Communications in Humanities Research
- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences
Communications in Humanities Research
Vol. 34, 21 May 2024
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On the Absurdity and Reality in Kafka's "The Castle"
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Abstract
The 20th-century capitalist world was turbulent and crisis-ridden, and Western literary creation as a whole presented a state of nihilism, loneliness, loss, and anxiety. Many writers regarded ugliness as beauty, using absurdity to represent reality, among whom Kafka was one. "The Castle," as a representative of his short stories, constructs many bizarre events that do not exist in real life, enhancing the absurdity of the work. The author combines absurdity with reality, integrating philosophical parables and his own real-life reflections into the work, aiming to express the ruthless satire on human indifference as well as a deep call for genuine human emotions.
Keywords
Kafka, The Castle, Absurdity, Reality
References
1. Jian, Y. F. (2022). The absurd and the real in Kafka's "Metamorphosis." New Curriculum Learning, (550)10, 96-98.
2. Cen, Y. H. (2022). An analysis of the "absurd" in Western modernist literature. New Documentary, (18), 35-37.
3. Principles of Aesthetics Editorial Group. (2018). Principles of Aesthetics (2nd ed.). Beijing: Higher Education Press, 237-239.
4. Kafka, F. (2006). The Castle (G. Nian Sheng, Trans.). Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House. pp. 1, 15.
5. Ye, T. F. (1988). On Kafka. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press.
6. Ye, T. F. (2002). Kafka Collection. Shanghai: Shanghai Far East Publishers, 315, 457, 157.
7. Zeng, Y. B., & Li, S. (2022). The long road of a century's "The Castle" - New discussions on the theme of Kafka's "The Castle." Journal of Zhengzhou University (Philosophy and Social Science Edition), 55(05), 83-87+128.
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Data Availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
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- Volume Title
- Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Literature, Language, and Culture Development
- ISBN (Print)
- 978-1-83558-437-8
- ISBN (Online)
- 978-1-83558-438-5
- Published Date
- 21 May 2024
- Series
- Communications in Humanities Research
- ISSN (Print)
- 2753-7064
- ISSN (Online)
- 2753-7072
- DOI
- 10.54254/2753-7064/34/20240083
- Copyright
- 21 May 2024
- Open Access
- This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited