The Fiction of Franz Kafka A Stylistic Analysis
The Fiction of Franz Kafka A Stylistic Analysis
The Fiction of Franz Kafka A Stylistic Analysis
INTRODUCTION
information and there are several ways of how human can do so. One of them is
and getting different amounts of information and various characters and qualities
such as the time, place and subject matter of what is being transmitted from the
because he/she intends not only to exchange information, but he/she also aims at
affecting the behavior of the addressee. In perhaps more educated terms, it could
depending on numerous contextual aspects, such as the function of the text such
layman, and the role of the writer as experts, educated layman, and etc. In this
sense, numerous language styles and varieties have come into existence. These
are the grounds for the constant study of various domains of languages that of
style being one of them. Stylistically FK uses the language as a creative weapon.
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literary composition, but also in every day conversation, in scientific reports and
all sorts of communication. The human race has been using language for ages.
institution, a matter for political controversy, a catalyst for nation building. All
human beings normally speak at least one language and it is hard to imagine
absence. Each of us has a stake in understanding something about the nature and
use of language. Thus linguistics has explained completely the discipline the
what all of us use in our daily transaction, sometimes without being consciously
aware of doing so. The study is concerned with directly areas: Language,
through The common living of a large number of people who carry on the
resists change. But it changes much more rapidly than the species of
habits‖.
Writes:
convey that each sentences has a structure. Human brain is competent enough to
at any time produce a sentence that has never been said or heard earlier.
However most of linguists have taken the view that languages are systems of
have access to a grammar, a metal system that allows them to form and interpret
familiar and novel utterances. The grammar governs the articulation, perception,
and patterning of speech sounds, the formation of words and sentences, and the
interpretation of utterances. All language have grammars that are equal in their
have used the language of signs, but it must have had a very limited scope. It can
civilized humans who can convey and receive millions of messages across the
universe. Therefor language has changed the entire gamut of human relations
and made it possible for human beings to grow into a human community on this
planet. Thus the language is definitely a literary verbal and non-verbal vehicle of
have been impossible without it. There are the ideas of a few prominent
by sound i.e. through the organs of speech and hearing, among human beings of
the message to the participants. Thus the basic material processes of the
language which occurs through articulation, audible sound waves and visible
express themselves and interact through language. All other subjects are
discrete units. Moreover discourse is the level of language beyond the sentence.
have also led to new ways of studying literary texts and the nature of literary
communication. Literary authors use the system of language in their own way:
they create a style. Therefore this kind of study is called literary stylistics.
Stylistics is the study of style and the method used in written and spoken
way a speaker or writer expresses whatever he wants to say. Hall opines clearly
that:
linguistics taking the language of literary texts as its object of study. Out of the
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many types of variation that occur in language, it is the variation in library style
that is most complex, and thus offers unlimited scope for linguistics analysis.
use of language reflecting the unique personality and thoughts of the writer.
towards write or speaker than is literary and dramatic , criticism and more
towards text, reader, and linguistic form.‖ With the same ideas of stylistics as a
below gave their points to agree on that. Richards, Schmidt, Kendricks and Kim
language is dependent on the situation in which the language is used and also on
the effect the writer or speaker wishes to create on the reader or hearer. Although
concerned with the choices that are available to a writer and the reasons why
particular forms and expressions are used rather than others. Verdonk (2002)
also states that the stylistics is generally regarded as the formal analysis of style
and its variations in speech and writing. It emerged from the study of classical
modern linguistics, particularly in the last fifty years. In the history of literary
criticism, the prescription of style gives way to its description and analysis. The
study of style in modern literary studies was initially set in historical periods,
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emphasized the multiple and elusive ways of reading texts. In contrast, the
the ways in which linguistic analysis could offer support to literary criticism in
style, poem, image and diction. More technically, stylistics is the study of the
such as literary, colloquial, and slang. It also studies whether it is associated with
the foreign element of there are the uses of proverbs or professional words. It
describes the characteristic choice of words, the sentence structure and syntax of
a work. It also deals with the density and types of its figurative language; the
pattern of its rhythm and the component sounds; and its rhetorical aims and
devices.
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In literary stylistics, readers read the text closely with attention to the
features of language used in it, identifying and listing the particular features
we have obtained account of all these features, we co-relate them or bring them
together in an interpretation of the text. We try to link that is ‗what is being said‘
with ‗how it is being said,‘ since it is through the latter that authors can fully
express the many complex ideas and feeling that they want to convey. Dr.
Radhdy, L. Varsheny (1977) points out that a firm link between the textual
context and the linguistic frame that the relationship between linguistics and
literature is like that of the hammer and the anvil. In the other word, stylistics is
and makes deep inroads into both fields. It brings to light the linguistic
The components of text or literary are concerned with the period in which the
written text, type of speech of the characters with regard to their culture, gender,
interprets any aspects of literary form in term of the function of the language,
reference to various social contexts, the mental status and experience of the
author and also it is concerned with other norms namely the choice of the word.
social context. This indicates that the character of the fiction speaks the type of
to Dr. Radhev. L. Varshney (1977 ) rightly says that an individual and creative
utilization of the resources of language which his period, his chosen dialect, his
genre and his purpose within it offer him, it further involves all choices,
The relationship between linguistics and literary analysis cannot be divided from
say that the ground of study of literature and linguistics is language. So they may
have different and similar attitudes on the study but the same objective is to
understanding.
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LANGUAGE
LINGUISTICS
LITERATURE
STYLISTICS
Thus stylistics lays as discipline or as the study should be seen in the totality
stylistics can study both literature and linguistics. Stylistic analysis strongly
ambiguity etc. operate in a literary text as these are all effects achieved through
Therefore stylistics aims to study all major and minute aspects of a work.
the various language features systematically. Thus stylistics can be studied both
stylistics from the linguistic perspective of language. The thesis aims to analyze
accounting for the particular choices made by the individual and social groups in
their uses of language. The general stylistics deals with the whole range
above said ideas of stylistics stated by the scholars and linguists, stylistics can
contexts. The literary or the textual components include the period in which the
text is written, type of speech of the characters with regard to their culture, age,
gender, social strata, qualification, experience etc. Hence the stylistic analysis
interprets any literary form with regard to the function of the language, with
reference to various social contexts, with regard to the mental status and
experience of the author and it also includes other norms such as the choice of
the word. It is not only with reference to the suitability in the sentence but also
the suitability according to the social context. This means the character of the
novel speaks the type of language/dialect and acts due to a particular socio
cultural context. With respect to the same idea above, Enkvist (1971) states that
of possibilities and a common stock at the disposition of the users, who use it
according to their needs of expression in making the choice- that is style- within
Thus from the concepts of the stylistics given by all expert scholars the
stylistics can be concluded that in the field of stylistics it has the relationship
understanding about the both in the field of literature and linguistics, this thesis
concentrate on the stylistic analysis study of novels and short stories of FK.
twentieth century. Kafka‘s body of writing was unique in itself but much of it
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was completed and was published posthumously despite his wish that it
in Western literature. W.H. Auden famously called Kafka ―the author who
comes nearest to bearing the same kind of relation to our age as Dante,
Singularly represents what the English poet W.H. Andrews said as the ‗Age of
Anxiety‘. Speaking to the works of Franz Kafka, Nobel laureate Albert Camus
opined that ―the whole of Kafka‘s art consisted of compelling the reader to read
him again and again.‖ Indeed mostly the readers interpret Kaka in a variety of
Franz Kafka was born on July 3, 1883 in Prague, in what is now part of
the Czech Republic. Prague was a confused city, much like Kafka himself. It
was a city with numerous languages and ethnic groups fighting for position as
was clear in the late 19th century that Jewish residents were quite low in Social
rank.
father is Hermann Kafka and his mother is Julie Lowy. Kafka was the eldest of
six children. He had two younger brothers, George and Heinrich who died at the
ages of fifteen months and six months. Respectively he has three younger sisters
FK was much fluent in Czech. He learnt German as his first language and
also acquired some knowledge of French language and culture; one of his
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boy‘s elementary school at the Fleischmarkt, the street now known as Mansa
Street in Prague from 1889 to 1893. His Jewish education remained limited to
his Bar Mitzvah celebration at 13 and going to synagogue four times a year with
Law after two weeks. This offered him a big range of career possibilities, which
pleased his father. While studying in University, he joined a student club named
Leseund Redehalle der Deutschen studenten. This club organized literary events,
readings and other activities. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max
Brod, who remained his close friend throughout his life, together with the
journalist Felix Weltsch, who was also the student or Law. Kafka got the degree
of Doctor of Law on June 18, 1906. He also an unpaid services as law clerk for
aggressive Italian Insurance Company. He worked here for nearly a year. He was
hampered his concentration on his writing. He resigned on July 15, 1908. Two
weeks later he found more congenial employment with the Worker‘s Accident
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society, is that Kafka invented the safety helmet, popularly known today as the
‗hard hat‘. He also received a medal for this invention in 1912, because it
reduced bohemian Steel mill deaths to fewer than 25 per thousand employees.
Kafka was also given the task of compiling and composing the Institute‘s
annual report. In 1911, Karl Hermann, spouse of his sister Elli, proposed Kafka
Asbestwerke Hermann and Co. Kafka devoted much of his free time to this
business.
he was supported by his family, most notably by his sister Ottla. In early1920s,
kindergarten teacher from an orthodox Jewish family. She became Kafka‘s lover
on June 3, 1924 due to starvation. The condition of Kafka‘ throat made it too
painful to eat and since intravenous therapy had not been developed, there was
no way to feed him. His body was ultimately brought back to Prague where he
was buried on June, 11, 1924 in the New Jewish Cemetery in Prague- Zizkov.
Kafka died without leaving a will. In his desk among a mass of papers lay
a folded note written in ink and addressed to his best friend Max Bord.
Yours,
Franz Kafka
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These famous words written to Kaka‘s friend Max Brod have puzzled
Kafka‘s readers ever since they appeared in the postscript to the first edition of
The Trial, published in 1925, a year after Kafka‘s death. We will never know if
Kafka really meant for Brod to do what he asked. Brod believed that it was
Kafka‘s high artistic standards and merciless self-criticism that lay behind the
request, but he also believed that Kafka had deliberately asked the one person he
knew would not honor his wishes (because Brod had explicitly told him so). We
do not know, however, that Brod disregarded his friend‘s request and devoted
great energy to making sure that all of Kafka‘s works- his three unfinished
novels, his unpublished stories, diaries, and letters would appear in print. Brod
Verlag Die Schmiede to publish The Trial, which Brod prepared for publication
Kurt Wolff to publish his edited manuscript of The Castle, also left unfinished
by Kafka, in 1926, and in 1927 to bring out Kafka‘s first novel, which Kafka had
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meant to entitle Der Verschollene (The Missing Person), but which Brod named
Amerika.
The first English translation of The Trial, by Edwin and Willa Muir (who
England and the United States, the latter edition published by Knopf with
editions sold well, although they were critically well received. Edwin and Willa
Muir‘s translation of Amerika was first published in the United State in 1940 by
New Directions.
Undeterred, Max Brod enlisted the support of Martin Buber, Andre Gide,
Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Mann, Thomas Mann, and Franz Werfel for a public
but on condition that the first volume be financially successful. But the Nazi rise
to power in 1933 forced Kiepenheuer to abandon his plans. Between 1933 and
1938 German Jews were barred from teaching or studying in ―German‖ schools,
Publishing that had been owned or managed by Jews, such as S. Fischer Verlag,
were quickly ―Aryanized‖ and ceased to publish book by Jews. Kafka‘s works
nationalist students, but they were ―Jewish‖ enough to be off limits to ―Aryan‖
publishers.
When the Nazis introduced their racial laws they exempted Schocken
Verlag, a Jewish publisher, from the ban against publishing Jewish authors on
condition that its books would be sole only to Jews. Found in 1913 by the
department store magnate Salman Schocken, this small publishing company has
already published the works of Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig as well as
Max Brod offered Schocken the world publishing rights to all of Kafka‘s
Verlag‘s editor in chief, who regarded Kafka‘s works as outside his mandate to
publish books that could reacquaint German Jewry with its distinguished
heritage. He also doubted its public appeal. His employer also had his doubts
about the marketability of six volumes of Kafka‘s novels, stories, diaries, and
culture. But he was urged by one of his editors, Moritz Spitzer, to see in Kafka a
quintessentially ―Jewish‖ voice that could give meaning to the new reality that
has befallen German Jewry and would demonstrate the central role of Jews in
German culture.
year later-the year of the infamous Nuremberg Laws-by Kafka‘s three novels.
The Schocken editions were the first to give Kafka widespread distribution in
possession‖ that could ―show how one can live marginally‖ (from Letters of
hands, giving German readers-at home and in exile-their only access to one of
the century ‗s greatest writers. Klaus Mann wrote in the exile journal Sammlung
that ―the collected works of Kafka, offered by the Schocken Verlag in Berlin, are
the noblest and most significant publications that have come out of Germany‖
Praising Kafka‘s books as ―the epoch‘s purest and most singular works of
literature,‖ he noted with astonishment that ―this spiritual event has occurred
within a splendid isolation, in a ghetto far from the German cultural ministry.‖
the German cultural ministry wrote to Schocken complaining that the publisher
was ―still selling the complete works of Franz Kafka, edited by Max Brod,‖
although the work of both Kafka and Brod had been placed by the Nazis on the
―list of harmful and undesirable writings‖ three months earlier. Schocken moved
Interestingly, despite the Nazi protest against the collected works, he was able to
continue printing and distributing his earlier volume of Kafka‘s short stories in
Germany itself until the government closed down Schocken Verlag in 1939. The
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operations in Europe.
lived intermittently since 1934, and editions of Kafka‘s works in the renewed
Hebrew language were among its‘ first publications. In 1940, he moved to New
York, where five years later he opened Schocken Books with Hannh Arendt and
German, Schocken reissued the existing Muir translations of novels in 1946 and
commissioned translations of the letters and diaries in the 1950s, thus placing
Kafka again at the center of his publishing program. Despite a dissenting opinion
Kafka to Nikolai Gogol and Edgar Allan Poe), a postwar Kafka craze began in
the United State; translations of all of Kafka‘s works began to appear in many
Frankfurt (also in exile during the Nazi period) obtained the rights to publish
come to shard Marx‘s fate: ―Though during his lifetime he could not make a
employed and well-fed‖ (letter, 9 August 1946, Schocken Books Archive, New
York)
of the great modern writers, scholars began to raise doubts about the editorial
decision made by Maz Brod. Although the manuscript of Der Verschollene (The
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Missing Person) lacks chapter headings and often even chapter break, Kafka did
jot down on a sheet of paper headings for the first six chapters (complex with
page numbers). He left no such instructions for the remainder of the text. After
to achieve for his friends the recognition that has largely eluded him during his
lifetime. As a result, in editing the manuscript of this novel for its original
―primarily concerned with the broad line of the story, not with philological
work.‖ While he followed Kafka‘s stated intentions for those first six chapters,
he divided the remainder of the text into two additional chapters, for which he
devise the headings ―A Refuge‖ and ―The Nature Theater of Oklahoma.‖ In the
case of the latter, Brod also rounded off the chapter-and indeed the novel-by
adding two final passages that were clearly fragments from a subsequent never-
Karl‘s service at Brunelda‘s, since they did not, he felt, greatly advance the
story.
Salman Schocken was among the most eager for new critical Editions of
Kafka‘s works. ―The Schocken edition are bad,‖ he wrote in an internal memo.
―Without any question, new editions that include the incomplete novels would
Archives, Jerusalem). However, Maz Brod‘s refusal to give up the Kafka archive
in his Tel Aviv apartment or to allow scholars access to it made such new
editions impossible until 1956, when the threat of war in the Middle East
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prompted him deposit the buld of the archives, including the manuscript of The
Castle, in a Swiss vault. When the young Oxford Germanist Malcolm Pasley
Trial, which Kaka had given to Brod in 1920, remained in Brod‘s personal
possession, passing to his companion and heiress Ilse Ester Hoffe when he died
in 1968. It was not until the late 1980s that Ms. Hoffe agreed to sell the
1988 to the German national literary archives in Marbach, where it is now kept.
German critical editions of all of Kafka‘s writings, which are being published by
S. Fischer Verlag with financial support from the German government. The first
of these editions, Das Schloss (The Castle), edited by Malcolm Pasley, appeared
in 1982 in two volumes, the first containing the restored text of the novel drawn
from Kafka‘s handwritten manuscript, the second containing textual variants and
editorial notes. Mark Harman‘s translation of the restored text was published by
Harman‘s translation is based on the restored text in the first volume, which
Brod‘s editorial and stylistic interventions. In the restored text, for example,
Schillemeit employs only the chapter headings mentioned by Kafka and inserts
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chapter or section breaks based on evidence gleaned from the manuscript. All
the chief objective of these new translations, intended for the general public, is
to provide readers with versions that reflect as closely as possible as the state in
Fortunately, Brod gave the world the immortal gift of Kafka‘s voice. He
still published most of Kafka‘s work mainly because he has already told Kafka
that he would not be burning his work after his death. He claims that if Kafka
really wanted his writings to be burnt he would have found someone else to do
the job for him. During his prosperous youth, Franz Kafka was never known as a
writer. It is only after his death that he became famous for his writings. He did
produce a substantial body of literature that will forever remain some of the most
influential writing of the 20th century. Such works include: Meditation, The
Judgment, The Trial, The Castle, Amerika. The Metamorphosis, In the Penal
Kafka was a social satirist, a fine craftsman and his works present the
The inhumanity and absurdity of the modern age are mirrored in his writings.
unseen for forces. He was anxious about the morality and capacity of man in
ultimate refuge for the common man‘ survival and retribution for any loss that
seek justice forms the background of his major works like The Trial, The
2.1.1 NOVELS
1. The Trial (Der Prozeß, 1925) (includes short story "Before the
Law")
2. The Castle (Das Schloß, 1926)
3. Amerika (Amerika or Der Verschollene, 1927)
2.1.2 NOVELLA
1. Diaries 1910–1923
2. The Blue Octavo Notebooks
2.1.5 LETTERS
The Trial, The Castle, Amerika, The Metamorphosis, The Judgment, In the
Penal Colony and A Hunger Artist of Franz Kafka depicted clear and ramified
language features and provided scopes for a meaningful and varied discussion of
these language features in the point of view of how they are distinctive of styles.
The aims of current research identify the ramified stylistic features conveyed by
Franz Kafka in his creative writing of features through the following; socio-
discourse. Therefore Franz Kafka‘s fictions The Trial, The Castle, Amerika, The
Metamorphosis, The Judgment, In the Penal Colony and A Hunger Artist have
provided vividly available scope for the reassessment of the language features.
3. To identify the nature and type of lexical embedding and giving some
literary quotes that serve as an invocatory note and give the hint of the
story‘s progression.
of style.
the Penal Colony and A Hunger Artist are seven outstanding and famous fictions
among his those works of Franz Kafka selected for data of the research. Kafka
produced a substantial body of literature that will forever remain some the most
influential writing of the 20th century. The present thesis tries to disclose the
the stylistic aspects the language structure, the language use, the socio-
interrogated forms by raising the intonation level etc. and the social
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analysed.
analysed.
sentence, word order change, change in the tense, skipping of the subject
following reasons:
his works. Kafka was very sensitive to the stubbornness and inflexible attitude of
unseen forces. He was anxious about the morality and capacity of man in facing
refuge for the common man‘s survival and retribution for any loss that he might
face, is ironically shown and appeared as a power blocking the individual right
to seek justice forms the background of his major works mentioned above. In
particular, the above mentioned works are absolutely taken for the study written
in the post-modernism period and the author has intellectually blended the post-
modern notion with the sociological context of the period selected, therefore
giving the appropriate discourse pattern to the story based on possibly ways such
6. METHODOLOGY
voiced by scholars in either discipline after all, both fields deal with the raw
linguistics and literary scholars often depict the foundational nexus of their fields
prejudices keep the disciplinary siblings of linguistics and literary studies apart:
interpretive and analytical‖. Due to above statement, linguistics and literature are
closed as the same blood living in the body. In addition, undoubtedly ―Literature
is a verbal art.‖, due to this theoretical and reasonable point, it can be considered
that the language is the verbal form of art and the aesthetic features are the
stylistic features of the literary language. Accordingly the main methodology lies
in identifying and analysing the various language features with respect to the
content and context in the literature survey taken for the study. The education,
society, culture, class, age, ideology, and gender immensely influence the
narration and discourse and their culture and these aspects are hidden creatively
passions, mood, feeling etc. The sentences framed by the characters through
their utterances form the language structure that in turn forms the language style.
The sentences are linguistically and stylistically analysed with respect to the
writer and Vladimir Nabokov stated ―The greatest German writer of our time‖.
Hence the research reveals the language and its features. The study does not only
bring out the evidence the society playing in the present day but also gives a
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significant contribution in three areas of the language field namely the areas of
situation. It does not only depict the human idealistic mind and
emotions but also reveals the ways in which human should follow.
interpret.
8. SCHEME OF PRESENTATION
After that it takes the term, concept of stylistics, the style and stylistic analysis.
The middle part of the chapter is devoted to the objectives and scope of the
study, data of the study to identify the various aspects of stylistics in order to
incorporate in the thesis. Lastly the significance and the use of the study are
presented.
Use in the Fiction of Franz Kafka. The chapter starts with an introduction to
the language Structure and language Use technique which are narrated in Franz
Kafka‗s novels and short stories and focuses on how the author has portrayed the
use of linguistic stylistics in his verbal arts in each categories that is prepared in
Technique, and Use of Linguistic Stylistic. The second topic is The Syntactic
Change in the tense, Use of Negative Sentences; One Negative Words Revealing
Positive Concept and Two Negative Words Revealing Positive Concept, Missing
Modified Physical Appearance of Words; Italic and Inverted Codes, , The Use of
Human Nature, Human Appearance and Inanimate Things, Use of climax, Use
Statement in the Form of Question. The fifth topic is Use of Symbolism. The
The eighth topic is Physical Structure Associated with Character. Above topics
are discussed. Previous studies and others related works are also highlighted
linguistic behavior described in his writing which effected by social class, clan,
and the view of personality. The existentialism, individualism, and the system of
bureaucracy inspirited will be explained how they effected into his fiction. All
bounded to give the correlation between the concepts explained through the
stimulating factor to the social behavior. Thus the society is also reflected in the
literary piece as well as the socio-cultural structure of the period that the author
depicts is captured in his literary work. Hence the explanatory technique used by
the author with reference to the behavior of the interlocutors which bring pathos,
humor, sarcasm and derogatory use is presented in this chapter. The change in
the tone with regard to the context, intonation, use of realistic events, reference
to history, art and science of the period, world war, recognition of German, and
bureaucratic behavior based on the context are elaborated with suitable situation
in the fiction.
The topics are presented in this chapter following as: The first topic is an
Explanatory technique used by the author with reference to the behavior of the
The third topic is Derogatory Use. The forth topic is Historical Anguish. The
fifth topic is Reference to Science. The sixth topic is Use of Realistic Events.
The seventh topic is World War; World War 1. The eighth topic is
Kafka‟s Fiction. In the beginning of the chapter it explains the various non-
the socio-linguistic behavior with particular body parts used as the developing
strategies to develop the characters in the novels, such as head, neck, shoulders,
behavior. This chapter also illustrates verbal emotions, gestures of mixed feeling
etc. All these above have contextual attestations through the way of revealing
Main body Parts: A Study: Head classified into parts, Incline, Turn, Shake, Bow,
Raise, and Nod, Hair, Face; Eyes classified into Wink, Stare, and Glance, Nose,
Mouth classified into Lips; Smile, Grin, and Laugh, Teeth, Cheeks, and Chin,
Neck, Shoulders; Shrug, Hands; Arms, Fingers and Elbows, Unified Function of
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Fiction. It highlights the major findings of the present research. The analytic
stylistics and discourse of Frank Kafka are disclosed distinctly. It also gives the
pedagogical implications of the study. The fruitful and useful suggestion is made
towards the last of the chapter for further research. The main nine topics are
for the scope of Scope of Speculation. The forth topic is Theme Brought Out by
Characters; Justification of the Titles. The fifth topic is Use of Question Tag.
Settings, Use of Medieval Romance, Use of Erotic Element, Use of Music, Use
Features; The Form of Stress, The Form of Repetitions, The Form of Pause and