The Fantasy of Seduction in Kafka’s “The Silence of the Sirens”

IF 0.2 3区文学 0 LITERATURE

EXPLICATOR Pub Date : 2023-01-02 DOI:10.1080/00144940.2023.2227372

B. Hamamra

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Abstract

Kafka’s “The Silence of the Sirens”, published posthumously in 1931, is an audacious re-writing of a famous episode in Homer’s Odysseus. The story shows that Ulysses is unknowingly or wittingly seduced by the silence of the Sirens rather than their songs and they are also seduced by Ulysses’visage. In Homer’s story, Odysseus resists the temptation of the Sirens’ deadly song by having himself tied to the mast of his ship, while his oarsmen, ears blocked with beeswax, sail quickly by without succumbing to the seductive, fatal song of the Sirens. Kafka dramatically subverts the Homeric legend of Odysseus by enacting a shift from sound and hearing to silence and sight. In Kafka’s telling of the story, the Sirens fall silent while Ulysses, indifferent to them and their silence, sails by, his ears blocked, his “great eyes” staring in the distance.Thus, Kafka’s version of the myth brings into question Ulysses’cunning that sets himself apart from others.Kafka points out that “To protect himself from the Sirens Ulysses stopped his ears with wax and had himself bound to the mast of his ship” (272). Maurice Blanchot points out that this privilege of Ulysses over his crew is based on his enjoyment and his ability to resist seduction:

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卡夫卡《塞壬的沉默》中的诱惑幻想

卡夫卡的《沉默的警报器》于1931年在他死后出版，是对荷马的《奥德赛》中一个著名插曲的大胆改写。故事表明，尤利西斯在不知不觉中或有意地被塞壬的沉默所诱惑，而不是被他们的歌声所诱惑，他们也被尤利西斯的面孔所诱惑。在荷马的故事中，奥德修斯把自己绑在船的桅杆上，抵抗着塞壬人致命歌声的诱惑，而他的划桨手们，耳朵被蜂蜡塞住，迅速驶过，没有屈服于塞壬人诱人的致命歌声。卡夫卡通过从声音和听觉到沉默和视觉的转变，戏剧性地颠覆了荷马传说中的奥德修斯。在卡夫卡讲述这个故事的过程中，塞壬一家陷入沉默，而尤利西斯对他们和他们的沉默漠不关心，驶过，他的耳朵被堵住，他的“大眼睛”凝视着远方。因此，卡夫卡版本的神话让人质疑尤利西斯将自己与他人区分开来的能力。卡夫卡指出，“为了保护自己免受塞壬的袭击，尤利西斯用蜡塞住了耳朵，并把自己绑在船的桅杆上”（272）。莫里斯·布兰肖特指出，尤利西斯对船员的这种特权是基于他的享受和抵抗诱惑的能力：

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EXPLICATOR LITERATURE-

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期刊介绍： Concentrating on works that are frequently anthologized and studied in college classrooms, The Explicator, with its yearly index of titles, is a must for college and university libraries and teachers of literature. Text-based criticism thrives in The Explicator. One of few in its class, the journal publishes concise notes on passages of prose and poetry. Each issue contains between 25 and 30 notes on works of literature, ranging from ancient Greek and Roman times to our own, from throughout the world. Students rely on The Explicator for insight into works they are studying.