Philosophical Exploration of Absurdism and Existentialism: A Comparative Study of Kafka's Work The Metamorphosis and The Trial
The philosophical stance about the existence of being and the meaning of life has been a widely discussed subject among philosophers and critics. Existentialism says that a man can construct his own meaning of life by making judicious use of his awareness, free wills and personal responsibilities, but absurdism believes that there is no meaning of life out there. The focus of this study is to explore the absurdist and existential aspects in Kafka's fiction The Metamorphosis (1915) and The Trial (1925). This is qualitative comparative research, and the data which have been collected for this purpose is through purposive sampling techniques. In this study, Camus' theory of absurdism and theory of existentialism has been adopted as a theoretical framework. The study explores in what ways the traces of absurdism and existentialism are present in Kafka's fiction The Metamorphosis and The Trial. The findings show that characteristics of absurdism and existentialism are found in both the works of Kafka and are comparable with each other. For future recommendations, a comparative stylistic analysis of these selected novels can be carried out.
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Existentialism, Absurdism, The Metamorphosis, The Trial
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(1) Nausheen Rasheed
Research Scholar, Department of English, The Women University, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.
(2) Mamona Yasmin Khan
Assistant Professor, Department of English, The Women University, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.
(3) Shaheen Rasheed
Research Scholar, Department of English, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.
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Cite this article
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APA : Rasheed, N., Khan, M. Y., & Rasheed, S. (2021). Philosophical Exploration of Absurdism and Existentialism: A Comparative Study of Kafka's Work The Metamorphosis and The Trial. Global Social Sciences Review, VI(II), 94-100. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-II).10
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CHICAGO : Rasheed, Nausheen, Mamona Yasmin Khan, and Shaheen Rasheed. 2021. "Philosophical Exploration of Absurdism and Existentialism: A Comparative Study of Kafka's Work The Metamorphosis and The Trial." Global Social Sciences Review, VI (II): 94-100 doi: 10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-II).10
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HARVARD : RASHEED, N., KHAN, M. Y. & RASHEED, S. 2021. Philosophical Exploration of Absurdism and Existentialism: A Comparative Study of Kafka's Work The Metamorphosis and The Trial. Global Social Sciences Review, VI, 94-100.
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MHRA : Rasheed, Nausheen, Mamona Yasmin Khan, and Shaheen Rasheed. 2021. "Philosophical Exploration of Absurdism and Existentialism: A Comparative Study of Kafka's Work The Metamorphosis and The Trial." Global Social Sciences Review, VI: 94-100
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MLA : Rasheed, Nausheen, Mamona Yasmin Khan, and Shaheen Rasheed. "Philosophical Exploration of Absurdism and Existentialism: A Comparative Study of Kafka's Work The Metamorphosis and The Trial." Global Social Sciences Review, VI.II (2021): 94-100 Print.
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OXFORD : Rasheed, Nausheen, Khan, Mamona Yasmin, and Rasheed, Shaheen (2021), "Philosophical Exploration of Absurdism and Existentialism: A Comparative Study of Kafka's Work The Metamorphosis and The Trial", Global Social Sciences Review, VI (II), 94-100
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TURABIAN : Rasheed, Nausheen, Mamona Yasmin Khan, and Shaheen Rasheed. "Philosophical Exploration of Absurdism and Existentialism: A Comparative Study of Kafka's Work The Metamorphosis and The Trial." Global Social Sciences Review VI, no. II (2021): 94-100. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-II).10