The Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung) is a novella by Franz Kafka, written in 1912. Together with the novellas “The Judgment” and “In the Penal Colony,” it was meant to form a collection titled “The Punishments,” which was never published because negotiations with the publisher failed. Kafka’s best-known “small” work, a masterpiece in which—using the “official-protocol” style typical of the author—fantastic events are described. It has been adapted for film several times.

“Waking up one morning from uneasy dreams, Gregor Samsa found that, in his bed, he had been transformed into a horrible vermin.” — That is how perhaps Kafka’s most famous work begins.

Some prefer to view “The Metamorphosis” through the category of “holiness”; others through “suffering”; still others through the prism of psychoanalysis; and someone dismisses such attempts with disdain, focusing solely on the artistic value. One thing is certain. This short novella does not [simply] leave a mark on the soul—it wounds it, and it heals it too, but only until a scar forms.

“The Metamorphosis” is studied as a “required” work in all higher educational institutions, regardless of specialization. And it doesn’t seem all that surprising. Initiation is always connected with pain. And if “humanness” could be introduced through some kind of initiation, then “The Metamorphosis” would become one of its stages.