The Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka • 1883-1924 • Born in Prague (in what is now the Czech Republic) • Spoke and wrote in German • Had a doctorate in law, but worked in the insurance industry

Franz Kafka • Kafka’s writings often deal with loneliness, isolation, and alienation, all of which are aggravated by the social and economic systems that structure human relations. • His style is stark – in spite of the strange subject matter in many of his works, there is no poetic or metaphoric language. • The Metamorphosis (written in 1912, published in 1915) is probably his most famous work.

Existentialism • Kafka’s writings fall under and explore the category of “existentialism” in modern literature. • Existentialism: a chiefly 20th century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad

Franz Kafka • Generically, The Metamorphosis is a novella – a text that is longer than a short story but not as long as a novel. • Heart of Darkness, which is another popular “AP” book, and Night, which is a non-fiction book you read in “Part A”, both fall under the same category.

Setting the Scene • The protagonist of the story is Gregor Samsa, who is the son of middle-class parents in Prague. • Gregor’s father lost most of his money about five years earlier, causing Gregor to take a job with one of his father's creditors as a travelling salesman. • Gregor provides the sole support for his family (father, mother, and sister), and also found them their current lodgings in Prague. • When the story begins, Gregor is spending a night at home before embarking upon another business trip. And then. . .

Part I: A Famous Opening Line • “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a giant insect” (958). • Compare with another famous opening line . . .

Part I: A Famous Opening Line • “It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen” (Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four 1). • What do these two lines have in common?

Compare the beginnings to the endings: • “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a giant insect” (958). • “It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen” (Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four 1).

Both sentences make their points through defamiliarization: • They initially describe normal, everyday, almost boring events, only to disrupt this sense of normalcy at the very end. • The disruption of readerly expectation is sometimes called a defamiliarization effect – in German, Verfremdungseffekt, which translates as “alienation effect.” This term is associated with the German playwright Bertolt Brecht.

Lost in Translation? • English translators have often sought to render the word Ungeziefer as “insect,” but this is not entirely accurate, as, in German, Ungeziefer literally means “vermin” and is sometimes used colloquially to mean "bug,“ which is a much more vague term than “insect.” • Why might “vermin” actually be more appropriate?

Lost in Translation? • “Vermin” can either be defined as a parasite feeding off the living (as is Gregor's family feeding off him), or a vulnerable entity that scurries away upon another’s approach, as Gregor does for most of the narrative after his transformation.

Significance • By disrupting our normal perspective on reality, these unusual plotlines force us to ask profound questions.

Significance • Writers often use fantastic events to signify additional levels of meaning beyond the literal. • Thus, we need to ask ourselves what Gregor’s metamorphosis signifies in terms of larger issues.

The Metamorphosis