Transgressive Body: A Comparative Study of Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” and Philip Roth’s The Breast

Abstract

To read Franz Kafka’s“The Metamorphosis”and Philip Roth’sThe Breastis to decode the meaning of transgressive body in postmodern perspective which Kafka articulates by transforming the protagonist Gregor Samsa into contemptuous beetle whereas Roth portrays David Kepesh in the form of dislocated female breast.The change in physical body of the protagonistssurprises the reader.Yet, through the mentalconsciousness, cognitive capacity and linguisticunderstandinginthe protagonists,weexperience the narrative events andknow that they are human beings.The significance of theanti-evolutionary process in the metamorphosis of the protagonists lies in its violation of the culturally encoded meaning of the ‘body’ and human subjectivity. Thus, by redrawing the concept of ‘body’, Kafka and Roth blur the deeply rooted hierarchy like human/ non human (animal), male/female, subject/object, mind/body and inside/outside.Kafka’s concern is about human and animal bipolarity whereas Roth anticipates dominant dichotomy inherent in gender meaning. In this regard, Kafka in terms of trans-physicalityviolates anthropocentric definition of human body and Roth brings trans-sexuality in the domain of gender meaning. However, they in common with the portrayal of metamorphosis, explore human complexity, absurdity and fragmentation in better way.