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The Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka,

Stanley Corngold (Translator),

Mircea Ivănescu (Translator)

3.83 · Rating details · 684,587 ratings · 19,339 reviews

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 0553213695 / 9780553213690

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt co ...more

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Paperback, 201 pages

Published March 1st 1972 by Bantam Classics (first published 1915)

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Nov 12, 2018 Miranda Reads rated it did not like it

Here's a link to a BooktTube Video - all about the fabulous (and not so fabulous) old books I've read.

The Written Review

UPDATE FEBURARY 2021

At this point, it's become a yearly tradition to check back on this and see whatever shtstorm happened over the year.

I think my favorite comments are when people are upset that my review is the most popular & they say it doesn't deserve its position.

It's like...lol...what? Do you think I'm going around making nearly a thousand fake a ...more

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May 02, 2011 Dan Schwent rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: oldies, 2011

Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to discover he's been transformed into a giant beetle-like creature. Can he and his family adjust to his new form?

The Metamorphosis is one of those books that a lot of people get dragooned into reading during high school and therefore are predisposed to loath. I managed to escape this fate and I'm glad. The Metamorphosis is quite a strange little book.

Translated from German, The Metamorphosis is the story of how Gregor Samsa's transformation tears his family apa ...more

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Jul 08, 2008 Rebecca rated it really liked it

I once used my copy to kill a beetle.
Thereby combining my two passions: irony and slaughter.

*wields*

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Mar 12, 2012 Gaurav rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, love-to-read-again, existentialism

The Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka

The Metamorphosis can quite easily be one of Franz Kafka’s best works of literature- one of the best in Existentialist literature. The author shows the struggle of human existence- the problem of living in modern society- through the narrator.

Gregor Samsa wakes in his bed and finds himself changed into an a mammoth bug- the vermin; he battles to discover what really has transpired, he checks out his little room and everything looks ordinary to him anyway it gets a pec ...more

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Apr 16, 2014 Petra-X Off having adventures rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-a-long-time-ago, 2015-reviews, fiction, getting-a-bit-personal-here, reviewed

A paraphrase. When my ex-husband went out one evening from unsettling dreams of how faraway his wife was, he went out drinking and whoring. Next morning he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. A cockroach. Much he knew it though. None of his friends recognised it, in fact they preferred the cockroach to the person he had been and he had a great time. When it was time for him to come home, armour-plated as he was he crushed his wife underfoot (well fists and kicks, but same t ...more

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Dec 27, 2007 Nicole rated it it was amazing

Shelves: philosophical, morbid-humor, favorites, classic-literature

Gregor waking up one morning as a bug was a hilarious analogy of the effects an illness can have on someone, as well as on those who are close to him. Though the underlying story behind the hilarity of the analogy was anything but funny. I took it as more of a warning of what NOT to do when a loved-one is afflicted by some unfortunate disease or circumstance. I found his resistance of acknowledging to himself that he had become a bug in the beginning of the story to be very interesting. When he Gregor waking up one morning as a bug was a hilarious analogy of the effects an illness can have on someone, as well as on those who are close to him. Though the underlying story behind the hilarity of the analogy was anything but funny. I took it as more of a warning of what NOT to do when a loved-one is afflicted by some unfortunate disease or circumstance. I found his resistance of acknowledging to himself that he had become a bug in the beginning of the story to be very interesting. When he couldn't ignore his state any longer, he looked to others' reactions as to how he would look at his own condition. As he was trying to unlock his bedroom door to let his parents and supervisor in, he thought,

"If they took fright, then Gregor would have no further responsibility and could rest in peace. But if they took it all calmly, then he had no reason to get excited either and he could, if he hurried, actually be at the station by eight."

The reaction of those around him, and most importantly, those of his closest loved-ones, is what influenced his own attitude towards himself and his own state. He became completely ashamed of himself, striving to completely hide himself from view, though it took great effort and pain on his part to do so. His imprisonment, or rather, his confinement from the company of others, had a devastating affect upon his mental well-being and in turn, affected his physical well-being. Such a sad story and the fact that his family didn't feel remorse for their actions, but relief for themselves at his death... I don't believe Kafka was trying to say this is how humans are indubitably, even though most of them try to put on a show of galantry and higher morals. But that humans certainly can become some of the most self-serving, self-centered creatures on Earth. It serves as a warning to us all that while it is good to allow others to serve us from time to time, it is far better to always serve others. Gregor's family had all become accustomed to being taken care of by him. They didn't even mind that he was held in servitude to pay off their debts. This was made evident when the fact was made known that Gregor's father had been saving up extra money earned by Gregor, when it could have been used to pay for his freedom much sooner. Gregor, on the other hand, had been serving his family and loved them purely because of it. His first thought was not of himself, but of the hardship his condition would cause his family.

So lest we fall into such an ugly state of existence, let us guard ourselves by serving those we love, thus loving more those we serve. ...more

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Mar 01, 2019 Adina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: w-modern-world-literature, czech, classics

4* for the novella + 1* for Benedict Cumberbatch narration ( I adore his voice).

A family (mother, father and sister) are forced to become responsible and find jobs when the son, the sole provider of the family, has a sort of a disease and cannot work anymore. As he becomes useless he is marginalized and despised. I almost forgot, the disease is that the son wakes up in the morning as a cockroach.

Methamorphosis is considered one of the best books ever written which is quite remarkable consideri ...more

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Nov 10, 2011 Henry Avila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Gregor Samsa awakes from a bad dream, into a mad nightmare, as he struggles, stuck in his own bed this weary, young traveling salesman, has overnight been miraculously transformed... incredibly Gregor is now a hideous bug, a dung beetle , or even a cockroach does it really matter what ? He has missed his train in more ways than one, but Samsa, is a real trooper, still thinks he can catch the locomotive and make that vile business trip, eventually getting off the bed with great difficulty, just a ...more

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Aug 13, 2014 Glenn Russell rated it it was amazing

Kafka’s classic tale written in 1912 is about the changes that can come about in our lives. Up until the very end, the entire tale takes place in an apartment of a mother, father, son and daughter. The son is unfortunately unable to continue to perform his job as a traveling salesman and support his family financially. This abrupt change forces the father, mother and daughter to exert more energy in their lives and take steps to earn money. Here is a word about each member of the family:

The Fath Kafka’s classic tale written in 1912 is about the changes that can come about in our lives. Up until the very end, the entire tale takes place in an apartment of a mother, father, son and daughter. The son is unfortunately unable to continue to perform his job as a traveling salesman and support his family financially. This abrupt change forces the father, mother and daughter to exert more energy in their lives and take steps to earn money. Here is a word about each member of the family:

The Father – At the beginning of the tale he is too worn out to even stand up straight and walk across the apartment without pausing. At the end, he stands up straight, combs his white hair neatly, wears a uniform smartly in his new job working for a bank and can take charge of family situations and challenges with authority.

The Mother – At the outset, she is weak and helpless. At the end, she does the household cooking and helps support her family through taking in sewing.

The Daughter – A wan stay-at-home at the beginning and a healthy out-in-the-world worker at the end. At the very end, this 17 year-old blossoms into an attractive young lady, a real catch for some lucky guy.

This Kafka tale is, in some important ways, the forerunner of such books as ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ by Dale Carnegie.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course, what I've written above is tongue-in-cheek; not to be taken seriously!

Review of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka ---- Take 2

If I didn’t write this ‘Take 2’ I suspect my book review would be the first in nearly 100 years not to mention Gregor wakes up transformed into an enormous bug. Since there already so many reviews posted, I’d like to offer several brief observations:

• What is it about our attempt to maintain the status quo? Gregor is transformed into a monstrous verminous bug and all he and his mother and father and sister can ask is: ‘How can we change things back to how they were?’.

• The objective 3rd person narrator lets us know directly that although Gregor’s body has transformed, he still has his human mind with its memories. Why does his family assume Gregor lost his human mind? If they wanted, they could simply ask him questions to find out. For example, ‘Gregor, if you can understand what I am saying, move over to the right side of your room’. This speaks volumes about how people are too narrow in their thinking to deal with life creatively and with imagination.

• What adds to the eeriness of Kafka tale is Gregor’s metamorphosis is in stark contrast to the humdrum regularity of the family in their apartment. The possible exception is the absurdist scene at the beginning where Gregor’s manager knocks on the door and insists on knowing why Gregor missed the early morning train. This combination of these opposites is a stroke of genius.

• The most insightful review of this Kafka tale I’ve read is from Vladimir Nabokov ------ http://www.kafka.org/index.php?id=191.... Nabokov adjudged Kafka’s tale the greatest novel of the 20th century behind Joyce’s Ulysses.
...more

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Mar 23, 2019 JV (semi-hiatus) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, fantasy, 2019, audiobooks, best-audiobook-narrators, curiouser-and-curiouser, shorts-and-anthologies, home-for-my-heart, favourites, 5-star-reads

My ever dearest Kafka,

It has come to my attention that you've left a manuscript behind pertaining to the extermination of vermins. So my eccentric little self decided to pick up a copy of yours hoping to annihilate pests of the worst, possibly, the most malicious kind, only to find out you didn't offer such trick. Well, woe is me! There goes me gay self screaming and running away from flying roaches! Ackkkk! Shoooo! Oh bollocks, you could've helped! Interestingly, what I discovered was a lustrou ...more

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May 30, 2020 Greta rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: best-reviews, classics

Prisoner of your own body - left to die .

Only Kafka can turn such a weird and creepy idea into a devastating metaphor. The story begins with the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a large, monstrous insect. The cause of Samsa's transformation is never explained, but as he tries to adjust to his new condition and deals with being burdensome to his family, they are repulsed by the horrible, verminous creature Gregor has become. They start to abuse him and ultimately ...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, fiction, classics, 20th-century, novellas, literature

Die Verwandlung und Der Jäger Gracchus = The Metamorphosis and The Hunter Gracchus, Franz Kafka

The Metamorphosis is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, The Metamorphosis tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa who wakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect and subsequently struggling to adjust to this new condition. The novella has been widely discussed among literary critics, with differing int Die Verwandlung und Der Jäger Gracchus = The Metamorphosis and The Hunter Gracchus, Franz Kafka

The Metamorphosis is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, The Metamorphosis tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa who wakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect and subsequently struggling to adjust to this new condition. The novella has been widely discussed among literary critics, with differing interpretations being offered.

The Hunter Gracchus is a short story by Franz Kafka. The story presents a boat carrying the long-dead Hunter Gracchus as it arrives at a port. The mayor of Riva meets Gracchus, who gives him an account of his death while hunting, and explains that he is destined to wander aimlessly and eternally over the seas. An additional fragment presents an extended dialogue between Gracchus and an unnamed interviewer, presumably the same mayor.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: سال 1974میلادی؛ بار دیگر: روز دهم ماه نوامبر سال 1995میلادی

عنوان: مسخ و گراکوس (گراچوس) شکارچی؛ نوشته: فرانتس کافکا؛ مترجم: صادق هدایت؛ کتاب در قطع جیبی و شامل داستانهای: مسخ؛ گراکوس
شکارچی؛ شمشیر؛ در کنیسه ما؛

نخستین ترجمه فارسی این اثر از متن «فرانسه» به قلم روانشاد «صادق هدایت» منتشر شد؛ سپس ترجمه بانو «فرزانه طاهری» در سال 1358هجری خورشیدی، توسط انتشارات «نیلوفر»، که از متن انگلیسی ترجمه شده بود، انتشار یافت؛ ترجمه ی دیگری نیز از جناب «علی اصغر حداد» را، که از متن اصلی و از زبان «آلمانی» ترجمه شده، نشر «ماهی» منتشر کرده است؛ «مَسخ» داستان کوتاهی از «فرانتس کافکا» ست؛ که در ماه اکتبر سال 1915میلادی، در «لایپزیگ» به چاپ رسید؛ «مسخ» از مهمترین آثار ادبیات فانتزی سده ی بیستم میلادی ست، که در دانشکده‌ ها و آموزشگاه‌های ادبیات سراسر جهان غرب، تدریس می‌شود؛

داستان، در مورد فروشنده ی جوانی به نام: «گرگور سامسا» ست؛ که یکروز صبح از خواب بیدار، و متوجه می‌شود، که به یک مخلوق نفرت‌ انگیز حشره‌ مانند، تبدیل شده است؛ دلیل «مسخ» شدن «سامسا»، در طول داستان بازگو نمی‌شود، و خود «کافکا» نیز، هیچگاه در مورد آن توضیحی ندادند؛ لحن روشن، دقیق، و رسمی نویسنده در این کتاب، تضادی حیرت انگیز، با موضوع کابوس‌وار داستان دارد؛

ولادیمیر ناباکوف، در مورد این داستان گفته است: (اگر کسی «مسخ» «کافکا» را چیزی بیش از یک خیال‌پردازی حشره‌ شناسانه بداند، به او تبریک می‌گویم، چون به صف خوانشگران خوب، و بزرگ پیوسته است.)؛

مترجم فرانسوی «مسخ» باور دارد که: («گرگور سامسا»، در واقع کنایه‌ ای از شخصیت خود نویسنده «کافکا» است؛

نقل از متن پشت جلد کتاب: (نویسندگان کمیابی هستند که برای نخستین بار، سبک و فکر و موضوع تازه ای را به میان میکشند، به خصوص معنی جدید میآورند؛ که پیش از آنها وجود نداشته است؛ «کافکا» یکی از هنرمندترین نویسندگان این دسته به شمار میآیند؛ خوانشگری که با دنیای «کافکا» سر و کار پیدا میکند، در حالیکه خرد و خیره شده، باز هم به سویش کشیده میشود؛ همین که از آستانه ی دنیایش گذشت، تأثیر آن را در زندگی خود نیز حس میکند، و پی میبرد، که دنیا آنقدر هم بن بست نبوده است.)؛ پایان نقل

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 12/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Sep 24, 2011 s.penkevich rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: All

Recommended to s.penkevich by: Nabokov

It was no dream.

Gregor Samsa awakes one day, changed forever. How unpredictable is life, one moment leading to a new labyrinth of existence where forward is the only motion available, our scars and choices following us in a tuneless parade with few interested spectators. Despite our lives being a personal struggle, it is constantly judged, criticized and appraised by all those whom we encounter. Oh, the injuries we inflict upon one another. We alienate and assume instead of communicate, we fear ...more

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May 09, 2020 jessica rated it liked it · review of another edition

there was a trend going around on tiktok for a while where girls would ask their boyfriends, ‘if i were a worm, would you still date me?’ those girls are literally this MC, except gregor samsas tiktok would be him asking his family, ‘if i were an insect, would you still love me?’ and the answer is a hard NO.

at face value, i found this to be a rather weird and super depressing story. and this book is a perfect example of why i have such a love/hate relationship with stories that are considered c ...more

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Feb 07, 2014 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: wallowing-in-misery-and-angst, classics, the-shorts, made-me-think

"Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheueren Ungeziefer verwandelt." - "As Gregor Samsa was waking up one morning from restless dreams, he discovered in his bed that he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug." (my own translation)

This novella starts with a shock, but ignores the "why" and "how" (I don't think anyone in the book ever asked either of those questions) in favor of exploring Gregor's and his family's reactio ...more

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Jul 29, 2017 Sean Barrs rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-star-reads, short-stories, modernist-movement, magical-realism

Surreal, inexplicable and unusual, Kafka explores the futility of human existence. Or does he?

Gregor Sansa is turned into a bug and through the process he realises just how insignificant he is, how insignificant we all, ultimately, are in the greater scheme of things. He was his family’s backbone, holding them up, supporting them financially whist they took the easy path. However, when that backbone is removed the unit adapts; it carries on and finds new means of survival. The most important me Surreal, inexplicable and unusual, Kafka explores the futility of human existence. Or does he?

Gregor Sansa is turned into a bug and through the process he realises just how insignificant he is, how insignificant we all, ultimately, are in the greater scheme of things. He was his family’s backbone, holding them up, supporting them financially whist they took the easy path. However, when that backbone is removed the unit adapts; it carries on and finds new means of survival. The most important member of the family is swept aside, forgotten about and life continues as it always must. I guess he wasn’t that important after all.

There are so many designs that can be put onto this story, so many interpretations. And this is what Kafka does so well. He leaves you with absolutely nothing, no answers or explanations, only a simple case of this happened and it ended like this. We as readers look for meaning within the narrative because that is how narrative traditionally works. There has to be a point to it all, right? But perhaps that is the point: there is no point. Perhaps by looking too hard we miss what Kafka is trying to say, or not say, with his passive writing.

There are certainly elements of alienation in here, even in the recollections Gregor has before he was turned into a bug. As per the modernist mode, he was isolated from his peers and the world at large. Powerlessness is also another theme that runs through the story. Gregor’s family, and Gregor, cannot stop what is happening. They just have to go on with it and hope to make it through to the other side. A suggestion that no matter how hard we work in life, how much love or success we appear to have, we can be struck down at any moment. Forced into a situation we cannot control, we perish. Such is life.

It would be easy to talk about elements of Kafka’s own biography here, and consider the work’s relevance to events that would eventually happen later in the century, but I think that would be to put too much of a design on the book. His personal feelings about life obviously helped to propel much of his writing. He wrote many strange stories, though Metamorphosis is the most renowned of his work. Utterly compelling, yet bewildering, this isn’t a story that will ever leave the reader. It’s haunting and told with realistic mundanity.

“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in his bed he had been changed into a monstrous bug…”

description

...more

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Jun 24, 2014 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

One morning a young man woke up and decided he didn't want to leave his room. He felt at odds with the world and wished he could opt out of his busy life.

He knew he was unlikely to get away with skipping school, so he thought about how to find a perfect excuse. His eyes fell upon the half-read copy of Kafka's Metamorphosis he had left beside his bed, and was pleased. When his stressed mum banged on the bedroom door and yelled that it was time for breakfast, shower and school, he answered:

"I ca ...more

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Nov 19, 2015 Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-i-hated, revolting

Any day you wake up as a cockroach is a shit day.

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Apr 26, 2019 Kevin Ansbro rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: family-dynamics, magical-realism, human-emotions, metaphysical, short-stories, gentle-humour, gorgeous-covers, modern-fable, human-psyche, parable

"I am constantly trying to communicate something incommunicable."
— Franz Kafka

Taking bedbugs to a whole new level, travelling salesman, Gregor Samsa, wakes one morning to find himself transformed into a giant beetle.
Rather than waving his legs and antennae in the air, screaming, "Omigod! Omigod! I’ve turned into a frigging cockroach!" he keeps his composure and goes about his daily business with a selfless determination. His family, by way of contrast, are a selfish, unpleasant bunch and mer ...more

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Jul 04, 2019 Kevin Shepherd rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, short-reads, classics, own, reviewed, horror

So, this business man wakes up one morning to discover that he has somehow mysteriously morphed into a disgusting, putrid, orangey cockroach.

No, this isn't Donald Trump's autobiography...

Kafka's Metamorphosis played as much to my subconscious anxieties as it did to my conscious ones, like those nightmares most of us have about our teeth falling out, or our home falling apart. I came away feeling like I had just watched a David Lynch film (*see: 'Eraserhead').

I enjoyed this and I'm not 100% sur ...more

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Aug 07, 2016 James rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1-fiction

Book Review
4 out of 5 stars to The Metamorphosis, written in 1915 by Franz Kafka. I think most people are familiar with the premise of this book, and rather than do a normal review, I thought maybe I'd question how on earth Kafka came up with this one? It was such a great way to tell the story and teach a lesson... a man wakes up as a giant beetle? (I secretly suspect he came across a huge cockroach in his apartment while in NYC one day). And how do you deal with such a change? Your Book Review
4 out of 5 stars to The Metamorphosis, written in 1915 by Franz Kafka. I think most people are familiar with the premise of this book, and rather than do a normal review, I thought maybe I'd question how on earth Kafka came up with this one? It was such a great way to tell the story and teach a lesson... a man wakes up as a giant beetle? (I secretly suspect he came across a huge cockroach in his apartment while in NYC one day). And how do you deal with such a change? Your family is afraid. They are embarrassed. You can talk. What's really going on here? What is Kafka trying to say about life? We're all insensitive? Liars? Fakes? Humorists? Nutty? So many things to read into here... it's a run book, too. When you're a bug life's quite different. Have you ever managed something like that before? No. So how did Kafka come up with all the little things to make it real? I'm glad he did as this book helps you enjoy reading when you may be forced to read some classics at a younger age that don't appeal to you. As an more mature reader, you find all the symbols and beauty in the messages with this one. I believe I read it twice, possibly some excerpts for a third instance. Each time, it gets better. I would love to see a really good film or TV Adaption... purely to witness the metaphorical views a director would incorporate on the big screen or the stage. The words are amazing, but it's what you experience by reading it that makes it such a wonderful book.

About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by.
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Mar 03, 2017 Samra Yusuf rated it really liked it

Shelves: fav, existentialism-philosophy

When I was a child,I used to get myself hide for some time and animatedly hear what’s everyone saying about my disappearance……we all are walled up by insecurities, incarcerated by uncertainties, captivated by absurdities and haunted by fears of losing the people we love so helplessly …………
Kafka touches delicate strings of relations, with such audacity and ingenuousness that Metamorphosis becomes a voice on drum even after more than 100 years of its publication..
Kafka’s writings largely originated When I was a child,I used to get myself hide for some time and animatedly hear what’s everyone saying about my disappearance……we all are walled up by insecurities, incarcerated by uncertainties, captivated by absurdities and haunted by fears of losing the people we love so helplessly …………
Kafka touches delicate strings of relations, with such audacity and ingenuousness that Metamorphosis becomes a voice on drum even after more than 100 years of its publication..
Kafka’s writings largely originated from the conflicted relationship he experienced with his family, especially his father, and the glimpse of that biographical connection is vividly portrayed in form of our main character Gregor Samsa,who to his utter misfortune gets up one morning just to witness a horrendous insect of himself transformed overnight….
So what do we expect him to do now?
Consider himself in mid of some nightmere and sleep again?
Shriek vehemently by first transformed-sight of himself?
Think of suicide maybe?
No,he doesn’t do such thing,and here we come to know typical kafka-hero,Gregor is little startled to see himself an enormous insect and littler worried to get back into human form.the first thought strikes his head is of being late today from job and catching train to reach office.and counting time as he keeps lying in bed for a good deal time.and this is the thinking that paves ground for Marxist approach of the novella.
Gregor is the representative of proletariat class trying so bad to catch up with bourgoais, considering job
“travelling day in and travelling day out..” and bosses “pain in ass”…..a little box is not enough to touch other approaches like symbolism, structuralism and a semblance of feminism in story.
The most horrific factor though is of alienation,Gregor in his own home is confined to hide and is treated strictly like the one he looks………an insect a bigger one!
Gregor becomes noticeably less human and more accepting of his transformative state. With each act, Gregor also becomes physically weaker. As his family abandons its denial of his insectlike appearance and their hope for his full recovery to a normal human condition, they gradually become indifferent to his fate and recognize their need to pursue their lives without him. His father returns to work, his mother learns to operate the house without the help of a maid, even adding the burden of taking in boarders, and his sister assumes the responsibilities of adulthood. Where once he was the center of their lives, he now becomes an unnecessary burden and an embarrassment.
And this is when he abandons hope……….
Gregor dies of disappointment! ...more

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May 30, 2008 Cecily rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, magical-realism, short-stories-and-novellas, favourites, kafka-and-kafkaesque

NOTE: Some of the stories in this edition have also been published in separate collections, and those ones are reviewed under those titles (links included here).

Many are short, poignant vignettes, rather than stories, though some have a surreal/magical angle. A definite voyeuristic slant to several (two are explicitly titled about looking through a window).

Metamorphosis

The provider turns parasite, and in giving up his life, liberates his family.

It's a surreal situation: Gregor wakes to find hi ...more

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Mar 21, 2020 Michael rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020

A strange fable about a young traveling salesman who metamorphosizes overnight into a monstrous insect, rendering him unable to work and useless to his family, who scrambles to feed his relentless appetite and find another source of income to sustain the household. The story’s succinct, cryptic, and written in sardonic prose that doesn’t feel dated; a strong final act elevates the work and lends it lasting power.

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Feb 11, 2019 Lyn rated it liked it

Ant-Man, Spiderman and The Fly sit in a café in Prague and discuss Franz Kafka’s 1915 story Metamorphosis.

Ant-Man: What in the hell was that anyway?

Spiderman: Bug man.

Fly: Guys, please, this is a modern classic of existentialism told in absurdist comic fashion. It’s an allegory about isolation and alienation, and ultimately a rejection of modern ideas about materialism and family unity. Kafka was decades ahead of his time, he quite literally influenced literary movements following him.

Spiderman: ...more

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May 09, 2007 Kathy rated it did not like it

Technically I read this book in German, and if I could give it zero stars, I would. I read the first sentence (in German, mind you) around 3:30 in the morning earlier this semester, and was convinced I was loosing my mind and that I couldn't be translating it right. It read: "Gregor Samsa awoke on morning to discover that he had somehow transformed into a giant cockaroach". After typing the sentence into freetranslation.com and finding out I actually had read and translated it correctly, I thoug ...more

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Nov 07, 2018 Sid rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The way how the wide spectrum of human behavior, nature, emotions and reactions is illustrated in this book does a huge favor to every single word written in it. The truth of every relationship, the vanity of human nature, the highs and lows of human emotions, the actions one takes in certain circumstances and the reactions one gives intentionally or unintentionally have been very beautifully portrayed in this book. This book has a lot to teach if one is a keen reader. Must read for people who e ...more

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Jan 03, 2019 ☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Q:
One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug. (c) I can't help thinking of Dave Cronenberg's 'The Fly', which gave me nightmares once. 'The Metamorphosis' is a close contender.

I admit the idea to put it all like this is fantastic! But, Lord! I am conflicted about this one, since I'm simultaneously hating this book with passion and feeling its cathartic potential.

Q:
‘... Gregor has broken loose.’ (c) ...more

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Jun 21, 2017 Shaina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed, novella, 2017, review-of-the-year

Re-read

Once again, I just have deep feelings of sorrow for the main character and pity at the ignorance of the others.
Some people whom are bullied, not accepted, or abused might feel like Gregor does in this story. The thing is; that in this story, it happens within the home.
A type of metamorphosis does happen in these types of homes; In homes where you don’t feel wanted, accepted, loved, needed, valued. Sometimes that is what I think of when I read or think about this story is that Gregor was ...more

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Jul 16, 2016 Steven Godin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: czech-republic-poland, existentialism, classic-fiction

The literary equivalent to a surreal nightmare and a work that never seems to fade over the duration of time. Simple in structure but also imaginative and dark, we bare witness to the claustrophobic and grotesque existence of poor old Gregor Samsa, and the more we delve the more it seems apparent that the foundations of this novella are strongly based around family values and the treatment of one another rather than an insight into the life of a bug. For all Gregor provides for his parents and s ...more

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About Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka

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Franz Kafka was one of the major fiction writers of the 20th century. He was born to a middle-class German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, Bohemia (presently the Czech Republic), Austria–Hungary. His unique body of writing—much of which is incomplete and which was mainly published posthumously—is considered to be among the most influential in Western literature.

His stories include "The Metamorph Franz Kafka was one of the major fiction writers of the 20th century. He was born to a middle-class German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, Bohemia (presently the Czech Republic), Austria–Hungary. His unique body of writing—much of which is incomplete and which was mainly published posthumously—is considered to be among the most influential in Western literature.

His stories include "The Metamorphosis" (1912) and "In the Penal Colony" (1914), while his novels are The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927).

Kafka's first language was German, but he was also fluent in Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of the French language and culture; one of his favorite authors was Flaubert.

Kafka first studied chemistry at the Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague, but switched after two weeks to law. This offered a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father, and required a longer course of study that gave Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history. At the university, he joined a student club, named Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten, which organized literary events, readings and other activities. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max Brod, who would become a close friend of his throughout his life, together with the journalist Felix Weltsch, who also studied law. Kafka obtained the degree of Doctor of Law on 18 June 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts.

Kafka's writing attracted little attention until after his death. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories and never finished any of his novels, unless "The Metamorphosis" is considered a (short) novel. Prior to his death, Kafka wrote to his friend and literary executor Max Brod: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread." Brod overrode Kafka's wishes, believing that Kafka had given these directions to him specifically because Kafka knew he would not honor them—Brod had told him as much. Brod, in fact, would oversee the publication of most of Kafka's work in his possession, which soon began to attract attention and high critical regard.

Max Brod encountered significant difficulty in compiling Kafka's notebooks into any chronological order as Kafka was known to start writing in the middle of notebooks, from the last towards the first, etc.

All of Kafka's published works, except several letters he wrote in Czech to Milena Jesenská, were written in German. ...more