The Metamorphosis (Norton Critical Editions)

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Kafka's writing works at many levels.......2007-01-17

Kafka's writing works at many levels. I am sure almost every school of Literary Criticism makes its own special narrative of Gregor Samsa's transformation into an insect, and the subsequent trials and tribulations he knows.
On one level Samsa is Kafka and he is telling us the story of his own self- contempt, the world of his own family relations, the world in which a powerful dominating father reduces his son to nothing more than an object of disturbance and villification.
On another level Samsa is clearly the artist seeking his own form of transformation and expression. He is the outcast in a Society which refuses to recognize him for what he is.
On a third level we are seeing a historical prophecy for what is to happen to Kafka's world and family - that they are to be destroyed mercilessly by those ' superior beings' who morally are most evil.
One of the startling elements in the story is seeing how once its premise is given, and Samsa is an insect, how he operates on that basis. The tremedous seriousness with which he takes himself indicates perhaps Kafka's questioning of the possibility of truly making ' redeemed lives' lives of blessedness given the circumstances of the social and political milieu given here.
Kafka imagines himself, imagines his own being crushed, and yet continues beyond this story to others.
There is a sense as I write this that I have not gotten it right. I have the feeling that I missed the story in a certain way.
Perhaps this too is part of the experience the reading of Kafka gives. The world does not only fail to meet our specifications for it, even those parts of it we choose to focus on have their own strange pathways to different kinds of meaning.
These multiple readings taken together perhaps provide some ense of who Kafka is , and what his work means.
But do they really?

This is how all classics should be treated........2001-08-17

For the reader new to Kafka as a writer, there is a lot of baggage to be thrown off: everything implied by the cliche 'Kafkaesque' we've gathered from films, other books and the like (alienation, angst, modern man and the Absurd, the terror of totalitarian bureaucracy, etc.); everything, in other words, that has made a caricature of an original vision.

So, for the first-time reader of Kafka, there are some pleasant surprises in 'the Metamorphosis'. The novella is often very funny - Gregor's orientation to his condition (he enjoys running up the walls and hanging off the ceiling) and the reaction of his family and manager provoke some priceless farcical set-pieces. It is a Gothic story - about a salesman who turns into a monstrous vermin, and the aghast reaction of his family; there are some unexpected frissons in the story we would normally expect from the horror genre. It is a portrait of a complacent middle-class family in decline, a la Galsworthy, or a study of the artist in an impoverished family with a weak but aggressive father, like Joyce's 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'. There are even elments of sentimental melodrama in the way Kafka loads up the sympathy for his monster in the face of almost caricatured hostility - I found myself welling up once or twice.

This is not to diminish Kafka's dark and frightening vision, just to suggest how much of his art depends on play, with narrative modes and genres, with narration, with reader's expectations. The horror, anxiety, unease, if you like, is actually quite marginal on the surface - the oppressive vastness of his familiar bedroom as perceived by Gregor in his new form; the endless vista of an adjacent hospital. It's under this surface that the true anxiety lies - the gaps in the narration, the unreliability of Gregor's perceptions and interpretations, the ambiguity of Kafka's language, the witholding and gradual unfolding of details. There don't seem to be any mirrors in the Samsa household, but the story is full of mirror-like tableaux - the portrait of the lady in furs; the photo of Gregor as a young soldier; the image of domestic life viewed every evening by Gregor in darkness.

If only all classics were treated with the respect of this edition. the translation is mostly smooth and fresh, with occasionally clumsy constructions and jarring Americanisms (are there really trolleys and foyers in Kafka's world?). The critical apparatus provides endless intellectual nourishment - manuscript revisions revealing the precision of Kafka's writing; an account of the story's genesis, creation and background through letters, diaries and related Kafka works; and seven critical essays from perspectives as varied as feminism, psychoanalysis, new-historicism and linguistics, some infected by the usual blights of literary criticism (e.g. undigested globs of French theory making argument and prose impenetrable; distortion of text to produce biased interpretaions), but which insightfully open up the astonishing density and ambiguity of a 40-page fable, offering ingenious, mutually excluxive, even contradictory readings that are all very plausible, and yet ultimately miss Kafka's elusive enigma.

Excellent Translation, Annotation, and Critical Essays.......2000-10-01

Professor Stanley Korngold translates Franz Kafka's novella, "The Metamorphosis" (1915), and edits this Norton Critical Edition. Even though Korngold's translation was done in 1971, it stands as an excellent idiomatic rendition of the original German manuscript. Korngold includes in this volume a section entitled "Kafka's Manuscript Revisions," which reflects more recent German scholarship. Korngold's page-by-page annotations to the novella elucidate details which serve to clarify the text for close readings. Following the novella, ("Die Verlandlung," in German), is a section of pertinent exerpts of Kafka's Letters and Diaries. The next section of the volume, "Criticism," contains a collection of seven essays, which were written between 1970-1995. A Chronology of Kafka's life and work and a Selected Biography are also included.

Professor Korngold has done a masterful job with this edition of "The Metamorphosis." Kafka's masterpiece, according to Korngold, "...is perfect, even as it incessantly provokes criticism." For the transformation of Gregor Samsa into the "monstrous vermin" disturbs readers who want and need to "control" the text. To do otherwise is to accept the hopelessness that is at the center of Samsa's existence. For the uninitiated readers, who are often first-year university students in required literature courses, "The Metamorphosis" often defies facile interpretation. Thus, the critical essays, which include poststructuralist, psychoanalytic, feminist, cultural, and historicist literary theories about the novella, are very helpful to frustrated students who may have been given essay assignments. Of particular note is Korngold's critical discussion of Kafka's "literalization of the metaphor."

My suggestion is to read "The Metamorphosis" first (in this excellent Korngold translation) and to note one's immediate reactions to the text. Then, one can explore the other sections of this critical edition at one's leisure. Finally, one can re-read the text again. ("The Metamorphosis" is short enough that it can easily be read in one sitting.)

Excellent Translation, Annotation, and Critical Essays.......2000-10-01

Book Description

The best-known novellas and stories of one of the seminal writers of the twentieth century. Included are "The Judgment, " "A Country Doctor, " and "A Hunger Artist." New Foreword by Anne Rice.

Customer Reviews:

When an Unlocked Door Remains Closed.......2007-04-27

The most poignant moment of Franz Kafka's 1915 novella The Metamorphosis occurs when the narrator remarks that nobody thought to open Gregor's bedroom door to see him, though the door was now unlocked. In time, Gregor no longer wishes to emerge from his room, to be seen. All connection with his family and his former self is lost.

Gregor the travelling salesman had gotten into the habit of keeping his door locked, even at home. He became private to the point of being paranoid. Gregor the absentee member of the Samsa household--albeit the breadwinner--is unknown to his sister Grete and to his parents. The loss doesn't quite register with them.

This is the story of the man who wakes up as a bug. He literally embodies his emotional and psychological perception of himself: that he is vermin. He has become his own self-loathing. As this reality settles into his mind, he hopes his family will in some way respond to his need, to feed the unnameable hunger that gnaws at him throughout this ordeal.

Instead, they turn away. He is the dirty secret, the problem child, the social stigma they could do without, thank you very much. The father beats him back into his room every time he emerges. His mother lacks the emotional fortitude to face the situation and faints instead. Grete, his sister, feeds him and cleans his room until he reaches out for her in his buggy way--by creeping toward her while she is playing the violin for lodgers.

Gregor's financial control of the family plays a role in the neurosis that afflicts each member. Not until he is free of their control can they realize their potential. That control cannot buy Gregor the food he requires--some form of emotional and spiritual nourishment in the form of genuine relationships--though he does somewhat sadistically enjoy being the center of their fleeting attention for a little while. The door had been locked for a little too long. Family connection lost its relevance. Here is the tragedy of modern life: we're all so busy getting and doing that we lose track of what it means simply to be.

The verb "to be," I learned as a young girl in English class, is not a very strong one. It's boring and should be replaced with verbs that sugget activity and emotion.

I've come to realize that being isn't so bad; it's being alone that can kill you. This is the kind of starvation that killed Gregor. The Metamorphosis (Bantam Classics)

Still important 100 years later........2007-03-09

This collection of short stories was my first introduction to Kafka and I highly recommend picking this up for anyone thinking about reading his works. The short stories range in length from many pages to single paragraphs. Most of the stories shorter than 2 pages seemed pointless to me but the lengthier entries were excellent in their content and writing style.

Kafka's writing style is unique and really needs to be read to be understood. The word Kafkaesque now means something to me. I look forward to reading some of his novels to see if they match the power of and imagery of The Metamorphosis.

Bottom Line: Kafka is hip again and this is a good sampling of his short stories.

The definition of a Kafka story .......2005-12-26

Kafka is one of the unique geniuses of world - literature.
His stories are parables that have an uncanny quality about them, and so defy our simple understanding.
As Camus pointed out Kafka's stories demand rereading and reinterpreting again and again, without one ever having conviction that one has truly grasped the true meaning.
The beauty of this uncanniness, the strange power of these stories is the genius of Kafka.

The Metamorphosis.......2005-01-21

I am german. I have never read the english translation of "The Metamorphosis" and so I don't know how it is and how it sounds in english. I can only say that it is a really deep, intensive and wonderful story in german language. "Die Verwandlung" has really changed my way of thinking! It is a book like a mirror, you can lay your own feelings in it. Some think it is too dark, i think it is "life and life only".

refreshing.......2004-07-19

Frankly, I have only read the Metamorphosis and the Penal Colony. I will admit that both were a bit unusual, but I fell in love with the Penal Colony. It's laconic, but extremely well-written (kudos to the translator). Given it's length, I'd suggest it to anyone looking for a shortcut to one of literature's masterpieces. As for the Metamorphosis, I cannot say the same. God only knows (as Kafka cannot tell us) what he meant with the transformation of Gregor into a vermin. I found that story simply bizarre, devoid of any blatant parallel.

The Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Dover Thrift Editions)

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Necessary and perfect
Kafka's Best
Good reading
Fascinated in fear and anxiety
More than just "The Metamorphosis"

The Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Dover Thrift Editions)
Franz Kafka
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486290301

Book Description

Superb collection by modern master explores the complexity, anxiety and futility of modern life. Excellent new English translations of the title story (considered by many critics Kafka's most perfect work), plus "The Judgment," "In the Penal Colony," "A Country Doctor" and "A Report to an Academy." Note.

Customer Reviews:

Necessary and perfect.......2007-07-06

Kafka found the stories and language to express some of the most inaccessible and painful truths of human existence.

Kafka's Best.......2007-06-03

This is a definitive collection of the short work of Franz Kafka, encompassing all of the greatest moods of his writing. The following stories are included.

The Judgment is a tale of what is and what is not. A young man reveals, through a letter, that he's engaged. He reveals this to an estranged friend in St. Petersburg, but then things start to unravel as he's undone by his father's probing and accusations. His father questions him extensively and demoralizes him, while revealing his own frailty.

The Metamorphosis. What can I say about this classic that hasn't been said by many more insightful and austere than myself? What I love about the story is that the action has occurred before the tale begins and the whole story is the aftermath, the coping, the results. It's quite a bit of masterful technique to pull that off.

In the Penal Colony is a devilish story of torture, execution and the morality of punishment. A machine is used for capital punishment and it's greatest advocate is a salesman for its continued use. Wicked.

A Country Doctor deals with Kafka's own issues of faith as told through a story about a doctor's ability or inability to treat patients. It's very much a theological tale, questioning faith and the foundations of morality. Kafka was an unbeliever but in this story he gives a fair analysis of the possibility of a greater power.

A Report to an Academy is the most fun of all the Kafka stories. At least to me. It's the story of an outsider trying to fit in - the ape rejecting his ape past, his heredity, his roots. It's the Jew rejecting his Jewish heritage. It's the European abandoning Europe for the promises of America. It's a grand journey told through an ape that takes on humanism in order to advance beyond his station, yet revealing that this is a false promise because one's true nature can't be avoided, can't be buried.

This volume ought to be, and probably is, required reading for all educated people.

- CV Rick

Good reading.......2005-05-22

The metamorphosis is perhaps Kafka's most famous story. It is about a man who suddenly wakes up as horrible creature (whose appearence is left to the imagination of the reader). His whole life changes and his room becomes his world. His family begins to forget him as he becomes an embarassment for them. The end comes as unexpected as the metarphosis itself.
I found the other stories not as interesting as the described above, and some of them have a very strange end, if we can call it so.

Fascinated in fear and anxiety .......2004-11-24

Three of these stories , " The Metamorphosis ' ' The Penal Colony' ' The Country Doctor' are among the most Kafkaesque of Kafka's stories. They awaken in the reader a vague anxiety, a confusion, a sense of disturbance it is difficult to adequately describe. They give us a sense of life as something more menacing and threatening than we had imagined. And yet they do this with such a precise and even beautiful description of inner and outer reality so as to fascinate us completely. They hold us as their narratives procede in their own incredible ways to an ending which too is forever vague and unclear.
Kafka makes the human soul a startling juxtaposition of anxiety and beauty- in a destiny lost and unclear.

More than just "The Metamorphosis".......2004-04-30

As someone who had only read "The Metamorphosis," I found this collection of Kafka's works to be very refreshing. Since I had not enjoyed reading "The Metamorphosis" in high school I was skeptical about reading other works by Kafka. I was pleasantly surprised when I read "In the Penal Colony", "A Country Doctor", and "A Report to an Academy." These works were assigned as part of a college class I had, and I found that they were not only very personally thought provoking, but they inspired a lot of insightful in-class discussion. I would recommend this collection to anyone who has not yet read any of Kafka's works, or who have only read The Metamorphosis.

Cliffs Notes on Kafka's The Metamorphosis & Other Stories

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First rate analysis from Czermak on the writings of Kafka

Cliffs Notes on Kafka's The Metamorphosis & Other Stories
Herberth Czermak
Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0822007002

Book Description

The stories of this turn-of-the-century writer concern the disillusionment of modern man. To Kafka and to the people in his stories, life is often absurd and meaningless, with only a faint ray of fleeting hope.

This concise supplement to Kafka's The Metamorphosis and other stories helps students understand the overall structure of the works, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author.

This volume also covers The Judgment, A Hunger Artist, A Country Doctor, In the Penal Colony, The Hunter Gracchus, The Burrow, Investigations of a Dog, A Report to an Academy, The Great Wall of China, and Josephine the Singer or the Mouse Folk.

Customer Reviews:

First rate analysis from Czermak on the writings of Kafka.......2001-06-09

Herberth Czermak has put together a somewhat different Cliffs Notes volume for looking at "The Metamorphosis" and other stories by Franz Kafka. Certainly it would a bit much to devote an entire little yellow book with the black stripes to the story of Gregor Samsa, although clearly it is Kafka's most important work. But the biggest difference is that this is a Cliffs Notes where the emphasis is on commentary to the exclusion of summaries of the works being discussed. You will not find a synopsis of these stories and you certainly will not understand the first-rate commentary and analysis if you have not read the stories in the first place. What you will find is detailed analysis that will help you understanding the writings of Franz Kafka. You have been warned.

Czermak's notes on the Life and Background do more than get into Kafka's biography, they set up the author's focus on "angst" and put "The Metamorphosis" in the context of his body of writing. In his Commentaries on Kafka's stories Czermak continues to cross-reference other works, which certainly suggests all sorts of comparison/contrast possibilities for class discussion. The Kafka stories examined here are: "The Judgment," "A Hunger Artist," "A Country Doctor," "In the Penal Colony," "The Hunter Gracchus," "The Burrow," "Investigations of a Dog," "A Report to an Academy," "The Great Wall of China," and "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk." After the Commentaries on the Stories, Czermak provides four short essays that cut these works, "Understanding Kafka," "Kafka's Jewish Influence," "Kafka--A 'Religious' Writer?" and "Kafka and Existentialism." This last essay is the most relevant because most students find existentialism to be an interesting thing to look at and "The Metamorphosis" is as good a place as any to begin exploring that major literary movement.

Average customer rating:

Terrifying metaphor

Alternate translation, not necessarily updated

Dark and idiosyncratic

The METAMORPHOSIS AND OTHER STORIES: THE GREAT SHORT WORKS OF FRANZ KAFKA
Kafka
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0684194260

Customer Reviews:

Terrifying metaphor.......2005-06-11

Metamorphosis was my first introduction to Kafka and I found his dark humour unsettling yet addictive. Samsa plagued and burdened with poverty and family responsibility, is in the end betrayed by himself and his loved ones in a dramatic turn of events. As a "useful" and able man, he was respected and cared for by his parents and loved by his sister. But after the metamorphosis, his family at first tolerated him, his sister perhaps pitied him, but towards the end, it turned to hate and disgust. They realised Samsa had become a burden and embarassment to the family. A useless vermin stuck to the family walls. Metaphor taken to great heights. Physically and intellectually an insect, but emotionally and spiritually still a man.

Alternate translation, not necessarily updated.......2005-01-26

Translations are generally taken for granted.

Only recently have I been re-reading books translated by different authors to compare the interpretation of the author's orignial intent, mood and word choice. Kafka has been a longtime favorite and I have been using the same translation with every pass. Then I came across the audio version of this book.

When some of my favorite passages would come up I would be surprised at the change of words; sometimes an improvement, other times a disappointment.

In the introduction, a note on the translation explains the disparity of the various translations starting with his most famous story, The Metamorphosis. For example, the typical narrations begins by calling the newly transformed creature an ugly insect. However, when looking at the original German, translator Joachim Neugroschel changes it to "monsterous vermin," a significant difference. I can't remember the German words, but they look like the direct translation would be monstrous vermin, and clearly not "insect."

The authors extended discussion of the translation on the audio book made me feel better about his grasp of both languages, poetry and the intent of the author. So I can almost for give differences like "a pack of nobodies" being changed to "a bunch of nobodies." I prefer "pack" for its comparisons to wolves over "bunch" for its comaprison to bananas.

The translation should not be considered an "updated version" because that would imply simplification or modernization of the text. It still reads like it comes from Kafka's age. This version is great for a first time Kafka reader, a dedicated fan who wants to compare the language interpretations, or for someone who wants to re-experience the genius of Kafka.

I would give this book 5 stars if it were a complete collection of stories. Some of the ones that still haunt me are missing.

Dark and idiosyncratic.......1999-09-28

This was my first exposure to Kafka, and was actually in audiobook form, with a masterful narration by George Guidall. It was a very well-rounded collection, including The Metamorphosis, The Stoker, A Country Doctor, and Visit to a Penal Colony.

Customer Reviews:

Suicide, Transformation Into a Bug, Torture: Standard Kafka Stuff.......2006-07-24

Woops, I gave away the plots!

This contains the best and most interesting short stories, including "The Stoker." Also, it has his best and most innovative work "Transformation" or "Metamorphosis." "The Stoker" became chapter one of his book "Amerika." It is a less traumatic and scarry story than most of Kafka's works - including most of the stories in the present collection. By the way, they are not all scarry or dark, but being "dark" is a Kafka theme running through many of his works.

The present book is a mixture of short and long works. The short works cover a huge range of subjects from very simple to gruesome. One has to be a little bit carefully in selecting a Kafka collection because not everyone is equal. Some are just 200 pages long. This is a bit longer.

The three main stories are dark stories - all in the Kafka tradition. Without giving away the plot details, some will find "The Penal Colony" a bit hard to digest. Similarly, The Judgement is a dark tale.

My favourites in this group are "Metamorphosis" and "The Stoker." After reading the latter book, I read Kafka's "Amerika" and felt a certain disappointment. "The Stoker" is the best part of that longer novel "Amerika."

Anyone reading this book should follow up and read one of Kafka's longer works to obtain a better overall understanding of his writings. I thought that "The Castle" was his best novel and the most interesting work, followed by the unfinished and more complicated "The Trial." His other novel "Amerika" is far behind the other two, and if you read "The Stoker" there is no need to waste time reading that novel.

The works of Kafka published in his lifetime .......2005-10-30

This volume contains the works of Kafka published in his lifetime: The Metamorphosis, Meditation, The Stoker, The Judgment, The Hunger(Fasting)Artist, Airplanes of Brescia.
One of the pieces, the Metamorphosis (In this volume called ,"Transformation") is one of Kafka's most famous work. Gregor Samsa who woke one day to discover himself to be a crawling creature, and whose plight as insect is taken to be the family situation of Kafka is one of the major characters of twentieth - century Literature.
Kafka disturbs, and brings us to a level of fear and anxiety perhaps no other writer can. How he does this with sentences of incredible beauty is both chilling and mysterious.
His work is parabolic, symbolic and seems to suggest to us more about the imprisoned and lost situation of Mankind than we would somehow really like to know.
Perhaps reading him is not for everyone.
But for those ready to bear the uncanny weight of literary beauty this is the answer.

The Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)

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The Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)
Franz Kafka , and Donna Freed
Manufacturer: Barnes & Noble Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1593081804

Book Description

Virtually unknown during his lifetime, Franz Kafka is now one of the world's most widely read and discussed authors. His nightmarish novels and short stories have come to symbolize modern man's anxiety and alienation in a bizarre, hostile, and dehumanized world. This vision is most fully realized in Kafka's masterpiece, "The Metamorphosis," a story that is both harrowing and amusing, and a landmark of modern literature. Bringing together some of Kafka's finest work, this collection demonstrates the richness and variety of the author's artistry. "The Judgment," which Kafka considered to be his decisive breakthrough, and "The Stoker," which became the first chapter of his novel Amerika, are here included. These two, along with "The Metamorphosis," form a suite of stories Kafka referred to as "The Sons," and they collectively present a devastating portrait of the modern family.

Also included are "In the Penal Colony," a story of a torture machine and its operators and victims, and "A Hunger Artist," about the absurdity of an artist trying to communicate with a misunderstanding public. Kafka's lucid, succinct writing chronicles the labyrinthine complexities, the futility-laden horror, and the stifling oppressiveness that permeate his vision of modern life.

Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)

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Good Deal
Metamorphosis and Other Stories
Almost Three Stars
Irreconcilable discrepancies

Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)
Franz Kafka
Manufacturer: Barnes & Noble Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1593080298

Book Description

Virtually unknown during his lifetime, Franz Kafka is now one of the world’s most widely read and discussed authors. His nightmarish novels and short stories have come to symbolize modern man’s anxiety and alienation in a bizarre, hostile, and dehumanized world. This vision is most fully realized in Kafka’s masterpiece, “The Metamorphosis,” a story that is both harrowing and amusing, and a landmark of modern literature.

Bringing together some of Kafka’s finest work, this collection demonstrates the richness and variety of the author’s artistry. “The Judgment,” which Kafka considered to be his decisive breakthrough, and “The Stoker,” which became the first chapter of his novel Amerika, are here included. These two, along with “The Metamorphosis,” form a suite of stories Kafka referred to as “The Sons,” and they collectively present a devastating portrait of the modern family.

Also included are “In the Penal Colony,” a story of a torture machine and its operators and victims, and “A Hunger Artist,” about the absurdity of an artist trying to communicate with a misunderstanding public. Kafka’s lucid, succinct writing chronicles the labyrinthine complexities, the futility-laden horror, and the stifling oppressiveness that permeate his vision of modern life.

Customer Reviews:

Good Deal.......2007-06-22

Some of the other editions are about the same price but only has the Metamorphosis, while this includes a lot more!

Metamorphosis and Other Stories.......2006-11-16

"Metamorphosis" might be the most famous, but the one really caught me was "In the Penal Settlement". I felt the same feeling as in "The Foreigner" by Albert Camus. The heat, the existentialism, the calmness and the meaning(less) of life in a whole different dimension.
At the same time "The Burrow" and "Investigation of a dog" were incomprehensible to me...

Almost Three Stars.......2006-03-27

I love these Barnes & Nobles Classics editions and have read several others--and have a full shelf more to read!

Having never read Kafka before, I really appreciated the Introduction and other extras to help me understand more about his life. I would give "The Metamorphosis" and "In the Penal Colony" three stars but I just couldn't get into the other stories.
I understood "Josephine the Singer, or The Mouse People" about as much as I understand the Chris Kattan asexual "Mango" sketches from SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. I thought pages 156 to 157 were great but I just didn't get the rest of it.

What I did find interesting was reading about Kafka's life in the "World of Kafka" and the Introduction--reading that he belonged to a German-speaking Jewish family in Prague--and then reading "In the Penal Colony," originally published in 1919. I could not stop imagining Nazi uniforms during the story. As the officer dispassionately describes the grotesque efficiency of the torture machine, I could not help but think of the calm but chilling tone of actual Nazi concentration camp officers. That most of Kafka's surviving family would be wiped out in Nazi death camps during World War II years after his death is a frightening footnote to his stories.

Irreconcilable discrepancies.......2003-10-30

As the content of the book seems not published: this collection contains the stories "A Message from the Emperor," "The Metamorphosis," "The Judgment," "The Stoker: a Fragment," "In the Penal Colony," "A Country Doctor," "An Old Leaf," "A Hunger Artist," "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse People," in this sequence.

I found the book opening with "A Message from the Emperor" very befitting, as it seemed to me that this story, in fact just a single page, nicely condensed the tone of the entire collection. In my opinion the stories explore the common theme of irreconcilable discrepancies (among human beings). "A Message from the Emperor" in particular depicts a person, a "contemptible subject" of the Emperor, waiting for a message from the Emperor that will never arrive. He knows for certain that the message won't arrive; yet he still waits.

In the well-known Metamorphosis, the discrepancies take on a physical form -- the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, finds himself turned into a bug one morning. While Samsa attempts his best to convey what he thinks to his family, the members of family, understandably, are incapable of even conceiving that this bug, Samsa, may have any intellect. Communication between these two parties is broken beyond repair; the present discrepancies are irreconcilable.

Likewise in "In the Penal Colony," and in "A Hunger Artist." In the former a foreigner is made to judge whether it is right to ban a particular execution machine of the past. The last remaining advocate of the machine, an army officer, tries his best to highlight the merits of it. He goes through great pain explaining how each and every piece of the machine works with great affection. No, the foreigner wont be deterred. The foreigner is as foreign as one could be from the idea of cruel execution. The hunger artist's vocation is to fast. He fasts in public and receives compensation from the spectators. He takes great pride in what he does; he only stops fasting because the convention prohibits him from going on. But his is a dying occupation. People gradually lose interest. How is it possible to convey to those ignorant people what noble a deed it is to fast?

Remember the time you felt deep despair for not being able to get through to someone you care for (when no matter what you say just won't mean the same thing to you as to the other person)? Albeit in varying contexts, it is this devastation that Kafka so masterfully depicts in these stories.

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The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and Other Stories

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0743258193

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Hardcover, 316pp Simon & Schuster Trade April 2003

THE METAMORPHOSIS, THE PENAL COLONY, AND OTHER STORIES

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THE METAMORPHOSIS, THE PENAL COLONY, AND OTHER STORIES
Franz Kafka
Manufacturer: Schocken Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IOFPEY

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