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challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A bible for the clinically depressed.
Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis is quite possibly, one of the greatest novellas ever written, and now having read it myself, I do not doubt this in the slight. It is a story that every avid reader should consider reading at least once in their lifetime.
The edition I will be reviewing in particular is Penguin Classics’ Metamorphosis and Other Stories, translated by Michael Hofmann. For me Metamorphosis was definitely the best and most impactful of the collection, but many of Kafka’s other writings are also very good. I particularly enjoyed A Hunger-Artist, In the Penal Colony, and A Report to an Academy. I did, however, find some of Kafka’s works really difficult to engage with due to some blatant misogyny on his behalf. The Rejection in particular is so sexist one can’t help but laugh (perhaps to keep from weeping). Unfortunately as talented a writer as he was, it is not hard to see why no woman was keen on following through on any promises of marriage with him.
Michael Hofmann’s translation is decent, though I do have some reservations. For one, he writes that Gregor Samsa “found himself changed into a monstrous cockroach” while the original German is intentionally ambiguous on what kind of bug Samsa turns into. And I think that taking away this ambiguity ultimately takes from the story itself. I think in the future I will be more interested in engaging with a different translation because of this. But this collection nevertheless is very good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation
Minor: Incest, Racism
If currently you’re feeling very delicate in your mental health and what you can read without triggering an episode, I can almost guarantee that now is not the right time to begin reading Kafka’s works.
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Abandonment
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Torture, Grief
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
ok. ich weiß nicht was ich erwartet habe. aber definitiv nicht das. wusste nicht dass es so grausig ist. :( ich versteh glaube ich noch nicht ganz was man da reininterpretieren könnte. muss mal mit jmd drüber sprechen
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment
Moderate: Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Moderate: Domestic abuse
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Torture, Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Rape
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I wouldn't say the writing was the best but what was writen was very profound.
Without reading from their perspective, I can understand the family's view. This mortifying thing happens to their loved one that they truly cannot understand. They don't even know if that is Gregor or not. They have no idea if he still has his mind, trapped in this new body or if it's a complete transformation. If the grief of Gregor not being Gregor anymore isn't enough, he's become a creature that invokes disgust. Then due to this change, they've lost their main support for the family. They're now tasked with figuring out how to live without this and fend for themselves. They fall into financial hardship, as well as social since they become isolated, along with the hardship of losing their son/brother and instead having to care for a disturbing creature instead. It's a miracle none of them died or went mad.
However, we are in Gregor's mind so we see not only his feelings and experience of the ordeal, but how his family's hardships effect him too. We see his sense of duty being taken from him in the beginning, and him coming to terms with that. He experiences guilt over not taking care of his family, concern for what they will do now. He feels ashamed of his new self. He feels anxiety and grief over losing his humanity. He experiences fear over how his family will perceive him, treat him. The treatment of his family towards him, the fear, the disgust, the anger, the resulting violence, all makes me start to hate them. How could they do this to their son? Can't they try harder to see he's still there? What really broke my heart is when Grete finally turned on her brother and broke down wanting to rid of him. She had done so well in dealing with the circumstances and still caring for him, but as the story continued on you can really see the change in her actions towards him. She begins neglecting in caring for him, no longer cleaning, no longer attempting to find food he'll eat. She becomes careless and probably resentful of the situation. She finally begins to believe that it's not even Gregor anymore.
Even through all of this, Gregor remains faithful in his love for his family, especially his sister until the very end. It makes me so angry that he died, and died after suffering so much. I understand why the story ended as it did - to allow the rest of the family to hope again and go on with life. However, there is no justice for Gregor. No matter how you spin it, that's going to hurt. Yet it still speaks to the bigger picture of life. Some suffer in life and aren't recuperated for it. And I can't help but relate Gregor's experiences to those who have disabilities and are unemployed. The isolation, the feeling of being a burden on your loved ones and society, the feeling of not being understood yet desperately wanting to explain, the inability to care for oneself, society's disgust of you. It's almost interchangeable.
The story holds up a mirror to life, to society and it's pressures, to family and it's complexities. Kafka packed everything into this little story of a dung beetle.
Without reading from their perspective, I can understand the family's view. This mortifying thing happens to their loved one that they truly cannot understand. They don't even know if that is Gregor or not. They have no idea if he still has his mind, trapped in this new body or if it's a complete transformation. If the grief of Gregor not being Gregor anymore isn't enough, he's become a creature that invokes disgust. Then due to this change, they've lost their main support for the family. They're now tasked with figuring out how to live without this and fend for themselves. They fall into financial hardship, as well as social since they become isolated, along with the hardship of losing their son/brother and instead having to care for a disturbing creature instead. It's a miracle none of them died or went mad.
However, we are in Gregor's mind so we see not only his feelings and experience of the ordeal, but how his family's hardships effect him too. We see his sense of duty being taken from him in the beginning, and him coming to terms with that. He experiences guilt over not taking care of his family, concern for what they will do now. He feels ashamed of his new self. He feels anxiety and grief over losing his humanity. He experiences fear over how his family will perceive him, treat him. The treatment of his family towards him, the fear, the disgust, the anger, the resulting violence, all makes me start to hate them. How could they do this to their son? Can't they try harder to see he's still there? What really broke my heart is when Grete finally turned on her brother and broke down wanting to rid of him. She had done so well in dealing with the circumstances and still caring for him, but as the story continued on you can really see the change in her actions towards him. She begins neglecting in caring for him, no longer cleaning, no longer attempting to find food he'll eat. She becomes careless and probably resentful of the situation. She finally begins to believe that it's not even Gregor anymore.
Even through all of this, Gregor remains faithful in his love for his family, especially his sister until the very end. It makes me so angry that he died, and died after suffering so much. I understand why the story ended as it did - to allow the rest of the family to hope again and go on with life. However, there is no justice for Gregor. No matter how you spin it, that's going to hurt. Yet it still speaks to the bigger picture of life. Some suffer in life and aren't recuperated for it. And I can't help but relate Gregor's experiences to those who have disabilities and are unemployed. The isolation, the feeling of being a burden on your loved ones and society, the feeling of not being understood yet desperately wanting to explain, the inability to care for oneself, society's disgust of you. It's almost interchangeable.
The story holds up a mirror to life, to society and it's pressures, to family and it's complexities. Kafka packed everything into this little story of a dung beetle.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
dark
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Abandonment
Moderate: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a solid short story and a good introduction into Kafka's works. In a way I expected way more, especially plot-wise, but I think it's good to have to look at it from the view of how Kafka writes the characters. Not the most fleshed out story, and in sometimes overly descriptive of a bug-like state for those who don't enjoy this version of body horror. Overall it wasn't very captivating for me besides the very end. Maybe exploring Kafka's works more will lead to understanding his ideas better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Abandonment
Minor: Gore, Violence, Alcohol