor Samsa: Kafka's Rhetoric of Dys-Communication |
| title_short | Sounding out the Silence of Gregor Samsa: Kafka's Rhetoric of Dys-Communication |
| title_sort | sounding out the silence of gregor samsa kafka s rhetoric of dys communication |
| url | http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol17/iss2/7 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT robertweninger soundingoutthesilenceofgregorsamsakafkasrhetoricofdyscommunication |