The Metamorphosis And Other Stories (2003) - Plot & Excerpts
Vintage edition, translated by Willa & Edwin Muir, introduction by Adam ThirlwellOr Kafka's Animal Stories plus a couple of others.[3.5]A pedant writes...In most of these stories there were small continuity errors, some of which could conceivably have been due to word choices in translation. (I read this old translation – which in the twentieth century was the one used in Penguin Twentieth Century Classics - for sentimental reasons and didn't compare it with others as I usually do.) There were notable ideas missing in the imaginings of characters' or animals' worlds – some will say that is not the point of Kafka but IMO if an allegory does not stand up to making its surface world more factually accurate, it's hardly a work of genius; it would be real skill to make both layers perceptive and related. IntroductionI prefer reading introductions before a work – that way I usually get more out of it. This one was frustrating and fragmented when read before Kafka's stories; afterwards, they illuminated it. (May be different for someone who has read a lot of Kafka, or last read him recently.) It also includes two other tiny stories by Kafka, and one by Robert Walser. Three quotations I particuarly liked:“They [Kafka's characters] share a similar trapped psychology. All of them are honestly, earnestly, trying to think up reasons why everything makes sense: they are trying to understand the rationale behind the joke they seem to find themselves in.”“Both these kinds of characters – the extroverted and the introverted, the investigative and the theatrical derive from Kafka's tradition of European fiction. They derive from an idea that humans are either melancholy, when they understand how precarious their understanding is, or amusing, when they do not see how little they see.” (Recently I have become critical of the idea that the latter - “unreliable narrators” should be mocked and othered, that they aren't just fallible humans like everyone else. Thirlwell's discussion about Kafka and the idea of self-knowledge makes me understand why things are as they are in literature.)“Kafka has been unlucky in his readers”. (Possibly including me.)MetamorphosisIn 2011, I started a short story which was a sort of skit on Metamorphosis - although for a few days I didn't realise it was, feeling ill and forgetful, and also not having read the whole original. My protagonist awoke as a large cartoon ant, with wellington boots and a bow tie, and the ability to stand upright like the characters in Antz. (I couldn't decide whether to give him Mickey Mouse style gloved hands on the ends of his top legs, presence or absence of which would be rather crucial, and a few bits were written and re-written around this.) It was Comic Relief Day which meant that for that Friday at work, and possibly even the ensuing weekend if he could attach himself to some charity tin-shakers, he had, fingers crossed, a chance of passing himself off as an oddly convincing costume. But he was under increasing pressure about how to deal with things afterwards, to try and pretend normality in the present so as to make the most of being out in the world relatively unhindered, though doing so gave him very little time to try and work out a solution to his predicament. As usual with my fiction-writing attempts I found that a) whilst I could feel the comedy in many situations, putting it into the right words to make it funny to a reader was more difficult, and b) none of the endings I thought of were satisfactory to me. So I started Kafka's long-short-story having already put a lot of thought into its situation. And I read it before I saw Thirlwell's sentence in the introduction, “the missing word in his story 'Metamorphosis' is 'dream'. That does explain a lot but I also didn't like a few aspects of the way the beginning was handled: the way Gregor Samsa's thoughts kept drifting back to annoyances at his work although he'd started to realise he was a beetle, that he wasn't actually preoccupied with how to deal with this surreal shock. IMO psychologically unrealistic, but not so if you take it to be drifty in the manner of a dream. (I sometimes think of the similarity between the German “traum” for dream and the English “trauma”; in a dream-reading of Kafka's story they meet.) I felt that Samsa's manner of thought at the start didn't fit with his being a salesman of five years' standing, who's had some success: sales needs a reflex-like focus on how other people see things, and he never considers other people's reactions to his appearance, even thinks he can still go to work as an insect, until he witnesses their responses. (The character would have been more believable to me as someone with an introverted job.)I read most of the Kafka story thinking about the experience of worsened or acquired disability (the theme which I realised underlay my own fragment) although near the end the close relation to a contemporary experience of these broke down. Earlier, the paragraph about the new lack of comfort from looking out of the window; other people's reactions and having no choice but to understand and forgive them; wanting to apologise but the uselessness and repetitiveness of this when unable to change things; the barrenness of life and being stuck with one's own thoughts; the narrowing of the world; all were very poignant. Once Gregor was out of his room I thought 'Metamorphosis' was excellent and, whether it's seen as being about existential alienation or something else, there was definitely enough story to keep it interesting as well as philosophical, and the Samsa family were like those drawings which are very good portraits whilst using only a handful of lines.The Great Wall of ChinaAn old view of China which reminded me of that I had from old books as a kid. I was also far from convinced that a person who'd grown up under the regime described would have the insights stated. Missing the point again, I would be surprised if a Chinese person living during the time the Great Wall was built would be familiar with the story of The Tower of Babel. Okay, I sound like a soulless pedant; it's not that I don't appreciate the underlying meaning, it's that when a writer is supposed to be this good, I have a personal stylistic expectation that the overlying story is precise as well. Perhaps it's because I've seen such a lot of reverence for Kafka on GR but I don't expect to have to keep forgiving an author like this for not being able to do the research. Though I should remember that Kafka wanted this stuff burnt, not published: he didn't think it was good enough either, albeit quite possibly for different reasons – I feel a little embarrassed on his behalf. (I'm not saying it definitely should have been burnt, just that it's overrated.)Investigations of a DogI had an affection and interest for this simply because it's written from the viewpoint of a dog. The dog conducts often erroneous scientific / deductive reasoning about how the world works, especially about the source of food. Since Kafka's time there have been a lot of narratives from animal viewpoints which evoke their sensory worlds more effectively and I must be judging against those (especially Watership Down, Paul Gallico's Jennie, and the Duncton Wood saga which I read way too much of in my teens). We know more about dogs than people did 100 years ago but I can't believe that something of the primacy of the sense of smell wasn't understood – it's a very small part of this story, almost absent. Also no mention of mating (most dogs weren't neutered then, otherwise that could have explained the narrator's lack of mention of this drive). Related to the sense of smell, it doesn't really work that dogs would only think of pissing as “watering the ground”, not also scent-marking. And whilst the following could be subject to a debate about language, I would think that other species would smell different enough (and would be unattractive for mating, and may be food sources) that they wouldn't also refer to them as dogs – it would break down a lot of the humour in this story if they weren't also calling them dogs. The BurrowWritten from the viewpoint of an unspecified solitary carnivorous animal which discusses its complex burrow and fear of enemies, it's a very vivid evocation of human paranoia/anxiety/obsession, complete with a correlating overly abstract, rambling, potentially dry style that's almost devoid of concrete examples. A few un-animally concepts could have been the fault of the translators: it doesn't seem like the sort of creature whose species would have an idea like “the overseer”, or a castle keep. (Perhaps the latter term was chosen because of Kafka's The Castle.) Like 'Investigations of a Dog', sense of smell and mating drives were (pretty much) absent and made the narrator less convincing as an animal.In the Penal SettlementAccounts of elaborate machines used to torture people to death are high on the list of things I don't want to read. However, the act of recording reading online, and wanting to be true to the fixed states of “read” or “unfinished” re. the book made me read this story anyway (when once I'd probably have left it) - and I do have a somewhat higher tolerance for gore and torture in writing than on film. There is at least some respite in the story and most of it wasn't as graphic as I'd feared. (view spoiler)[I think the point of the end is that stamping out unpleasant customs isn't as easy as many people would like. (hide spoiler)]
4.5Ediciones de libros como este no traen sinopsis. Son ediciones que se hacen especialmente para la edición impresa de algún periódico o revista (supongo que como regalo). O al menos eso parece. Este por ejemplo estaba envuelto en plástico nuevo y en tapa dura. Lo compré baratísimo junto a otros clásicos de la literatura universal en la feria del libro el año pasado. Mi historia con este libro es algo larga, ya que lo tenía que leer el año pasado para clase de literatura pero no lo conseguí a tiempo. Mucho tiempo después leo por fin La metamorfosis y otros relatos y he quedado muy contenta con lo que me ha parecido.La conocídísima novela corta "La metamorfosis" (más bien debería ser traducida como La transformación según el prólogo de la edición) es una historia corta sobre Gregor Samsa (me niego a decirle Gregorio, gracias traducción horrible) un trabajador comercial que debe pasar insufribles horas viajando en tren y quedándose en hoteles desconocidos para trabajar. El solito sostiene a su familia: que consta de padre, madre y una hermana. El, estresado por la rutina, a duras penas tiene tiempo para llegar a casa luego de su trabajo y acostarse a dormir. Pero un día, antes del amanecer, Gregor abre los ojos y para su propia desasosiego, se ve convertido en un enorme insecto de muchas patas.¿Porqué esta novela corta es importante y merece ser leída?Aunque uno no sea un entendidísimo de literatura universal ni sea filólogo (aunque me gustaría), se sabe con certeza que Franz Kafka fue uno de los autores más influyentes e importantes del siglo XX. A pesar de que su producción literaria fue escasa (tres novelas, una novela corta y muchos relatos cortos) y su vida bastante corta (murió de tuberculosis a los 40 años). Nacido en Bohemia, Imperio Austrohúngaro (actual república Checa) en una familia judía, pero Kafka hablaba y escribía en alemán. Uno de mis profesores de literatura dice que su obra es mejor leerla en alemán, pero no todos podemos (el alemán es muy difícil lo digo por experiencia xD)ESTÁ SONRIENDO OMGEs innegable que La metamorfosis no es un libro para todo el mundo, sobre todo si no te gusta la literatura contemporánea. Pero su valor en la literatura universal es ya muy conocido. Escritores como Gabriel García Márquez, Albert Camus e incluso Jorge Luis Borges fueron influenciados por la obra de Kafka. En el caso de La metamorfosis, es un corto pero intenso relato donde las angustia, la presión familiar, el miedo, el asco y el surrealismo (alguien convertido en bicho OIGAN) son los elementos claves que se relacionan con la obra del escritor y su propia vida. La angustia de Gregor al convertise en bicho y darse cuenta de lo que había perdido en su vida y cómo se comportan sus padres luego de su transformación está maravillosamente explicado en la novela. Unos dicen que es una gran metáfora sobre las soledad y se relaciona parcialmente con la vida del propio Kafka (la difícil relación con su padre, su soledad y su encierro para escribir). No puedo hacer un grandísimo análisis sobre esta lectura (tendría que sentarme concienzudamente a hacerlo y no me considero capacitada), pero tengo que decir que La metamorfosis es muy valiosa porque introdujo elementos psicológicos y del realismo mágico.La narrativa de Kafka no tiene esa pesadez y descripción exhaustiva tan notoria de los textos del siglo XIX pero si tiene una forma peculiar de contar los acontecimientos a veces densa. Con una precisión y una excelente introspección en los personajes, los hacen verosímiles y los sucesos fantásticos e inverosímiles los convierte en parte de la realidad. Los relatos que vienen en el libro son bastante buenos, donde quiero destacar "El artista del hambre" y "El artista del trapecio" creo que son relatos bastante introspectivos y bien contados. Creo que si bien no son fáciles de entender, y puedes terminarlos de leer sintiéndote un poco raro, no puedo dejar que pensar que Kafka tiene algo muy valioso que no he descubierto.Me propongo a leer el resto de sus obras, y en este caso, no lo recomiendo a todo el mundo. A mi juicio es un escritor maravilloso, y si vas a comentar que no te interesa, mejor no lo hagas. Pero todo lector que se precie, debe leer a Franz Kafka si o si.
What do You think about The Metamorphosis And Other Stories (2003)?
4.5/5 Finally I read "The Metamorphosis, The Judgment, The Penal Colony". They're the reason why I bought this collection. Before I got this I did my best to avoid anything written about Kafka and his works; cause I wanted to enjoy reading them and have my mind blown away, which have been achieved Wonderfully. I just enjoyed reading those 3 stories like I never thought I would. They just drill themselves in your mind and under your skin in a very peculiar way. which is AMAZING !The best this about this collection is the short stories it contains, which were pleasant at some points. “Do you realize that people don't know how to read Kafka simply because they want to decipher him? Instead of letting themselves be carried away by his unequaled imagination, they look for allegories — and come up with nothing but clichés: life is absurd (or it is not absurd), God is beyond reach (or within reach), etc. You can understand nothing about art, particularly modern art, if you do not understand that imagination is a value in itself.” - Milan KunderaI think this is the Best this that has been written about Reading Kafka. Absolutely worth having, reading and re-reading one day ...
—Sarah
Gregor is a bug because he’s abused, so transforms into his real form. He’s the perfect employee but does so to provide for his lazy family and sister’s dream. He doesn’t have time for love, only work.His family’s relationship is all a fiction that shatters as he metamorphoses.The bug isn’t behaving as human anymore. He needs rotten food and crawling, however his human spirit craves contact, hope, love.The infirm begs to die because he’s a fine wound. For the doctor, he’s healthy because he hasn’t been examined throughly. The doctor is thinking of Rosa, his work and how much attending the boy is costing him, in a dysfunctional doctorish behavior.Families and doctor metamorphose, their reactions changing drastically. They hide and become repulsed by their son bug; supervise and don’t examine their libidinous wounded infirm. They lose agency and ability to relate.Samsas’ grow. Gregor is needed no more.The infirm’s family is shamed and threatens the doctor to save the dehumanized patient. “Writing prescriptions is easy, but communicating with folk otherwise is hard”, thinks the doctor.That’s the point!The lack of communication, the fiction of relationship. Kafka’s shameful life, poignant contextualized in his letter to his father, in his diaries, is overtly exposed in his texts. His own inferiority and further infirmity, tuberculosis, is the bug, the wound.Gregor’s and the boy’s families are equals, beyond affinity. That’s never had a why! Because it’s already established the gap between matter and spirit, predestinated:Gregor is a bug and must go; The boy’s a wound that has to die;They’re the bizarre. So why bother asking? Ignorance is preferred. It’s the alienation of giving oneself to the different Other.Gregor rationalized to be bug and behave in his lair. The infirm wanted to be left alone and die. Gregor covered himself from his mother’s eyes because he’s a monster. The boy doesn’t show his wound because it’s shameful. Nonetheless, they’re rejected, sick, no longer humans.The lack of relationship’s pressure grows and explodes into death. With Freudian symbolisms, an apple kills Gregor, as his mother, almost naked, hugs and begs his father no to kill her son-bug, although she couldn’t bear Gregor’s sight. As the doctor lying naked by his patient couldn’t feel his patient’s pain because there’s no rapport between him and the infirm wound’s weirdness. The so-called humans don’t produce their possible agency.Mother and doctor try to act as saviors, as they should from the beginning. As modern god/goddess? Although, all are humiliated by their acts, failure.Kafka’s art, symbolical language, seems nightmarish nonetheless is a parable to lack of understanding real bizarreness in life. It speaks empirically of physical, psychological disabilities, how we should deal with them. Not avoiding agency but trying to be helpful.
—Poet Gentleness
Mark wrote: "You guys will love The Trial! The Metamorphosis is terrific, but as unfathomable as it may seem, The Trial surpasses it!"That does seem mighty unfathomable!
—Mary
