A personagem kafkiana: uma análise de Kafka na obra "O processo", de Orson Welles

Abstract

This study analyzes Kafka through the discourse that defines his place in the world: the idea of the Kafkaesque. To do so, we focus on the character—the one who embodies the term—this time constructed through the lens of cinema, specifically in The Trial, by Orson Welles. For this reason, we concentrate on this film in order to examine how the adjective manifests itself in the story of a purely cinematic character (albeit one within a literary adaptation), in this case, Joseph K. We begin with the premise that the term "Kafkaesque" has become established in cultural discourse as a reference not only to Kafka himself, but to a discursive function. This is based on the theories of Roland Barthes (2004) and Michel Foucault (2009). In this context, we look for elements in the film that make it an expression of what constitutes a Kafkaesque character—one that is, in turn, embedded in this discursive function. To reach this point, our theoretical trajectory draws on several key issues, such as: the relationship between literature and cinema, with authors like Figueiredo (2010) and Jozef (2010); the implications of the modern era for the construction of a collective and cultural imaginary, as well as the role of contemporary art, with Lipovetsky and Serroy (2015), Adorno (2003), Walter Benjamin (1976), and Jameson (2005); a concept of the Kafkaesque (Oliveira; Lemos, 2024); and the perspectives of cinematic language in shaping narrative and discourse within filmic storytelling, with Ismail Xavier (2024) and Gilles Deleuze (2005). Therefore, this research encompasses literary, historical-social, cultural, and artistic elements.