Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

Metamorphosis

By Franz Kafka

  • Release Date: 1924-06-03
  • Genre: Fiction & Literature
Score: 4
4
From 4,248 Ratings

Description

The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung, also sometimes translated as The Transformation) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It has been cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is studied in colleges and universities across the Western world. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed (metamorphosed) into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Samsa's transformation is never revealed, and Kafka never did give an explanation. The rest of Kafka's novella deals with Gregor's attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repulsed by the horrible, verminous creature Gregor has become.

Reviews

  • zamuza

    5
    By oasay
    za-za-zamuza <3 (Nightcord at 25:00 reference)
  • Metamorphosis

    5
    By toothpost
    Very disturbing.
  • great

    5
    By slayy ✨✨
    it was rlly sad, the ending made me feel bad for samsa. pretty interesting and a quick read
  • me too gregor

    3
    By wiish i neverrr
    how he died....so disappointed
  • Man to animal – was he ever indeed a man?

    3
    By LeonF63
    Perhaps you read this story as a teenager in high school as part of your college-bound reading list. I certainly did, remembering two things: a cockroach and an apple slice. The rest of the details had alluded to me until I re-read this as an adult. One morning, Gregor Samsa, awake from uneasy dreams, found himself transformed into a gigantic insect in his bed. Things only get worse from there. As you may imagine, the family is not thrilled with the appearance of a giant insect in one of the bedrooms. Fear, hesitation, and confusion are all present. What is the family to do? Kill it, feed it, maybe drive it outside and away from home. Gregor becomes a member to hide so that he doesn’t disgrace his family or cause a situation that decreases the family’s stature in their social circles. His inability to communicate with his family makes him an outsider in his own home; his life offers no joy or direction, and he is an alienated man.
  • Better than bugs life

    5
    By Dr. 7 Schwartz
    A very relatable story
  • Disturbing and Beautiful

    5
    By stoneflyfish
    Kafka writes the strangest of stories. Stories that never seen to provide tremendous peaks in drama but slow and bothersome narrative.
  • Metamorphosis

    1
    By Miller18pk
    Weird boring and waste of time to read 👎🏾 In future I’ll send just stick to my business reading and nonfiction topics
  • Nice, Pleasant, Short

    4
    By ueuwiwwi
    Neat little book that leaves a lot to the reader’s imagination. Nice and eerie in some areas. Good short read.
  • Metamorphosis

    3
    By The Toxic Game Reviewer
    “The little legs had firm ground beneath them, he was delighted to note that they were completely under his command, they strained to carry him off wherever he might desire, and he finally believed that the final alleviation of all his grief was imminent.”. This quote from Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis encapsulates the salesman protagonist’s sorrow. Desperate to go about his life after transforming into an enormous insect and the alienation he feels doomed to suffer, Gregor copes with his bizarre situation and watches his family become increasingly miserable. But changes in the family he loved, along with the feeling of loneliness prowl his existence. Written as a meditation on isolation, the book depicts the feeling of worthlessness and being unwanted in a disturbing and strange way, with lurid descriptions, ridiculous plot, and absurd characters. Readers delight in the portraits of depression and resentment that has sparked much conversation and ideas. While the story can be tough to get through at times and not particularly well written, the questions about identity and humanity leave you thinking and it’s up to the reader if they’re willing to dig in to the end of this story.

Comments