Disgust as Rebellion: Reading the Metaphors of Disgust in the Songs from Obzen by Meshuggah

Abstract

The established normative order of the state or any regime demands that each subject feels satiated and satisfied with their existence pertaining to various domains established by that very order. This satisfaction would necessarily drive an individual subject to the point of complacency so that any kind of questioning, dissent or rebellion can be prevented. For that rebellion raises questions, disrupts and tends to reverse the established order. Art has forever been used to raise questions, cause dissent, inspire rebellion throughout human history. From the most revered names in literary history of the world like Ovid to Hugo, from the liked Dante to Bunin, all these men of letters had attracted the wrath of their respective rulers for their resistance in belief and in art that they had to flee from their native soil (Krispyn 3). Protest art, music, film, literature have also been questioned in terms of their effective participation and the necessary outcome in terms of the real act of resistance or revolt but to this point it can be noted even if the liberal humanist or the radical left artistic production couldn’t prevent the Third Reich from establishing their totalitarian rule but they definitely disturbed and bothered the centre of that power which is why the necessary measures of suppression were taken, for example writers and poets in Soviet Russia during the Stalinist period were marked as counter revolutionaries or Trotskyist (the followers of Leon Trotsky) and appropriate and harsh punitive measures were taken.

DOI - https://doi.org/10.65525/SVUP.9788196793241.2025.9-15