The Protagonist in Transition

Between the realistic novel of the 19th century and the post-modern novel, there is a literature of transition. The protagonist in that literature begins to cut his moorings from the world of the probable, retreating into an inner, solipsistic world, a private existence not shared with the reader. In the process, the protagonist himself is made to undergo transformation in a deeply personal sense. This book examines those transformations in their broadest variety - in protagonists as different as Aschenbach in Death in Venice and Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis.