Decoding The Literary Machine: Analyzing the Machinic Dispositif in E. M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops' and in Franz Kafka's 'In Der Strafkolonie'

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Media Studies (MA)

Danai, Spyrou (2017)

Decoding The Literary Machine: Analyzing the Machinic Dispositif in E. M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops' and in Franz Kafka's 'In Der Strafkolonie'

Master thesis | Media Studies (MA)

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the social composition of the mechanical devices portrayed in E. M. Forster’s novel The Machine Stops and of Franz Kafka’s In der Strafkolonie and how this can be effectively used in order to interpret their imminent implosion within the stories. Beyond providing allegorical expressions for the destruction of Forster’s and Kafka’s machines, I will confront these devices with scholarly literature that highlight the social aspect of the machinic concept and, simultaneously, propose its transcendental dimension that exceeds its material structure and expands within social fields. Thus, the machines within Forster’s and Kafka’s stories are not merely operational structures or tools, but social entities with affective propositions.

Comparative Literature