100 must-read books for college students

Chapter 74 The Standards of Western Modernist Literature
Chapter 73 The Standard of Western Modernist Literature: "The Metamorphosis"

"Metamorphosis" is one of the most influential modernist works. "Metamorphosis" shows the alienation of people, but does not reveal the origin of alienation

The reason, nor the way out to eliminate alienation. The world in "Metamorphosis" is absurd and ugly, yet nothing can be done about it.Small
It is said that the tone is low and the plot is grotesque.The ending of the novel is tragic, showing an inexplicable sense of fear about the future of life.No
However, in the book's seemingly unfathomable sorrow and despair, it also shows an indestructible thing.against the ugly

Amidst the hatred of the human being, it arouses people's yearning for the light.

lonely depressed character alienation

Franz?Franz Kafka (1883-1924) is a famous Austrian writer.

Franz Kafka is a pioneer of fantasy novels and a master of modernist German literature.He is good at drawing out the outline of
Exaggerated images alternately intersperse intuition and hallucinations, making the theme obscure and forming a style of writing that is different from traditional realism.
method.

And in his life, he experienced a very dark and dreary era.

Kafka witnessed the disintegration of "Austro-Hungary," that strange mixture of feudalism and capitalism, and the collapse of the First World War.
The unprecedented disaster caused by World War II.At the same time, Kafka's personal spiritual situation was also very unpleasant.Father's domineering often makes
He felt slavishly oppressed; the tedious clerical work and his beloved literary career again produced irreconcilable contradictions.do
As a Jew, speaking German, he felt lonely, strange, and persecuted by anti-Semitism among Germans.all of these

All these make him suffer from the mental pressure that he cannot get rid of all the time, forming the extreme loneliness in his thoughts and personality and the inability to get along with the world.

The anguish of communication.These emotions left deep traces in his 1912 "Metamorphosis".

Kafka's world view is pessimistic and world-weary.He sees life as "nothingness, a dream".All his works show the

Psychology of individual isolation and helplessness destroyed by social barriers.Since the names of the protagonists in his works often have a "K",

Therefore, it can be said that what he focuses on expressing is K's sense of disaster, fear and loneliness in the face of a hostile society.in art
In terms of technique, he often uses a large number of symbolic metaphors to express his resentment towards society.He is accustomed to making reality absurd,
The objects described are illusory, seemingly absurd and abnormal, but they actually capture the essence of things and achieve the effect of "spiritual resemblance"; he likes to

like to use
The method of describing dreams to express reality gives people a feeling of being in a trance, which seems to be real but not real.In this way, his works
It is cast with a layer of mysticism.

Absurd Shapeshifters Focusing on Little People

One morning, Gregor, a traveling salesman, woke up from his sleep and found that he had turned into a huge beetle.he earned

She tried to get up from the bed, but her deformed body refused to obey her commands.The prospect of losing his job terrified him.he found out

His own voice has also become the voice of insects.The doorbell rang, and there was the voice of the director of the company secretary, who loudly reprimanded Gregor

, and urged to open the door.When Gregor rolled down from the bed desperately, endured the pain and twisted open the door to appear in front of the people, everyone was shocked.
shocked.The chief secretary ran away, his mother collapsed on the ground, his father beat him with a cane, and Gregor was driven back to his room.

After Gregor's metamorphosis, he became a beetle completely physically, but still maintained a human psychology.He can observe and experience his

The deformation brought great disaster to the family, and suffered from both physical and mental pain.family income cut off, for

to survive

Father, mother and sister had to go out to work.Not only could he not share his worries, but he became a burden to the family.He is considered "a
The source of all misfortunes", even his sister who has been sympathetic to him is determined to get rid of him. He is ashamed of himself and determined to destroy himself.

From then on, he stopped eating and was locked in the house until his shriveled body was found one day.after gregor's death

, the whole family was relieved.They left forever the apartment that brought them misfortune.

"Metamorphosis" is an important cornerstone of modern and contemporary literature, not long but full of meaning.It changes from human to beetle
Absurd stories, the protagonist's inner experience after losing the ability to speak and communicate with others, expresses the inner experience of the capitalist society.
The tragedy of small and medium people. "Metamorphosis" expresses the "alienation" of human beings in a direct and vivid way.Gregor
Just such a pathetic, bug-like character.He worked the tiring job of a traveling salesman, toiled for many years,

The diet is poor and irregular, and the burden of the whole family's life is borne by the meager income.If it weren't for saving money to pay off the debts of parents,
He's long gone.He was afraid of being fired, so he had to humble himself and try his best to please his boss.He humbled and retreated in all things, condescending
Quan, enduring all kinds of abuse and damage.This is a more tragic image than the little people described by Gogol.In fact, grid
Rigore had long since lost the conditions for a normal life.Living an "inhuman life", alienated into a deformity.writer caught

It is an essential feature of a capitalist society that human beings become "inhumans", using false and absurd techniques of expression to portray the protagonist

Turn directly into a beetle, and describe what happened to his body after the mutation.With the disappearance of the money-making function, his own existence and non-existence
There is a sharp conflict with the survival rules of love, so he is neither tolerated by society nor by family.shape variation
, but the disappearance of symbolic value.The writer directly expresses the tragedy of "alienation" by means of symbolism, showing that people are beyond their reach.

The tragedy of being a man and becoming a worm makes the strongest and most terrifying impression, and has shocking effects.

This work ingeniously expresses the powerless fear of the little people in the face of disaster.disaster like a

The nightmare suddenly came overnight.Here, people can't control their own destiny at all; no one can expect any disaster to come
fell on his own head.Only its disaster is so sudden, so inexplicable, and cannot be changed, which shows the depth and depth of the disaster.
In their irresistibility, these show the misery of the human condition.When Gregor woke up, he suddenly found that his body had mutated

He was terrified: "What happened to me?" Although his body and voice had changed, he was unwilling to face up to this reality and begged for help.
The desire to survive still kept him thinking about getting out of bed, catching the first train at 5am, and starting salesman as usual

a new day.But no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't change the fact that his body had mutated.The director personally came out to urge him to go to work.at this time

He had to face up to the fact that disaster had come.And the fear of losing his job even outweighed the fear of becoming a beetle.this fear
Fear overwhelmed his normal thinking.He forgot that he had turned into a beetle, and hurriedly chased after the director.all he has on his mind

One thought: keep your job.Haunt the director, persuade him, let him agree to continue working. "I immediately put on my clothes and

It’s very hard to go on a business trip, but I can’t live without a business trip.” His body has been bound in a carapace, and he is still doing nothing.
How tragic and cruel is the struggle of hope!People have become beetles, but they still miss their families, fear their bosses, and worry about losing their jobs.
How desolate!How can this chilling wail in the work, this kind of suffering and pain in the depths of the soul, not arouse readers' body and mind?

What about the incomparable shock?

In addition, "Metamorphosis" also shows the strangeness between people; the relationship between people and a strange situation that is hostile to him.
Social Status.After Gregor's transformation, the relationship with relatives has undergone fundamental changes.He was locked in the bedroom, usually at home
No one in the house pays attention to him, the only one who can get close to him is his beloved sister, but she is also strange, and even hates to see him.
to him.Whenever she came to deliver food, she deliberately twisted the key in the lock a few times, as if telling him to hide quickly.as soon as she leaves

He rushed to the window as soon as he entered the room, as if he was about to suffocate, which caused him great pain.Since his sister felt disgusted when she saw him, he had to hide
Go under the sofa so she can't see it.We were relatives who knew each other yesterday, but today we are so estranged.Language barriers, mental barriers,
There is an impenetrable glass wall in the middle.Even the mother who loved him the most would faint from fright at the sight of him.
Also like a stranger.His younger sister couldn't bear this kind of torture, "this thing has caused us so much suffering", and asked his parents to be cruel.
it gets away.His sister's words shattered his last illusion and his glimmer of hope.There was a void in his heart, so he decided to leave
this world.Gregor lived among relatives but was unaccompanied, lonely, completely isolated from the world, and finally died tragically.
Die alone in a locked room without the knowledge of loved ones.What a dreadful loneliness it is!novel from gregor's angle
The narrative can be expanded at different speeds, reflecting the changes of the surrounding environment through his psychological refraction;
It shows the loneliness and loneliness that are common among people in capitalist society.

The grotesque, mysterious and famous in the literary world

The main artistic feature of "Metamorphosis" is to use realistic techniques to describe illusory things.The protagonist of the novel is a human-turned beetle,

Obviously absurd and false.

Of course, "absurdity" here is an artistic technique. The writer makes the reality absurd, and makes the things described false, without chasing

Seeking resemblance in shape and resemblance in spirit, grasping the essential feature of capitalist society that alienates human beings into non-humans, and displaying its essence in an allegorical manner.

In this way, the writer sublimates the general social phenomenon into a philosophy of life, which not only has a strong artistic generalization ability, but also sharply
It touches the essence of society, so it has a strong social criticism. "Metamorphosis" uses the shell of "absurdity" to expose
It reveals that in the capitalist society, ordinary people cannot control their own destiny under heavy persecution, so that they are "alienated" and become "inhuman".

The deformed image of ". Marx once defined "alienation" as follows: "The domination of things over people, the labor of the dead over the labor of the living
the domination of the product, the domination of the product over the producer. "That is to say, in capitalist society, things created by people (such as money,

machinery, mode of production, etc.) confronts man as an alien force dominating man, manipulating him and turning him into a slave to things
slaves, and eventually become "things" or "non-humans".The little character Gregor "transforms" into a beetle, quietly indifference and torture.

However, death reflects the profound contradiction between ordinary people and the modern capitalist social environment and the authoritarian rule from a specific angle.
The mental threat posed by the rule of law to a person.

It was really not easy for Kafka to write such a profound, sharp, novel and unique novel in 1912. This "mysterious and grotesque"
"The thrilling novel made him famous in one fell swoop.

Franz Kafka once said: "The motto engraved on the cane that Balzac carried was: 'I smash every obstacle,'

And my motto is: 'Every obstacle crushes me. 'There is an end, but no way; what we call a way,

It's just hesitation. "Most of his works were compiled and published by friends after his death. These works shocked the world in the 30s.
After the 50s, the literary world became more and more famous.His works have concentrated the characteristics of many genres, and at the same time have both absurdism and existentialism.

elements of doctrine, Freudism, and symbolism.All kinds of modern western literary schools have listed it as "confidant"

", revered as the "predecessor" and regarded as the standard. Now Kafka has been recognized as one of the founders of Western modernist literature. With
Kafka's works represented by "The Metamorphosis" had a profound influence on Western modernist literature, and even formed a special
The "Kafkaology" of researching and discussing works.

(End of this chapter)