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Franz Kafka

2006-04-27T03:48:25Z

Rsellars: /* Biography */ fixed formatting error

==Biography==
Due to his line of descent, Kafka became an immediate outcast in the Czechoslovakian society. To add insult to injury, his religious affiliation, Jewish, did not mesh with the anti-Semantic Catholic country in which he lived, and even Kafka's parents did not have much contact with their son, due largely to the amount of responsibility that comes with owning one's own business (Contemporary).

Due to the the large amount of debts that began to pile up on his family's shoulders, Kafka retained a position in the aforementioned insurance company, still writing on the side (Contemporary). Until his retirement, Kafka worked at the insurance business (1907-23), first at an administrative position in a Prague branch of an Italian insurance company and then at the Workmen's Accident Insurance Institute of Prague. His work was highly valued at the company and during World War I his supervisors arranged for his draft deferment.(1 This is proof that he was not a socially inept person as some of his works suggest. However, in 1922, he left the company, no longer able to work due to the advancement of his illness.
According to this source (1), Kafka had many girlfriends, affairs, and broken engagements. He also had one son (Contemporary).

Kafka pulled from his own life feelings of alienation whenever he wrote. He often mixed "prosaic realism and nightmarish, infinitely interpretable symbolism" in his works, and his protagonists were "driven to find answers in an unresponsive world, and they are required to act accordingly to incomprehensible rules administered by an inaccessible authority" (1964). In 1912, Kafka published ''The Metamorphosis,'' the longest of his works actually completed in his lifetime (1965). This work can be compared to Kafka's own childhood, alienated from his family (Contemporary). Living with an angry father, Kafka's protagonist Gregory Samsa also deals with issues regarding familial violence after his transformation into a giant beetle. Samsa, like Kafka, also feels a certain amount of loathing for himself--Kafka for his perceived failures, and Samsa for his inability to provide for his family, being a giant bug.

Other of Kafka's famous works include ''The Trial,'' ''The Judgment,'' ''Amerika,'' and "In the Penal Colony". Kafka died of tuberculosis in 1924. In his wake, he left behind two novellas, numerous short stories, and three unfinished manuscripts. The manuscripts, considered to be failures by Kafka, were published by the executor of his estate Max Brod, who disregarded the author's final wish to have them destroyed (1964). The following is Kafka's legacy:

:"Critically, Kafka's works have prompted a vast and varied array of interpretations. He has been hailed as a realist, an absurdist, a sociologist, and even, by Thomas Mann, as a comedic theologian. Some writers have emphasized the psychological in analyzing his works, others have concentrated on the Judaic aspects; some have traced his fiction as thinly disguised autobiography, and others have noted the same works as full-fledged fantasies. Consistent in these divergent interpretations is the respect accorded Kafka's works as unique and compelling, and the regard for Kafka as a literary master" (Contemporary).

==Significant Works==
*[[The Metamorphosis]]
*[[The Trial]]
*''Amerika''
*''The Judgment''
*''The Castle''
*''Letter to My Father''

==Historical Period==

'''Czech Independence'''

Czechoslovakia had been under the rule of the Austria-Hungarian Empire the citizens were weary of the “restriction of democratic rights in the Czech lands” (www.livingprague.com). A resistance to the oppression by the German influenced monarch built up during World War I. A lead “university professor, philosopher, and politician Tomas Masaryk” ([http://www.livingprague.com www.livingprague.com]) led the fight for Czechoslovakian independence abroad. On the home front resistance grew gradually until it was clear that “things were not in Austria-Hungary’s favor” ([http://www.livingprauge.com www.livingprague.com]). Czechoslovakia became an independent republic on October 28, 1918.

==Links==
==Works Cited==
"Franz Kafka". April 17 2006. <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kafka.htm>

"Franz Kafka". ''Contemporary Authors Online'' (2003). ''Contemporary Authors.'' 17 Apr. 2006. [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U13007810&n=10&docNum=H1000051755&ST=Franz+Kafka&bConts=16047 Franz Kafka]

Kafka, Franz. "The Metamorphosis." The Northern Anthology of Western Literature. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2006. 1964-1999.

[http://www.livingprague.com www.livingprague.com]

Franz Kafka

2006-04-27T03:47:50Z

Rsellars: rmv plag

Kafka

2006-04-20T05:08:50Z

Rsellars: /* Influences */ corrected small grammatical errors

== Biography ==

Franz Kafka was born in Prague on July 3,1883. Like most authors he was over looked during his short life. He was raised in a middle class Jewish family and had a very strict father, Hermann. Hermann owned a dry-goods wholesale store, he was an uneducated but industrious Czech who had married Julie Loewy, an urbane, German-speaking Jew from a slightly higher social class. “Hermann's domineering manner greatly distressed young Kafka, who found his father loud, impatient, unsympathetic, and, consequently, overwhelming and intimidating” (Contemporary). “Kafka’s most remembered childhood memory was of an incident in which he repeatedly cried from his bed for water, where then his father took him to the balcony and locked him outside” (Contemporary). Many years later this event still haunted Kafka, and in one of his later works he criticized him for his crude methods. “’For years thereafter,’ Kafka wrote, ‘I kept being haunted by fantasies of this giant of a man, my father, the ultimate judge, coming to get me in the middle of the night, and for almost no reason at all dragging me out of bed onto the pavlatch--in other words, that as far as he was concerned, I was an absolute Nothing’” (Contemporary). In 1901-1906 Kafka studied German literature and received a law degree at a German University in Prague. Kafka then goes to work for the law office of Richard Lowy in Prague and goes back to college for his doctorate degree. "In his brief lifetime, Kafka wrote some of the most orginal and influential works of the 20th century, including "The Metamorphosis" (1915), "A Hunger Artist" (1924), "The Trial" (1925), "The Castle" (1926), and "The Man Who Diseappeared" (aka "Amerika"; 1927) (Dachslager). Still not satisfied he began looking for another job and found one in 1908 at the semi-govermental Worker's Accident Insurance Institute where he remained until he retired in 1922. His works were never published until his tragic death. Kafka was a very sick man most of his life. He contacted tuberculosis which made him very weak and feable. "When a subsequent diagnosis revealed an improved condition, Kafka was so overwhelmed with happiness that he proposed marriage to Dymant. But within two weeks he suffered great pain and pleaded for his physician to administer morphine. Injections were given, and an ice pack was set on Kafka's throat. On June 3, he awoke and threw the ice pack from himself, then lapsed again into unconsciousness and death" (Contemporary). He died in a sanatorium near Vienna on June 3, 1924, one month short of his 41st birthday.

==Influences==
Kafka had many influences to his writing, most of which were German (Grillparzer, Kleist, Goethe) (Dodd), but this did not stop his work from being difficult to relate to. By keeping his setting and other aspects of his work ambiguous, he allows the reader to connect with the central themes of his works. Another influence of Kafka was his surroundings, in fact, ''Metamorphosis'' is loosely based on the relationship with his father who played a tyrranical role in his life much like the "Mr. Samsa" assumed later in the novella.

==List of Works==
[[Amerika]]

[[The Trial]]

[[The Castle]]

[[The Metamorphosis]]

[[In the Penal Colony]]

[[Meditation]]

[[The Judgment]]

[[The Country Doctor]]

[[A Hunger Artist]]

[[Description of a Struggle]]

[[Wedding Preparations in the Country]]

[[The Urban World]]

[[A Perfect Fool]]

[[Temptation in the Village]]

[[Memoirs of the Kalda Railroad]]

[[The Village Schoolmaster]]

[[Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor]]

[[The Warden of the Tomb]]

[[The Hunter Gracchus]]

[[The Great Wall of China]]

[[Letter to his Father]]

[[The Refusal]]

[[Investigations of a Dog]]

[[The Burrow]]

[[Diaries 1910-1923]]

[[Letters]]

[[The Blue Octavio Notebooks]]

==Works Cited==

*Contemporary Authors Online. "Franz Kafka". Gale 2003. 17 Apr. 2006. [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U13007810&n=10&docNum=H1000051755&ST=Franz+Kafka&bConts=16047 Franz Kafka]

*Nowack, Jeff and Ruch, Allen B. "The Modern World-Franz Kafka". 26 June 2004.17 April 2006 <www.themodernworld.com>.

*Dachslager, Earl L. "A man 'made of literature'; Biography tries to pin down the elusive Franz Kafka." The Houston Chronicle 2nd STAR EDITION:12 Feb 2006: 18. Lexis Nexis. Galileo. Macon State College Libary, Macon, GA. 17 Apr. 2006 <http://www.galileo.usg.edu>

*William J. Dodd, University of Birmingham. "Franz Kafka." The Literary Encylopedia. 16 Jan. 2004. The Literary Dictionary Company. 20 April 2006 <http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2429>

Kafka

2006-04-20T05:03:50Z

Rsellars: added influences section, itemized works cited list, corrected small errors, added links to kafka's other works

== Biography ==

Franz Kafka was born in Prague on July 3,1883. Like most authors he was over looked during his short life. He was raised in a middle class Jewish family and had a very strict father, Hermann. Hermann owned a dry-goods wholesale store, he was an uneducated but industrious Czech who had married Julie Loewy, an urbane, German-speaking Jew from a slightly higher social class. “Hermann's domineering manner greatly distressed young Kafka, who found his father loud, impatient, unsympathetic, and, consequently, overwhelming and intimidating” (Contemporary). “Kafka’s most remembered childhood memory was of an incident in which he repeatedly cried from his bed for water, where then his father took him to the balcony and locked him outside” (Contemporary). Many years later this event still haunted Kafka, and in one of his later works he criticized him for his crude methods. “’For years thereafter,’ Kafka wrote, ‘I kept being haunted by fantasies of this giant of a man, my father, the ultimate judge, coming to get me in the middle of the night, and for almost no reason at all dragging me out of bed onto the pavlatch--in other words, that as far as he was concerned, I was an absolute Nothing’” (Contemporary). In 1901-1906 Kafka studied German literature and received a law degree at a German University in Prague. Kafka then goes to work for the law office of Richard Lowy in Prague and goes back to college for his doctorate degree. "In his brief lifetime, Kafka wrote some of the most orginal and influential works of the 20th century, including "The Metamorphosis" (1915), "A Hunger Artist" (1924), "The Trial" (1925), "The Castle" (1926), and "The Man Who Diseappeared" (aka "Amerika"; 1927) (Dachslager). Still not satisfied he began looking for another job and found one in 1908 at the semi-govermental Worker's Accident Insurance Institute where he remained until he retired in 1922. His works were never published until his tragic death. Kafka was a very sick man most of his life. He contacted tuberculosis which made him very weak and feable. "When a subsequent diagnosis revealed an improved condition, Kafka was so overwhelmed with happiness that he proposed marriage to Dymant. But within two weeks he suffered great pain and pleaded for his physician to administer morphine. Injections were given, and an ice pack was set on Kafka's throat. On June 3, he awoke and threw the ice pack from himself, then lapsed again into unconsciousness and death" (Contemporary). He died in a sanatorium near Vienna on June 3, 1924, one month short of his 41st birthday.

==Influences==
Kafka had many influences most which were German (Grillparzer, Kleist, Goethe) (Dodd) but this did not stop his work from being universal. By keeping his setting and other aspects of his work ambiguous he allows the reader to connect with the central themes of his works. Another influence of Kafka, was his surroundings, in fact, ''Metamorphosis'' is loosely based on the realationship with his father who played a tyrranical role in his life much like the "Mr. Samsa" assumed later in the novella.

==List of Works==
[[Amerika]]

[[The Trial]]

[[The Castle]]

[[The Metamorphosis]]

[[In the Penal Colony]]

[[Meditation]]

[[The Judgment]]

[[The Country Doctor]]

[[A Hunger Artist]]

[[Description of a Struggle]]

[[Wedding Preparations in the Country]]

[[The Urban World]]

[[A Perfect Fool]]

[[Temptation in the Village]]

[[Memoirs of the Kalda Railroad]]

[[The Village Schoolmaster]]

[[Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor]]

[[The Warden of the Tomb]]

[[The Hunter Gracchus]]

[[The Great Wall of China]]

[[Letter to his Father]]

[[The Refusal]]

[[Investigations of a Dog]]

[[The Burrow]]

[[Diaries 1910-1923]]

[[Letters]]

[[The Blue Octavio Notebooks]]

==Works Cited==

*Contemporary Authors Online. "Franz Kafka". Gale 2003. 17 Apr. 2006. [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U13007810&n=10&docNum=H1000051755&ST=Franz+Kafka&bConts=16047 Franz Kafka]

*Nowack, Jeff and Ruch, Allen B. "The Modern World-Franz Kafka". 26 June 2004.17 April 2006 <www.themodernworld.com>.

*Dachslager, Earl L. "A man 'made of literature'; Biography tries to pin down the elusive Franz Kafka." The Houston Chronicle 2nd STAR EDITION:12 Feb 2006: 18. Lexis Nexis. Galileo. Macon State College Libary, Macon, GA. 17 Apr. 2006 <http://www.galileo.usg.edu>

*William J. Dodd, University of Birmingham. "Franz Kafka." The Literary Encylopedia. 16 Jan. 2004. The Literary Dictionary Company. 20 April 2006 <http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2429>

The Metamorphosis: Chapter 1

2006-04-20T04:31:43Z

Rsellars:

The Metamorphosis: Chapter 1

2006-04-20T04:30:58Z

Rsellars: moved text

The first chapter of The Metamorphosis is the chapter that Gregory Samsa wakes up to find that he has morphed into a bug. The bug is never truly revealed and Kafka wanted it to be that way. Kafka said that a "concrete image would be too distracting and shut off sympathy" (Fleissner 225), so the true identity of the bug is left up to the reader.

Gregory's parents worry about him when he has not gotten up to go to work, so his family goes to his room and then Gregory's chief clerk comes to his house to see why Gregory has not come to work. Gregory hears that that the clerk has come to check on him so he tries to make it out of his room by turning the key with his mouth and when he opens door, he frightens his family and the clerk, sending the clerk running and sends his father into a frenzied state to put Gregory back in his room. Gregory’s mother faints when she sees him. His family stays away from him, careful not to disturb him or disturb themselves. Gregory eventually loses his human voice and takes on all appearances and actions of a bug. The chapter ends when “The door was banged to with the stick, and at last there was silence” (1976). This is when Gregory’s father successfully shoves him back to his room away from the rest of the family for the time being

The Metamorphosis

2006-04-20T04:26:45Z

Rsellars: /* Characters */

==Summary==
Gregory Samsa is a traveling salesman who financially supports his family. He wakes up in the morning to find out he has been transformed into a Dung Beetle. He is in shock after his reality sets in and tries to figure out how he is going to get to work. Although they try to assimilate the change, his family is horrified and keeps Gregory locked in his room. Gregory eventually dies, leaving his family free.

==Study Guide==
*[[The Metamorphosis: Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
*[[The Metamorphosis: Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
*[[The Metamorphosis: Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]

===Chapter 1 Summary===
The first chapter of The Metamorphosis is the chapter that Gregory Samsa wakes up to find that he has morphed into a bug. The bug is never truly revealed and Kafka wanted it to be that way. Kafka said that a "concrete image would be too distracting and shut off sympathy" (Fleissner 225), so the true identity of the bug is left up to the reader.

Gregory's parents worry about him when he has not gotten up to go to work, so his family goes to his room and then Gregory's chief clerk comes to his house to see why Gregory has not come to work. Gregory hears that that the clerk has come to check on him so he tries to make it out of his room by turning the key with his mouth and when he opens door, he frightens his family and the clerk, sending the clerk running and sends his father into a frenzied state to put Gregory back in his room. Gregory’s mother faints when she sees him. His family stays away from him, careful not to disturb him or disturb themselves. Gregory eventually loses his human voice and takes on all appearances and actions of a bug. The chapter ends when “The door was banged to with the stick, and at last there was silence” (1976). This is when Gregory’s father successfully shoves him back to his room away from the rest of the family for the time being.

===Chapter 3 Summary===

It has been a month since Gregory’s injury form the apple. He now resembles an “elderly invalid” and has trouble with mobility. Gregory’s parents and sister all have jobs now; his mother works as a seamstress, his father works at the bank and his sister works as a shop assistance. A new maid has also been hired. Gregory spends most of his days and nights sleeping and thinking about his family and his former job. His sister Meg begins spending less time with him and his appetite has begun to deplete. Three lodgers come to stay at his house. While they are there, the door where Gregory can see out of stays shut so he can not see out. One night, Meg plays the violin for the men. The door that is usually shut was left open by the maid and Gregory peeps out. The middle lodger spots him and is grossed out. He gives notice to Gregory’s parents that they will be leaving and that they do not intend to pay for their stay because of the filthy conditions. The next morning, the maid goes in to clean Gregory’s room and finds him dead. She informs his family and they decide to move to a smaller, less expensive apartment. The chapter ends with talk of finding Meg a husband.

==Major Themes==

===Alienation===
The theme of alienation plays a major role in the story because Gregory is alienated from his family and society before the metamorphosis occurs and even more so afterwards. Kafka uses the theme of alienation in this story to "comment on the human need to experience love and acceptance" (Hughes). Gregory's mother tells his boss when they first discover that something is wrong, "He's not well, sir, you can take it from me. What else would make him miss his train? Why, the boy thinks of nothing but his work! It makes me quite cross that he never goes out in the evening..." (1970). Before the metamorphosis, Gregory's work is what alienates him from his family and society.

After the metamorphosis, however, it is his distinct features that alienate him. One example of the alienation is that his family locks him in his bedroom. Gregory is not allowed to be a part of the family. Gregory then has to make the adjustment from being a man in the working world and traveling everyday, to being a prisoner in his own bedroom (Hughes). Another way that Gregory's family alienates him is that when they talk about him, they openly talk about his features in front of him because they think that he cannot understand what they are saying. "If he understood what we said...we might be able to come to an arrangement with him. But as things are..." (1995). They refer to Gregory as "it" rather than by his name. "It has to go...it's the only way, father. You must just try to get out of the habit of thinking that it's Gregory" (1995). In this way, the reader finds out that the family has stopped acknowledging Gregory as their son. The family also treats Gregory like an animal by the way that they feed him. Gregory's sister would bring in scraps from the table that the family wouldn't eat to feed him. "She brought him a whole selection of things, all laid out on an old newspaper, to see what he liked. There were some old half rotten vegetables; the bones from supper, covered with congealed white sauce; some raisins and almonds; a piece of cheese...two days old; a slice of dry bread..." (1978). The family treated him like an animal, rather than their son who got sick and needed his family to look after him.

===Guilt===
The theme of guilt is relevent to the story because it is a very powerful emotion. Gregory is upset that he can't go out and work because of what has happened to him. Even though the metamorphosis wasn't his fault, he still blams himself (Altshuler). Gregory also feels guilty because his family can't move on, literally and mentally. The thing that kept his family from moving on was "their feeling of utter dispair and the idea that they had been struck by a misfortune exceeding anything ever experienced within their entire circle of friends and relations" (1989). Gregory blams himself for this because if this tragedy hadn't happened, his family wouldn't feel the need that they had to move. Gregory also has a guilty feeling because he wants to see his mother, but he knows that he cannot because her reaction to seeing him would not be a good one. When Meg and her mother were moving furniture out of Gregory's room, the mother saw him on the wall. Her reaction was "in a shrill, strident voice, 'Oh God, oh God!' and with arms outstretched as if giving up altogether fell back on the couch and lay still" (1985). Gregory knew that his mother would not take well to seeing him like that, but he stayed on the wall just the same, to protect a painting.

===Novella===
Technically a theme, but more of a genre so to speak, that is unknown to most of us present day readers of Kafka is novella. "A novella is a short novel; a narrative work of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose prose] fiction somewhat longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. A common length is about 50 to 100 pages. The extra length is generally used for more character development than is possible in a short story, but without the much greater character and plot development of a novel. Novellas often are characterized by satire or moral teaching" (Wikipedia).

Satire: This is clearly evident as "[http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/The_Metamorphosis#Summary The Metamorphosis] is obviously a story about alienation. Gregor's life is dictated by his dead-end job and family responsibilities to the extent that even when he travels to different towns, he prefers to stay in his hotel room studying train timetables rather than experience what the new location has to offer. That isolation is mirrored in his relationship with his family, for whom he is the bread-winner but from whom he locks himself away at night. This alienation becomes so pronounced that, one day, he discovers himself to be literally no longer human. Gregor's earlier sentiment is reciprocated when his family begins locking and bolting the door shut behind him in his room. Late in the story, he briefly considers what it means to be 'human'; if he can be so moved by his sister's music then surely he cannot be an animal. And ultimately, his acceptance that he must go shows an act of genuine humanity" (Archer).

Moral Teaching: Try interpreting the story without Gregor's transformation. "In this interpretation, the other characters in the story would not see a man-sized beetle. Instead, they see a man so alienated from reality that he chooses to reject it totally. He is still a man, the same man they saw the previous day, but now he is crawling awkwardly on the floor and squeaking rather than speaking. He would prefer the shame of living as an insect to the hopelessness of living as a man. He would rather live in squalor and eat scraps from the rubbish than deal with the mind-numbing sameness of his life and accept responsibility for changing it. The abhorrence the family displays upon seeing him would still be the same - perhaps it would be even greater if they still just saw a man. They would be forced to accept the situation in the same way; still hoping [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/The_Metamorphosis#Gregory_Samsa Gregor] will put himself right before finally admitting the man they knew will never return. As nightmarish as the scenario presented in the book is, maybe the only thing worse than inexplicably transforming into a giant bug overnight is wishing you had" (Archer).

===Reversal of Roles===

At the begining Gregory is the one who supports his family. He is bringing home the money while his father sits in his chair and sleeps. This may have "crippled the father's self-esteem because he took over the father's position in the family" (Coulehan). After Gregory's transformation, the roles reversed and the father re-assumes his positon as the provider forthe family. Gregory now becomes weak and his father kills him.

===Loss of Humanity===

The theme of humanity is shown in the story by how it is taken away from Gregor. His humanity is slowly taken away from him throughout the story not just by his transformation into a bug. Gregor’s first link to humanity that is taken away was that of him being the bread winner for the family. “Gregors humanity, to the extent that his parents and sister acknowledge it, is inextricably tied to his function as economic provider.” (Rowe). Later in the story more is pulled away when Grete begins taking objects out of his room. This made Gregory reminisce about his human life. “They were clearing his room out, taking everything that was dear to him…”(p.1985). Here the last things that ever tied him to having a human existence were removed. When a person is inflicted with a severe illness it is easy for those around that person to be horrified by that person’s appearance (Rowe). The ill patient can not defend his or herself so the people around do not think about how the patient feels (Rowe). This causes the patient to lose their humanity (Rowe). Gregor is inflicted with a unique illness but the outcome is the same. The most famous occurrence of a patient losing their humanity is that of Terry Schiavo. Everybody had their own opinion of Shiavo’s fate. Schiavo could not defend herself or give her opinion of her fate. That situation was turned into a political circus and ultimately stripped Schiavo of her humanity. Rowe states that The Metamorphosis warns against this treatment of people with illnesses.

===Materialistic===

Modern Society is leading us down a path to care more about the material things rather than the things that truly matter. Gregory Samsa, the one person who cared more about his family than money, worked long hours at a job that he disliked not because of his love for the job, but so that his family could have a good life. His family on the other hand was enjoying a work free life. Mankind gets so caught up in the bureaucracy of society that we sometimes forget what what matters most. We get jobs so that we can buy the materialistic things we desire. This need for money and material things can change our mindset and forget what is truly important in our lives. In, The Metamorphosis, Gregory turns into some sort of insect, while this is something that is very dramatic and would be very hard to deal with, Kafka is trying to show how Gregory’s family rejects him, not only because of his appearance but because he can no longer go to work, no longer will his family be able live off the income he generates, no more material things without a little hard work. After the metamorphosis Gregory will no longer be able to fit into society, therefore his family begins to shun him. Not one of his family members ever tries to find out what happened and what could be done to fix it. One by one Gregory’s family members grow further away from him, forgetting all of the selfless deeds he did for all of them.

===Modern Spirituality===

Franz Kafka’s ''The Metamorphosis'' goes against what most writers would consider normal writing layout. His style is peculiar in that he places the climax at the beginning of the narrative-instead of at the end. By choosing to write in this fashion, Kafka steers his readers away from the traditional Aristotelian form of narrative (complication and denouncement) and instead creates his own form. ''The Metamorphosis'' is a brilliant novella that replaces the denouncement and conclusions one would normally expect with a form created from itself.
The first line of the novella proclaims Gregory’s death and the rest of the story a description of his slow dying: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect” (Bloom 19). Gregory’s metamorphosis is the truth of his life, and his consciousness has lied to him about himself.

==Characters==

===Gregory Samsa===
A traveling salesman responsible for providing for his family. His metamorphosis into a insect leaves a stuggle between his human mind and insect needs.

===Mother===
Gregory's mother seems to be the weakest and hit the hardest by her son’s metamorphosis. The effect of this metamorphosis on her health is terrible. Every time she sees him, she has some sort of panic attack. Gregory’s father and sister try to protect his mother from him.

===Father===
Gregor's father more less plays the role of dictator in the story and this is due to his hostilities and interpersonal power dynamics in the family, This is evident with passages such as, "His father looked hostile and clenched a fist as if to force Gregory back into his room;" (1973). Some would describe his father as "A slouching, defeated man whose business failure has seemingly sapped his vitality, Gregor's father finds new confidence and better posture once the economic necessity engendered by Gregor's misfortune forces him to work again. His fruit-flinging fit of rage is the catalyst for Gregor's declining health and eventual demise (Lichtenstein). Even though Gregor is the bread-winner and provider of the family, the Samsas are still a patriarch type of family.

===Grete===
The sister of Gregory Samsa who feeds him and takes care of him.

===The lodgers===

==Literary Interpertation==

==Study Questions==
#What sort of bug does Gregory Samsa change into overnight?
#What is the significance of Gregory's job? How does his job effect his family?
#How does the chief clerk from Gregory's job act towards the Samsa's and in general about the entire situation?
#What two people does Gregory think would be the "strongest" and most able to help get him out of bed in the morning? What do you think that this signifies?
#What family member feeds Gregory after he is changed into a bug?
#What is the outside weather like during the "Metamorphosis"? Does this climate help set the mood at all?
#What type of relationship does Gregory have with his sister Meg? How would you describe it?
#How does Gregory die at the end of "The Metamorphosis"?

==External Links==
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/

==Works Cited==
Altshuler, Roman. "GradeSaver: ClassicNote: The Metamorphosis - Major Themes." www.gradesaver.com. 17 April 2006. GradeSaver. 17 April 2006 <http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/metamorphosis/themes.html>.

Bloom, Harold. “The Metamorphosis”. ''Modern Critical Interpretations''. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

Coulehan, Jack. "The Metamorphosis". Bantam (New York)1997.

Hughes, Katherine. "Seperate and Alone: Alienation as a Central Theme in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Kafka's Metamorphosis." 9 November 2002. 17 April 2006. <http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/metamorphosis/essay1.html>

Fleissner, Robert F. "Is Gregor Samsa a Bed Bug? Kafka and Dickens Revisited." ''Studies in Short Fiction''. Vol. 22, Issue 2 (1985): p 225.

"Novella". Wikipedia. 11 April 2006. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 17 April 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella>.

"Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' ". Ed. Archer, Lincoln. 25 October 2004. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/d/ BBC]. 17 April 2006.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3023065>.

Rowe, Michael. "Metamorphosis: Defending the Human." Literature In Medicine. Baltimore: Fall 2002. vol 21, 264-281

Lichtenstein, Jesse. "SparkNote on The Metamorphosis". 16 April 2006. 17 Apr. 2006. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/characters.html>

[[Category:World Literature]]

Nanotechnology

2006-04-20T04:09:34Z

Rsellars:

''Nanotechnology'' is defined as "the art of manipulating materials on the molecular or atomic level especially to build microscopic devices" (or robots).([http://m-w.com Merriam Webster Online]) Modern science fiction literature uses these devices (commonly referred to as "nanotech") for various purposes inside the human body such as: repair, maintenance, and enhancement. Possessing nanotech however does ''not'' normally constitute a [[cyborg]] as this modification is typically not enough to cause a noticable difference in appearance that is usually associated with cyborgs.

==Works Cited==
Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Websters Dictionaries. April 20, 2006 <http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/nanotechnology>

Kafka

2006-04-20T00:58:13Z

Rsellars: /* List of Works */ added in a link to the site, for editing purposes

== Biography ==

Franz Kafka was born in Prague on July 3,1883. Like most authors he was over looked during his short life. He was raised in a middle class Jewish family and had a very strict father, Hermann. Hermann owned a dry-goods wholesale store, he was an uneducated but industrious Czech who had married Julie Loewy, an urbane, German-speaking Jew from a slightly higher social class. “Hermann's domineering manner greatly distressed young Kafka, who found his father loud, impatient, unsympathetic, and, consequently, overwhelming and intimidating” (Contemporary). “Kafka’s most remembered childhood memory was of an incident in which he repeatedly cried from his bed for water, where then his father took him to the balcony and locked him outside” (Contemporary). Many years later this event still haunted Kafka, and in one of his later works he criticized him for his crude methods. “’For years thereafter,’ Kafka wrote, ‘I kept being haunted by fantasies of this giant of a man, my father, the ultimate judge, coming to get me in the middle of the night, and for almost no reason at all dragging me out of bed onto the pavlatch--in other words, that as far as he was concerned, I was an absolute Nothing’” (Contemporary). In 1901-1906 Kafka studied German literature and received a law degree at a German University in Prague. Kafka then goes to work for the law office of Richard Lowy in Prague and goes back to college for his doctorate degree. "In his brief lifetime, Kafka wrote some of the most orginal and influential works of the 20th century, including "The Metamorphosis" (1915), "A Hunger Artist" (1924), "The Trial" (1925), "The Castle" (1926), and "The Man Who Diseappeared" (aka "Amerika"; 1927) (Dachslager). Still not satisfied he began looking for another job and found one in 1908 at the semi-govermental Worker's Accident Insurance Institute where he remained until he retired in 1922. His works were never published until his tragic death. Kafka was a very sick man most of his life. He contacted tuberculosis which made him very weak and feable. "When a subsequent diagnosis revealed an improved condition, Kafka was so overwhelmed with happiness that he proposed marriage to Dymant. But within two weeks he suffered great pain and pleaded for his physician to administer morphine. Injections were given, and an ice pack was set on Kafka's throat. On June 3, he awoke and threw the ice pack from himself, then lapsed again into unconsciousness and death" (Contemporary). He died in a sanatorium near Vienna on June 3, 1924, one month short of his 41st birthday.

==List of Works==
Amerika

[[The Trial]]

The Castle

[[The Metamorphosis]]

In the Penal Colony

Meditation

The Judgment

The Country Doctor

A Hunger Artist

Description of a Struggle

Wedding Preparations in the Country

The Urban World

A Perfect Fool

Temptation in the Village

Memoirs of the Kalda Railroad

The Village Schoolmaster

Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor

The Warden of the Tomb

The Hunter Gracchus

The Great Wall of China

Letter to his Father

The Refusal

Investigations of a Dog

The Burrow

Diaries 1910-1923

Letters

The Blue Octavio Notebooks

==Works Cited==

Contemporary Authors Online. "Franz Kafka". Gale 2003. 17 Apr. 2006. [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U13007810&n=10&docNum=H1000051755&ST=Franz+Kafka&bConts=16047 Franz Kafka]

Nowack, Jeff and Ruch, Allen B. "The Modern World-Franz Kafka". 26 June 2004.17 April 2006 <www.themodernworld.com>.

Dachslager, Earl L. "A man 'made of literature'; Biography tries to pin down the elusive Franz Kafka." The Houston Chronicle 2nd STAR EDITION:12 Feb 2006: 18. Lexis Nexis. Galileo. Macon State College Libary, Macon, GA. 17 Apr. 2006 <http://www.galileo.usg.edu>

Resolution

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Literally, "the point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out".( [http://m-w.com Merriam Webster Online] ) In literature, this usually means the point at which the primary conflict in the piece comes to a close and is solved or ended. ''ex. The death of both Romeo and Juliet, though an [[anti-climax]], served as the '''resolution''' for the primary conflict of the story.''

==Works Cited==
Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Webster's Dictionaries. April 19, 2006 <http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/resolution>

==See Also==

Resolution

2006-04-20T00:55:16Z

Rsellars:

Literally, "the point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out".( [http://m-w.com Merriam Webster Online] ) In literature, this usually means the point at which the primary conflict in the piece comes to a close and is solved or ended. ''ex. The death of both Romeo and Juliet, though an [[anti-climax]], served as the '''resolution''' for the primary conflict of the story.''

==Works Cited==
Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Websters Dictionaries. April 19, 2006 <http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/resolution>

==See Also==

Metaphysics

2006-04-20T00:27:52Z

Rsellars: fixed errors in the exterior link

Metaphysics is defined by [http://www.m-w.com Merriam Webster Online] as "abstract philosophical studies" or "a study of what is outside objective experience". Contextually, metaphysical discussion often alludes to philosophers such as Descartes ("I think, therefore I am") or Aristotle. These discussions often bring into question the nature of existence and humanity's place in creation.

==Works Cited==
Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Websters Dictionaries. April 19, 2006 <http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary>

Metaphysics

2006-04-20T00:26:35Z

Rsellars:

Metaphysics is defined by [[http://www.m-w.com Merriam Webster Online]] as "abstract philosophical studies" or "a study of what is outside objective experience". Contextually, metaphysical discussion often alludes to philosophers such as Descartes ("I think, therefore I am") or Aristotle. These discussions often bring into question the nature of existence and humanity's place in creation.

==Works Cited==
Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Websters Dictionaries. April 19, 2006 <http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary>

Cyborg

2006-04-19T22:07:38Z

Rsellars:

'''Cyborg''' is defined by [[http://www.m-w.com Merriam Webster Online]] as, "a bionic human". But, in modern literature the term usually refers to any human whose main components are bio-electronic. This can be necessary implants, such as pacemakers, or enhancements like amplified strength. Basically, this term refers to any human incorporating many electronic components. Not to be confused with robot, or machine, this term refers to something that was once organic but has since acquired electronic components

Etmyology: ''cyb''ernetic + ''org''anism [[http://www.m-w.com Merriam Webster Online]]

==Works Cited==
*Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Websters Dictionaries. April 19, 2006 <http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/cyborg>

Franz Kafka

2006-04-17T17:34:03Z

Rsellars: /* Significant Works */

==Biography==
Franz Kafka was born in Prague, now in the Czech Republic but then part of Austria. His father was Hermann Kafka, an owner of a large dry goods establishment, and mother Julie (Löwy) Kafka, who belonged to one of the leading families in the German-speaking, German-cultured Jewish circles of Prague. Hermann Kafka was a domestic tyrant, who directed his anger against his son. Kafka also had three sisters, all of whom perished in Nazi camps. Many of Kafka's stories deal with the struggle between father and son, or a scorned individual's pleading innocence in front of remote figures of authority (1). Due to his line of descent, Kafka became an immediate outcast in the Czechoslovakian society. To add insult to injury, his religious affiliation, Jewish, did not mesh with the anti-Semantic Catholic country in which he lived, and even Kafka's parents did not have much contact with their son, due largely to the amount of responsibility that comes with owning one's own business (Contemporary).

Kafka's family situation was very stressed, even at times bordering on dysfunctional. Given the hatred he had forhis father's domestic tyranny (1), it is reasonable to assume that much tension arose as a result of this. Add to this his societal rejection as a member of Prauge's Jewish minority and his family life really begins to shape up. Kafka was educated at the German National and Civic Elementary School and the German National Humanistic Gymnasium. In 1901 he entered Ferdinand-Karls University, where he studied law and received a doctorate in 1906. During these years Kafka became a member of a circle of intellectuals, which included Franz Werfel, Oskar Baum and Max Brod, whom Kafka met in 1902. About 1904 Kafka began writing, making reports on industrial accidents and health hazard in the office by day, and writing stories by night. His profession marked the formal, legalistic language of his stories which avoided all sentimentality and moral interpretations - all conclusions are left to the reader. (1)

Due to the the large amount of debts that began to pile up on his family's shoulders, Kafka worked kept a position in an insurance company, still writing on the side (Contemporary). Until his retirement, Kafka worked at the insurance business (1907-23), first at an administrative position in a Prague branch of an Italian insurance company and then at the Workmen's Accident Insurance Institute of Prague. His work was highly valued at the company and during World War I his supervisors arranged for his draft deferment.(1 This is proof that he was not a socially inept person as some of his works suggest.
According to this source (1), Kafka had many girlfriends, affairs, and broken engagements. He also had one son (Contemporary).

Kafka pulled from his own life feelings of alienation whenever he wrote. He often mixed "prosaic realism and nightmarish, infinitely interpretable symbolism" in his works, and his protagonists were "driven to find answers in an unresponsive world, and they are required to act accordingly to incomprehensible rules administered by an inaccessible authority" (1964). In 1912, Kafka published ''The Metamorphosis,'' the longest of his works actually completed in his lifetime (1965). This work can be compared to Kafka's own childhood, alienated from his family (Contemporary). Living with an angry father, Kafka's protagonist Gregory Samsa also deals with issues regarding familial violence after his transformation into a giant beetle. Samsa, like Kafka, also feels a certain amount of loathing for himself--Kafka for his perceived failures, and Samsa for his inability to provide for his family, being a giant bug.

Other of Kafka's famous works include ''The Trial,'' ''The Judgment,'' ''The Trial,'' ''Amerika,'' and "In the Penal Colony". In his wake, he left behind two novellas, numerous short stories, and three unfinished manuscripts. The manuscripts, considered to be failures by Kafka, were published by the executor of his estate Max Brod, who disregarded the author's final wish to have them destroyed (1964). However, in 1922, he left the company, no longer able to work due to the advancement of his illness. Kafka died of tuberculosis in 1924. The following is Kafka's legacy:

:"Critically, Kafka's works have prompted a vast and varied array of interpretations. He has been hailed as a realist, an absurdist, a sociologist, and even, by Thomas Mann, as a comedic theologian. Some writers have emphasized the psychological in analyzing his works, others have concentrated on the Judaic aspects; some have traced his fiction as thinly disguised autobiography, and others have noted the same works as full-fledged fantasies. Consistent in these divergent interpretations is the respect accorded Kafka's works as unique and compelling, and the regard for Kafka as a literary master" (Contemporary).

==Significant Works==
*[[The Metamorphosis]]
*[[The Trial]]
*''Amerika''
*''The Judgment''
*''The Castle''
*''Letter to My Father''

==Historical Period==
==Links==
==Works Cited==
#Franz Kafka. April 17 2006. <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kafka.htm>
#Contemporary Authors Online. "Franz Kafka". Gale 2003. 17 Apr. 2006. [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=U13007810&n=10&docNum=H1000051755&ST=Franz+Kafka&bConts=16047 Franz Kafka]
#Kafka, Franz. "The Metamorphosis." The Northern Anthology of Western Literature. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2006. 1964-1999.

Franz Kafka

2006-04-17T17:12:38Z

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Franz Kafka

2006-04-17T17:12:12Z

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Transliterate

2006-03-16T05:52:01Z

Rsellars: /* Transliterate */

Defined literally as, "to represent or spell in the characters of another alphabet" by [http://www.m-w.com Merriam-Webster Online] This process' aim is to recreate the sound or meaning of one language in the alphabet of another. There exist many different processes for the conversion from certain languages to others, for instance the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_alphabet Cyrillic] to English translation is sometimes referred to as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transliteration_of_Russian_into_English Romanization of Russian] In our context, it is the process by which [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_alphabet Cyrillic] names are written in English.

==References==
*[http://m-w.com Merriam Webster Online]
*[http://en.wikpeida.org Wikipedia]

Transliterated

2006-03-16T05:51:42Z

Rsellars: Transliterated moved to Transliterate

#REDIRECT [[Transliterate]]

Transliterate

2006-03-16T05:51:07Z

Rsellars: Created page defining Transliterate

=Transliterate=

Defined literally as, "to represent or spell in the characters of another alphabet" by [http://www.m-w.com Merriam-Webster Online] This process' aim is to recreate the sound or meaning of one language in the alphabet of another. There exist many different processes for the conversion from certain languages to others, for instance the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_alphabet Cyrillic] to English translation is sometimes referred to as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transliteration_of_Russian_into_English Romanization of Russian] In our context, it is the process by which [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrillic_alphabet Cyrillic] names are written in English.

==References==
*[http://m-w.com Merriam Webster Online]
*[http://en.wikpeida.org Wikipedia]

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

2006-03-16T05:32:35Z

Rsellars: /* Works Cited */ added wikpedia as a source, thats where the cyrillic spelling came from

[[Image:Dostoyevsky.JPG|thumb|Fyodor Dostoyevsky]]
==Biography==
Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский, usually [[transliterated]] as Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Wikipedia) was born in Moscow on the 30th of October, 1821 in the Moscow Mariinkskii Hospital. His father, Mikhail Andreevich Dostoevsky was a retired military surgeon at this hospital (Murav). Dostoyevsky's father enrolled him at Military Engineering School in St. Petersburg. As well as engineering he also studied parade and drill. He left the academy in 1843 with the rank of lieutenant (Carr 7). He then served as a draftsman in the St. Petersburg Engineering Corps as a civil servant; however, he soon resigned because he "feared being transferred to the provinces when his writing was discovered" (1250). He then went on to pursue a literary career.

Besides Russian authors, of whom his favorites were Pushkin and Gogol, he read a variety of foreign writers: Homer, Shakespeare, Corneille, Racine, Rousseau, Goethe, Byron, and Shiller, the last with an enthusiasm he never lost (Schiller and the Schlegels contributed much to his later aesthetic theorizing) (Simmons 6). In 1847, he became a member of the revolutionary reunions. Here Dostoyevsky and his colleagues would discuss issues such as literature, economics, socialism, and freedom of the press (Murav). However, these gatherings were forbidden by law, and in 1849 he was incarcerated (Berdyaev 18). While in confinement he wrote ''A Little Hero''; which was not published for another decade. Dostoyevsky and other group members were condemned to death by a court appointed by Czar Nicholas I; however, “the death sentence was commuted, and in Dostoevsky’s case the punishment was reduced first to eight years and then to four years of hard labor, to be followed by service in the army with a restoration of civil rights” (Murav). He served his hard labor time at a stockade in Omsk, which was then followed by six years of service in Semipalatinsk (Murav). He wrote about his experiences in ''Recollections of a Dead House''.

Dostoyevsky was enlightened after spending time with Russia's worst criminals leading him to write ''Crime and Punishment''. He settled down in 1865 in St. Petersburg and became successful as a journalist. His success fell short due to his severe problem with gambling. He took flight from Russia because he could not pay his debts and landed in Germany and Italy. During this time of his life he was plagued with epileptic seizures, only inspiring him to work harder. He finally returned home in the 1870s as director of ''The Russian World''. His final time was spent in St. Petersburg where he died on February 9, 1881 "from a hemorrhage in his throat" (Fyodor).

==Major Works==
*[[Notes from Underground]] (1864)
*[[Crime and Punishment]] (1866)
*[[The Idiot]] (1868)
*[[The Possessed]] (1871)
*[[The Brothers Karamazov]] (1880)

==Historical Context==

==Resources==

==Works Cited==

*Berdyaev, Nicholas. ''Dostoyevsky''. Colorado: Meridian Hill, 1957.

*Carr, Edward. ''Dostoyevsky (1821-1881): A New Biography''. Australia: Allen and Unwin, 1931.

*Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Notes from Underground. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. Vol. 2. 8th Ed. Trans. Martin Greenberg. Sarah Lawall, et al, eds. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006.

*"Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky." 12 Mar 2006. [http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.maconstate.edu/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=2&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=25087&n=10&docNum=H1410000018&ST=Fyodor+Dostoyevsky&bConts=278191 Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky]

*Murav, Harriet. "Fyodor Dostoevsky." 12 Mar 2006. [http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy.maconstate.edu/servlet/LitRC?vrsn=3&OP=contains&locID=maco12153&srchtp=athr&ca=1&c=1&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=arp&ai=25087&n=10&docNum=H1200010052&ST=Fyodor+Dostoyevsky&bConts=278191 Fyodor Dostoevsky]

*Simmons, Ernest. ''Feodor Dostoevsky''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dostoyevsky Wikipedia entry on Dostoyevsky] -No citation needed

[[Category:World Literature]]

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

2006-03-16T05:30:20Z

Rsellars: /* Biography */ corrected formatting error, sorry about that

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

2006-03-16T05:29:36Z

Rsellars: /* Biography */ added Cyrillic spelling of his name

Notes from Underground

2006-03-16T05:21:34Z

Rsellars: /* Works Cited */ fixed grammatical/URL errors

:"What sort of Crystal Palace would it be if any sort of doubt were allowed?" —the Underground Man

''Notes from Underground'' written by [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]].

== Study Guide ==
Brief summaries, commentaries, and notes on ''Notes''.

=== Notes from Underground, Part 1===
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 11|Chapter 11]]

=== Notes from Underground, Part 2: Apropos of Wet Snow ===
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]

==History==
''Notes from Underground'' is considered to be Dostoevsky's first major literary work during the second phase of his writing, or in other words, the elements of social realism give way to "psychological, existential, and philosophical concerns" in his works (Newton). Clearly, the novel fights against scientific thinking, making its point by giving examples from the narrator's personal experiences. ''Notes from Underground'' stands the test of time as a work of great literary importance, and the Underground Man emerges "...into the vocabulary of the modern educated consciousness, and this character has now begun--like Hamlet, Don Quixote, Don Juan, and Faust--to take on the symbolic stature of one of the great archetypal literary creations," this written by Joseph Frank almost a hundred years after its first publication (Jones).

However, perhaps it is best to understand the time in which the novel was written. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860s 1860s] were a busy time for both Europe and North America, a fact that the narrator points out by exclaiming, "Take this entire nineteenth century of ours during which even Buckle lived. Take Napoleon--both the great and the present one. Take North America--that eternal union. Take, finally, that ridiculous Schleswig-Holstein..."(1266). America struggles with a raging Civil War that ripped the country in two. The reference to Napoleon, of course, refers to the French emporers by that name, both of whom engaged in numerous battles. The mention of Schleswig-Holstein refers to Prussia taking that holding from Denmark, who had controlled it for almost a hundred years. Finally, Buckle wrote ''History of Civilization in England'', in which he concludes that "with the developement of civilization wars will cease" (Jones). So, the historical theme for the 1860's appears to be, for the most part, wars.

Let's not forget what happens in Russia at this same time. Russia goes through the Great Reforms, a time of political instability. During this four year period, society began to notice an uprising of groups within the society; these will eventually--but not at this particular time--lead to political parties ([http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~kimball/cvl.pbl.sixties.htm Kimball]). Thus, began the modern revolutionary movements in Russia.

All of the previously mentioned events provided a basis for Dostevsky's beliefs, which he states through the Underground Man's rantings. Dosteovsky satarizes the political and social troubles that plague these continents to express his true thoughts. He does not believe that man is a rational creature by nature or that civilization will bring an end to warfare. Perhaps, too, we see a bit of a warning in this text--a warning much like that in George Orwell's novel, ''1984,'' written eighty years later. Apparently, the threat had not abated but had instead gotten worse.

==Timeline==

==Characters==

===The Underground Man===
The Underground Man is the narrator and protagonist of Notes of Underground. The Underground Man can be viewed as: "a sheer irrationalist whose rejection of Rational Egoism is a tortured emotional outburst with no logical credentials" (Scanlan). He beleives that consciousness is a disease: " I swear to you, gentlemen, that being overly conscious is a disease, a genuine, full-fledged disease" (1257). Such consciousness shows: "within Underground Man's self-descriptions, while relational in the ways not reducible to behavior" (Hagberg).

==Themes==
===The Fallacies of Rationalism===

===The Fallacies of Utopianism===

===The Artificiality of Russian Culture===
For decades, the Russian social and intellectual elite had been imitating western Eropean culture, in the middle of the nineteenth century. In Russia, a man was considered "developed" and "educated" only if he was familiar with the literary and philosophical traditions of Germany, France, and England. Dostoevsky may have shared this view when he was a young man, but by the time he wrote ''Notes from Underground'' he had decided that that certain mindset was destructive. In being captavated by the west, Russian intellectuals had lost touch with the true way of the Russian life. The life that many of the peasants and lower-class workers still practiced (Madden).

===Paralysis of the Conscious Man in Modern Society===

== Major Symbols ==
===Underground===
It is the home of the underground man. It is also refered to as his corner. " Yet the underground is more than a physical placeof isolation; it's a psychological hang-up as well. Possessing the overly sensitive and sheltered consciousness of the underground, the underground man finds himself unable and unwilling to meaningfully interact with others, despite his desire to do just that" (Novelguide). The underground man claims to prefer the underground to the real world. There he is able to express his indviduality.

===The Ant Hill===
This shows that there is no individuality. All of the ants are working for one main goal.

===St. Petersburg===

===The Crystal Palace===

===Money===
Money, for the Underground Man, represents power. In the second part he is cross-examined and is asked his salary. He tells his 'friends' what he makes. "'It's not very handsome,' Zverkov observed majestically. "'Yes, you can't afford to dine at cafes on that,' Ferfichkin added insolently. "To my thinking it's very poor,' Trudolyubov observed gravely (Nabokov 123). All these men scrutinize the Underground Man for his lack of wages.The UM borrows money from a friend, Simonov, but he repays him the next day plus more. Having to borrow money makes him feel incapable of providing for himself and embarrassed of his poverty, making him feel inferior to his 'friends'. The Underground Man offers Liza, the woman he met at the prostitution house, money. She refuses his money. If he was to give her money it would demonstrate moral dominance.

==Critical Perspectives==
''Notes from the Underground'' is an important work in Western European history. " It has attracted attention for many reasons. For one , it contains an all-out assault on Enlightenment rationalism and the idea of progress which foreshadows many such assaults in the mid-to-late twentieth century" (WSU). Another example of this novels' importance is the fact that it has one of the first anti-heroes in fiction. " It portrays a protagonist utterly lacking every trait of the Romantic hero and living out a futile life on the margins of society. Such figures were to dominate much serious fiction in the mid-twentieth century" (WSU).

=== Literary Criticism ===
=== The underground man: A question of meaning by Linda Williams ===

Linda L. Williams explores Dostoyevsky’s Underground Man in her article entitled The underground man: a question of meaning. Williams looks at how the main character searches for meaning and value in his self and his life from the very first words of his notes exclaiming that he is a “sick [and] spiteful man” (1). She also examines how Dostoyevsky uses the underground man to “question whether human beings can be their own source of meaning” (Williams 1). This novel is a reaction to the ideas prevalent in Western Europe at the time that “reason provides the foundation for all knowledge” (Williams 1).

Williams looks at why the Underground man refers to himself as a “zloi” which has been translated as spiteful but in actuality carries the connotation of immorality and malicious behavior in which a person isn’t by nature, but is because they are made that way due to circumstances that person has control over. The author of the article contends that this is because the underground man’s “refusal to attach the common man’s meaning to himself and due to his exaggerated consciousness and vanity.”

In part two we see the underground man’s attempt to “make his life as meaningful to others as it is to him” (Williams 2). This is done through several attempts by the underground man to be noticed by a young officer, some old friends, and Liza. With the young officer the underground man’s desire for the “officer to step aside becomes a measure of the meaning and value of the underground man as a person” (Williams 3). In the case of his meeting with the old friends, we witness the night through his very subjective eyes in which he has “one humiliation piled on top of another” (Williams 4) in his attempt to present himself as having meaning and value in the eyes of others. Since the underground man has the ability to blame his behavior on alcohol as opposed to deliberate action, Williams contends that Dostoyevsky proves that “when an individual is the sole foundation for meanings and values, he may twist them any way he likes”
( Williams 4).

Through his experience with Liza, we see that “his existence has finally been affirmed just as if [the officer] had thrown him through the tavern window” (Williams 5). He then must change the “significance of the encounter with Liza to recapture the sarcasm of his vain ego” (Williams 6) because he has failed to prove himself of any value to anyone other than someone he sees as lower than himself. He attempts to regain control over what he feels like he has lost by asserting himself in a position of power over Liza by insulting her and then exerting “domination and possession over her body” (Williams 6). The underground man tries to “rationalize his sick, zloi act away [by giving her] money” (Williams 6), but Liza’s refusal to accept it along with “all its implications” (Williams 6) reveals what Williams calls the ugly truth about him.

The underground man is incapable of loving anyone due to his unlimited vain ego. Further more, it is this ego that has led him to commit an act that “in the nineteenth century was considered more terrible than murder” (Williams 7) hence the reason why the term originally used in he beginning of the text as zloi which is translated as spiteful. Williams then goes on to say that “The underground cannot be his own foundation for meaning” and to Dostoevsky “the foundation of meaning does not lie in science or in Chernyshevsky’s rational egoism but in placing others interests before your own—in genuinely loving others” (Williams 7).

The author looks at the underground man’s motives in a manner that is easy to understand although the character himself is not. I agree with Williams’s depiction of the underground man’s search and failure to gain the respect of his colleagues which only served to push him into farther underground. In the last moments when he has to reconcile with the fact that he can neither give nor receive love seals his fate in the underground where he is writing from years later. It is least likely that he will encounter another chance to escape. In the underground we will find him languishing untll his death.

==External Links and Resources==

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/underground/themes.html

==Works Cited==
*Hagberg, Garry L. "Wittgenstein Underground." ''Philosophy and literature'' 28.2 (2004): 379-392.

*Jones, Malcolm V. "Dostoevsky: Notes from Underground (1864)." ''The Voice of a Giant: Essays on Seven Russian Prose Classics.'' Ed. Roger Cockrell and David Richards. (1985): 55-65. Literature Resource Center. University of Exeter. 09 Mar. 2006. Keyword: Notes from Underground.

*Kimball, Alan. "Russian Civil Society and Political Crisis in the Epoch of Great Reforms, 1859-1863." 25 Oct. 1989. University of Oregon. 14 Mar. 2006 <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~kimball/cvl.pbl.sixties.html>.

*Madden, Caolan. SparkNote on Notes from Underground. 12 Mar. 2006 <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/underground/>.

*Nabokov, Vladimir. "Lectures on Russian Literature". New York, 1981. 115-125.

*Newton, K.M. "Notes from Underground: Overview." ''Reference Guide to Short Fiction, 1st ed.'' Ed. Noelle Watson. St. James Press: 1994. Literature Resource Center. 13 Mar. 2006. Keyword: Notes from Underground.

*Scanlan, James P. "The Case against Rational Egoism in Dostoevsky's ''Notes from Underground''." ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' 60.3 (1999): 549-567.

*''Novelguide.com''. "Notes from the Underground". March 2006 [<http://www.novelguide.com/notesfromtheunderground/metaphoranaylysis.html>.][[Category:World Literature]]

*Williams, Linda. "The underground man: A question of meaning." ''Studies in the novel.'' Summer 1995, Vol. 27, Issue 2. 129,12

Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 11

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