Metamorphoses and Other Stories
Contents:
While Grete initially volunteers to feed him and clean his room, she grows increasingly impatient with the burden and begins to leave his room in disarray out of spite. Her initial decision to take care of Gregor may have come from a desire to contribute and be useful to the family, since she becomes angry and upset when the mother cleans his room, and it is made clear that Grete is disgusted by Gregor; she could not enter Gregor's room without opening the window first because of the nausea he caused her, and leaves without doing anything if Gregor is in plain sight.
She plays the violin and dreams of going to the conservatory, a dream Gregor had intended to make happen; Gregor had planned on making the announcement on Christmas Day. To help provide an income for the family after Gregor's transformation, she starts working as a salesgirl. Grete is also the first to suggest getting rid of Gregor, which causes Gregor to plan his own death. At the end of the story, Grete's parents realize that she has become beautiful and full-figured and decide to consider finding her a husband.
Samsa is Gregor's father. After the metamorphosis, he is forced to return to work in order to support the family financially.
His attitude towards his son is harsh; he regards the transformed Gregor with disgust and possibly even fear, and he attacks him on multiple occasions. Samsa is Grete and Gregor's mother. She is initially shocked at Gregor's transformation; however, she wants to enter his room.
This proves too much for her, thus giving rise to a conflict between her maternal impulse and sympathy, and her fear and revulsion at Gregor's new form. The Charwoman is an old lady who is employed by the Samsa family to help take care of their household duties. Apart from Grete and her father, she is the only person who is in close contact with Gregor.
She is the one who notices that Gregor had died and disposes of his body. Like most Kafka works, The Metamorphosis tends to entail the use of a religious Max Brod or psychological interpretation by most of its interpreters.
Metamorphosis and Other Stories
A Study of Franz Kafka Besides the psychological approach, interpretations focusing on sociological aspects which see the Samsa family as a portrayal of general social circumstances, have gained a large following as well. He instead chose an interpretation guided by the artistic detail but categorically excluded any and all attempts at deciphering a symbolical or allegorical level of meaning.
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Arguing against the popular father complex theory, he observed that it is the sister, more so than the father, who should be considered the cruelest person in the story, as she is the one backstabbing Gregor. Gegensatz und Einheitlichkeit, Stil und Dargestelltes, Darstellung und Fabel sind in vollkommener Weise ineinander verwoben.
In , Nina Pelikan Straus wrote a feminist interpretation of Metamorphosis, bringing to the forefront the transformation of the main character Gregor's sister, Grete, and foregrounding the family and, particularly, younger sister's transformation in the story. Traditionally, critics of Metamorphosis have underplayed the fact that the story is not only about Gregor but also his family and especially, Grete's metamorphosis as it is mainly Grete, woman, daughter, sister, on whom the social and psychoanalytic resonances of the text depend [7].
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories has ratings and reviews. Dave said: I suspect interpreting Kafka says more about the reader than the aut. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories, by Franz Kafka, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable.
It is made up of one passive, rather austere person and another active, more libidinal person. They also appear in The Judgement Georg and his friend in Russia , in all three of his novels e. Robinson and Delamarche in Amerika as well as in his short stories A Country Doctor the country doctor and the groom and A Hunger Artist the hunger artist and the panther.
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories
Reiner Stach argued in that no elucidating comments were needed to illustrate the story and that it was convincing by itself, self-contained, even absolute. He believes that there is no doubt the story would have been admitted to the canon of world literature even if we had known nothing about its author. Reduced to carrying out his professional responsibilities, anxious to guarantee his advancement and vexed with the fear of making commercial mistakes, he is the creature of a functionalistic professional life.
In , Ralf Sudau took the view that particular attention should be paid to the motifs of self-abnegation and disregard for reality. Beicken, Sokel, Sautermeister and Schwarz. According to them, the narrative is a metaphor for the suffering resulting from leprosy, an escape into the disease or a symptom onset, an image of an existence which is defaced by the career, or a revealing staging which cracks the veneer and superficiality of everyday circumstances and exposes its cruel essence. He also points to the grotesque and tragicomical, silent film-like elements.
Fernando Bermejo-Rubio argued that the story is often viewed unjustly as inconclusive. He derives his interpretative approach from the fact that the descriptions of Gregor and his family environment in The Metamorphosis contradict each other. Bermejo-Rubio emphasizes that Kafka ordered in that there should be no illustration of Gregor.
Another reason why Kafka opposed such an illustration is that the reader should not be biased in any way before his reading process was getting under way. That the descriptions are not compatible with each other is indicative of the fact that the opening statement is not to be trusted. She is the character the title is directed at.
Grete, by contrast, has matured as a result of the new family circumstances and assumed responsibility. Kafka's sentences often deliver an unexpected impact just before the period — that being the finalizing meaning and focus. This is achieved from the construction of sentences in the original German, where the verbs of subordinate clauses are put at the end. For example, in the opening sentence, it is the final word, verwandelt , that indicates transformation:. As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect-like creature.
These constructions are not directly replicable in English, so it is up to the translator to provide the reader with the effect of the original text. English translators have often sought to render the word Ungeziefer as "insect", but this is not strictly accurate. Kafka had no intention of labeling Gregor as any specific thing, but instead wanted to convey Gregor's disgust at his transformation.
The phrasing used by Joachim Neugroschel [16] is: However, in Kafka's letter to his publisher of 25 October , in which he discusses his concern about the cover illustration for the first edition, he uses the term Insekt , saying: It is not even to be seen from a distance. Ungeziefer has sometimes been translated as " cockroach ", " dung beetle ", " beetle ", and other highly specific terms.
Vladimir Nabokov , who was a lepidopterist as well as a writer and literary critic, insisted that Gregor was not a cockroach, but a beetle with wings under his shell, and capable of flight. Nabokov left a sketch annotated, "just over three feet long", on the opening page of his heavily corrected English teaching copy.
October’s Reading group: Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
In his accompanying lecture notes, Nabokov discusses the type of insect Gregor has been transformed into, concluding that Gregor "is not, technically, a dung beetle. He is merely a big beetle". From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about the literary work by Franz Kafka. For the biological process, see Metamorphosis. For other uses, see Metamorphosis disambiguation. Short story Absurdist fiction Slipstream. For other uses, see Gregor Samsa disambiguation. The Metamorphosis in popular culture. Die Kunst des Lesens: Transforming Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis Signs, Kafka konkret — Das Trauma ein Leben.
Wiederholungsmotive im Werk als Grundlage einer psychologischen Deutung. Die Jahre der Entscheidungen , p.
Beck, , p. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories. Retrieved 15 April New York, New York: Retrieved 29 December Die Verwandlung Franz Kafka. The Trial The Castle Amerika. The Warden of the Tomb.
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A love story that spans from high school, through college and graduation to present day. You'll laugh, you'll cry and root for the characters! The Metamorphosis Bantam Classics. Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. A book of many of Kafka's works, in chronological order, an anthology of his development as a writer and thinker. Metamorphosis is the main course in this menu - and what a strange and tasty dish.
Beyond Metamorphosis, the book largely comprises Kafka's short pieces, vignettes which can be enjoyed simply for the beauty of the prose or as confrontations to promote further discussion. Some of Kafka's prose is indeed beautiful, but much of it is also unnerving, with very long sentences that feature arguments, counters and predetermined conclusions. This is particularly so with "Josefine, the Songstress or: The Mouse People" the final piece in the book.
October’s Reading group: Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka | Books | The Guardian
There is also horror in the cold, clinical self destruction of "The Penal Colony" and the psychosis or is it hyper-reality? I don't know if Kafka and Munch ever met - but it seems they were kindred spirits. From Unhappiness - "I screamed out loud, only to hear the scream which meets with no answer and which nothing can diminish in its power, so that it goes on rising without a counterbalance and cannot even stop after its sound is gone I read this after having read "The Trial", and both have in common the ability to make the reader feel somewhat dark and awkward and hopeless; at other times confident that all will be resolved in a comfortable and satisfying manner.
Kafka is like a tour guide, taking you through the hills and valleys of hope and despair. One person found this helpful 2 people found this helpful. It is useful to have the stories Kafka published during his lifetime collected together, but some of Hofmann's choices as a translator I find odd. For now I would stick with the good old version by the Willa and Edwin Muir.
These stories are not long but powerful, I keeps your attention and the underlyng meanings in the stories can be applied today's life issues. I particularly appreciate his mastery in rendering the 'logic' of dreams so reality takes on the quality of the dream or is it the other way round?
Do we realize we are dreaming when we dream? One person found this helpful. If you're hoping to get the superb Hofmann translation of The Metamorphosis and Other Stories, you must go to this link: But hidden away in the "Other Fomats" menu on the book page is a second Kindle edition, which IS the one translated by Hofmann, and that's what I have linked to here. Thanks for reading the brief review, and I hope it helped in your buying decision!
A Study of Franz Kafka Does Franz tell us that this creature is an animal? I think "The Judgement" was just awful and probably the worst of the bunch. Initially excited, he quickly discovers that he has no taste for milk, once one of his favorites. Investigations of a Dog.
I got the Kindle edition because I couldn't find "The Country Doctor" short story anywhere, and I'm glad it was made available in this collection. Kudos to Penguin for making a perfect Kindle edition, with linked table of contents and everything. See all 17 reviews. See all customer images. Most recent customer reviews. Published on August 7, Published on July 21, Published on March 6, Published on June 20, Published on January 7, Published on March 22, Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers.