2021_Shadows of Life and Death: A Psychoanalytical Approach of Eros and Thanatos Across Kafka’s Fiction

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date 2021-12-27
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id 15983
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originalfilename SHADOWS OF LIFE AND DEATH_ A PSYCHOANALYTICAL APPROACH OF EROS AND THANATOS ACROSS KAFKA’S FICTION (PHD _ 2021).pdf
person Mutasim Yasin Mohammad Mahadin
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spelling 15983 https://intelek.unisza.edu.my/intelek/pages/view.php?ref=15983 https://intelek.unisza.edu.my/intelek/pages/search.php?search=!collection3 General Document Malaysia Library Staff (Top Management) Library Staff (Management) Library Staff (Support) Terengganu Faculty of Languages & Communication English application/pdf 1.5 239 Server storage Scanned document Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin UniSZA Private Access UNIVERSITI SULTAN ZAINAL ABIDIN SAMBox 2.3.4; modified using iTextSharp™ 5.5.10 ©2000-2016 iText Group NV (AGPL-version) Copyright©PWB2025 SHADOWS OF LIFE AND DEATH_ A PSYCHOANALYTICAL APPROACH OF EROS AND THANATOS ACROSS KAFKA’S FICTION (PHD _ 2021).pdf 2021_Shadows of Life and Death: A Psychoanalytical Approach of Eros and Thanatos Across Kafka’s Fiction Mutasim Yasin Mohammad Mahadin 2021-12-27 Kafka, Franz, 1883-1924—Criticism and interpretation Franz Kafka Psychoanalysis Eros and Thanatos The literature of Franz Kafka has been widely acknowledged for the sense of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity that portrayed the life of his antiheros. This unique Kafkaesque nature of literature challenged the Kafkian scholars and critics and incapacitated their endeavours to provide a solid interpretational ground for Kafka’s literature. This quality of literature traces back to the psychological and physical austerities in the life of Kafka. Despite his literary fame as one of the 20th century literary titans, the studies that scrutinized Kafka’s literature in the light of his psychological ordeals are limited and the diversity gap in literary approaches which targeted Kafka’s literature is expansive. Through the Kafkaesque dreamlike narratives, Kafka’s literature has always been difficult to comprehend. Accordingly, this study aims at presenting a comprehensive apprehension to the literature of Kafka though studying the psychoanalytical ties in the literary works in relation to the psychosocial ties in Kafka’s life by highlighting the status of balance between Eros and Thanatos in the life of the antiheros. The study adopts the Freudian psychoanalytical theories which are psychoanalysis as interpretive art, dream work, defence mechanisms and the binary opposition between Eros and Thanatos. The study also uses the Freeman Style of literary analysis and the textual analysis technique in order to investigate "The Metamorphosis" (1915), "The Judgement" (1912), In The Penal Colony (1914) and A Hunger Artist (1922). The theoretical analysis of the works reveals that Kafka's arduous act of writing is a vivid manifestation to his lifelong ailments, and physical and psychological agonies. Kafka's antiheros highlight the sense of loneliness, ailments, and alienation that Kafka suffered from through the course of his relatively short life. The study found that the psychosocial traumas in the life of the antiheros traces back to Kafka’s own psychosocial traumas. There is a state of imbalance in the binary opposition between Eros and Thanatos in favour of Thanatos in the life of the antiheros which led to the demise of the antiheros in the plot scheme. The study concludes that there is an intrinsic deep-rooted psycho-biographical interrelation between Kafka's life and art and that the cited narratives echo the Freudian dreamlike theory in which many of Kafka's psychological and physical traumas are reflected through the act of writing. The study presents a novel approach to the Kafkian literature through the Freudian psychoanalysis and highlights a new perception to the narratives which enables the readers and scholars to form a comprehensive understanding of Kafka’s unorthodox and absurd literature. Dissertations, Academic Thesis
spellingShingle 2021_Shadows of Life and Death: A Psychoanalytical Approach of Eros and Thanatos Across Kafka’s Fiction
state Terengganu
subject Kafka, Franz, 1883-1924—Criticism and interpretation
Dissertations, Academic
summary The literature of Franz Kafka has been widely acknowledged for the sense of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity that portrayed the life of his antiheros. This unique Kafkaesque nature of literature challenged the Kafkian scholars and critics and incapacitated their endeavours to provide a solid interpretational ground for Kafka’s literature. This quality of literature traces back to the psychological and physical austerities in the life of Kafka. Despite his literary fame as one of the 20th century literary titans, the studies that scrutinized Kafka’s literature in the light of his psychological ordeals are limited and the diversity gap in literary approaches which targeted Kafka’s literature is expansive. Through the Kafkaesque dreamlike narratives, Kafka’s literature has always been difficult to comprehend. Accordingly, this study aims at presenting a comprehensive apprehension to the literature of Kafka though studying the psychoanalytical ties in the literary works in relation to the psychosocial ties in Kafka’s life by highlighting the status of balance between Eros and Thanatos in the life of the antiheros. The study adopts the Freudian psychoanalytical theories which are psychoanalysis as interpretive art, dream work, defence mechanisms and the binary opposition between Eros and Thanatos. The study also uses the Freeman Style of literary analysis and the textual analysis technique in order to investigate "The Metamorphosis" (1915), "The Judgement" (1912), In The Penal Colony (1914) and A Hunger Artist (1922). The theoretical analysis of the works reveals that Kafka's arduous act of writing is a vivid manifestation to his lifelong ailments, and physical and psychological agonies. Kafka's antiheros highlight the sense of loneliness, ailments, and alienation that Kafka suffered from through the course of his relatively short life. The study found that the psychosocial traumas in the life of the antiheros traces back to Kafka’s own psychosocial traumas. There is a state of imbalance in the binary opposition between Eros and Thanatos in favour of Thanatos in the life of the antiheros which led to the demise of the antiheros in the plot scheme. The study concludes that there is an intrinsic deep-rooted psycho-biographical interrelation between Kafka's life and art and that the cited narratives echo the Freudian dreamlike theory in which many of Kafka's psychological and physical traumas are reflected through the act of writing. The study presents a novel approach to the Kafkian literature through the Freudian psychoanalysis and highlights a new perception to the narratives which enables the readers and scholars to form a comprehensive understanding of Kafka’s unorthodox and absurd literature.
title 2021_Shadows of Life and Death: A Psychoanalytical Approach of Eros and Thanatos Across Kafka’s Fiction
title_full 2021_Shadows of Life and Death: A Psychoanalytical Approach of Eros and Thanatos Across Kafka’s Fiction
title_fullStr 2021_Shadows of Life and Death: A Psychoanalytical Approach of Eros and Thanatos Across Kafka’s Fiction
title_full_unstemmed 2021_Shadows of Life and Death: A Psychoanalytical Approach of Eros and Thanatos Across Kafka’s Fiction
title_short 2021_Shadows of Life and Death: A Psychoanalytical Approach of Eros and Thanatos Across Kafka’s Fiction
title_sort 2021_shadows of life and death: a psychoanalytical approach of eros and thanatos across kafka’s fiction