The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

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The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka Having never heard of Franz Kafka, I realized that this was going to be an interesting read. I decided to research the author before reading the story so that I could understand the author as well as his writings. The Metamorphosis was published in 1915 as a novella. Published in German it has been translated into many languages including English. The style of Kafka’s writing is humorous but dark. His writings even coined a word listed in the dictionary as Kafkaesque. “So ubiquitous is Kafka’s legacy that the word “Kafkaesque” has been introduced into the English language. The adjective refers to anything suggestive of Kafka, especially his nightmarish type of narration, I which characters lack a clear course of action, the ability to see beyond immediate events, and the possibility of escape. The term’s meaning has transcended the literary realm to apply to real-life occurrences and situations that are incomprehensibly complex, bizarre or illogical.” Pg 182 What that basically means it that it describes a nightmarish situation which most people could relate to but very surreal there also seems to be an evil component that is like a shadow out of the corner of your eye. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa who goes to sleep in his room in his parent’s apartment and wakes up in the morning as a bug. Kafka referred to this being as Ungeziefer, which was very hard to translate into English. Translators have often wanted to claim the word Ungeziefer as insect but that isn’t really a proper translation. Kafka had no intention of making Gregor a specific bug, so the translation that is used in a monstrous insect. Similar to his character Gregor Samsa, Kafka lived with his parents, worked at an insurance office and lived a quiet life. When he wrote Metamorphosis it seemed that he was looking at his

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