So I lied. I will not be starting with Franny and Zooey. Let's start with Kafka's novella, the Metamorphosis ( Die Verwandlung) published in 1915, something I recently finished. Kafka was born in Austria-Hungary (what is now the Czech Republic) in 1883. His literary style has been deemed modernism and existentialism and I don't think you can get more existentialistic than this story. We are bluntly introduced to the main character of the novella, Gregor Samsa who just happened to awake one lovely morning to find himself turned into a "monstrous vermin". What is Kafka does to toy with us is that he never once mentions what a bug Gregor has morphed into, rather leaves it for the reader to imagine the poor fellow him/herself. Kafka goes as far as to hint at sticky liquid that he gives off and multiple little legs that Gergor later learns to control.
The story is broken up into 3 sections and has very few characters.
Gregor Samsa: the protagonist who has somehow turned into a bug, family income is provided by him through work in salesman business, young, lonely
Grete Samsa: Gregor's younger sister, excellent violin player, turns out to be the only one who helps Gregor with keeping his room and feeding him.
Mr. Samsa: father who owes an enormous debt to Gregor's boss, from the beginning is disgusted at his son's transformation. I happen to dislike him a lot because he's a goddamn lazy old man who does nothing but attempt to kill Gregor using apples (not squishing him!).
Mrs. Samsa: mother, at first shocked and later decides to go into Gregor's room to see her son but can't handle it so she faints...typical.
3 Tenants: three snooty tenants decide to rent a room in the Samsas' apartment so as for them to make some money while Gregor suffers in his present-bug state.
There is more to the story than just a man turning into a squishy bug.
Gregor's family symbolizes the corrupt state of humanity, and here is Gregor working his ass off while they sit around doing nothing useful. You know you and I have done this before: perhaps your mother is cooking a meal or cleaning and you're sitting around watching TV, making excuses not to help, or a classmate calls you to invite you over because they need help in a project but you don't pick up the phone.
Gregor also symbolizes his truth TO humanity despite having changed in form. Just because he is a bug doesn't mean he doesn't feel. He is lonely, depressed, hopeful, and at one point his quest for sexual pleasure is seen through his passion for a portrait of a young lady that hangs in his room. Kafka never identifies this woman, but Gregor refuses to let his sister and mother remove it from his room when the women decide to clean out the furniture.
All in all a great, quick read. So very much behind the text which may be hard to pick up in the first read because you're too in shock that this man is really a bug and that he has human thoughts and speaks and acts like you or I would.
The question is: WHAT turned Gregor into a bug in the first place? Was it his family? Was it himself? We'll never know and THIS is what makes it so mind boggling. I think Kafka likes to tease us, don't you?
Alright, I hope this wasn't an idiotic first post. I will try to get better as we go on.
Short clip below:
I enjoyed reading this post and I value the fact you have chosen Metamorphosis as the first book to write about. A year before I have chosen this book as my "year work" in my language lessons, that meant I wrote a small dissertation work on it. It was a hard job, and as you I never really understood why Gregor turned into a bug. The worse was, I had an oral presentation and I had to explain this problem to my classmates. Everything turned out well in the end (marks for written and oral part, both A) but I’m still not sure. It wasn’t the best book I have ever read and I found out lately that Kafka’s style of writing does not suit me at all. However, when people ask me about books which are important to me I always mention Metamorphosis. For it did not change my life or changed my opinions on society etc, but it was the first book which I REALLY thought about. I thought about every detail, I felt like Sigmund Freud for a moment. I like psychology and it was quite pleasurable to wander around all the symbols and pondering about what’s hiding beneath them. In the end, I would reccomend to read Metamorphosis at least twice and read Kafka’s biography. I would say, for at least partial understanding it is necessary, because Kafka’s life = Kafka’s literary works.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to next posts :)
Adriana