Metamorphosis: Kafka's Seminal Work on a Man's Transformation

By Franz Kafka

First published in 1915, Metamorphosis is an absurd novella written by Kafka. It begins with Gregor Samsa waking up as a monstrous vermin. There is no possible sense to how this can happen but within the Kafkaesque world, the protagonist functions in a chaotic and surreal society. The text deals with several questions that Gregor contemplates as a proletariat: who would earn a living now that he cannot go outside his room? Who will feed his family?
As Kafka weaves his text with dark humour, his focus remains on the lack of sympathy directed towards Gregor by his own family members who are concerned more about the scandal that he may present to the world than his well-being. Their shock comes not at the suddenness with which Gregor’s metamorphosis occurs, but at the idea of him coming into the public eye.
The depravity that Gregor experiences only increases throughout the novel. Stripped off of his speech, mobility, dignity and his human body, Gregor grows increasingly alienated from the family, and society at large. The novella is a deep study of what it takes to live in a modern society, and how people struggle for acceptance, often from their own people in a time of great need.

• Language: English
• Publisher: V&S Publishers
• Release date: Jul 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9789357943284

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka wurde am 3. Juli 1883 in Prag geboren und starb am 3. Juni 1924 in Vierling bei Wien. Er studierte Jura und Germanistik in Prag und legte 1906 seine Promotion zum Doktor der Rechtswissenschaften ab. Nach einer kurzen Zeit als Praktikant am Landgericht Prag war er von 1908 bis 1917 bei einer Versicherungsgesellschaft angestellt. Er erkrankte im Jahr 1917 an Tuberkulose und musste daher seinen Beruf aufgeben. Freundschaften zu Franz Werfel und insbesondere Max Brod und dem Verleger Kurt Wolff waren von großer Bedeutung für Kafkas literarisches Schaffen. Zu seinen wichtigsten Werken gehören die Erzählung „Die Verwandlung“ (1915) sowie die Romane „Der Prozess“ (1925), „Das Schloss“ (1926), „Amerika“ (1927) und eine Reihe kürzerer Prosa, zum Teil posthum erschienen.

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