Introduction "The Metamorphosis" is probably the best-known and most ambiguous story written by Franz Kafka, ranking with

his two novellength masterpieces, The Trial and The Castle. First published in 1915 in German (under the title "Die Verwandlung"), "The Metamorphosis" was written over the course of three weeks in November and December 1912. Kafka at one point contemplated publishing it along with two other stories about father-son relations in a collection to be called Sons, but later decided to issue it on its own. It was first translated into English in 1936, and has been translated several times since.

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was one of the most prominent writers to come out of the late nineteenth and early twentieth. Czech-born German writer is best known for his short story Metamorphosis (1912) and the widespread familiarity of the literary term Kafkaesque, inspired by his nightmarishly complex and bizarre yet absurd and impersonal short stories.. Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 3 June 1924) was a Bohemian-Jewish novelist, and was one of the major German-language fiction writers of the 20th century FAMILY: Kafka was born into a middle-class, German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, the capital of Bohemia, a kingdom that was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father, Hermann Kafka was the fourth child of Jacob Kafka, a butcher, and came to Prague from Osek, a Jewish village near Psek in southern Bohemia. After working as a traveling sales representative, he established himself as an independent retailer of men's and women's fancy goods and accessories,. Kafka himself described as "a true Kafka in strength, health, appetite, loudness of voice, eloquence, self-satisfaction, worldly dominance, endurance, presence of mind, and knowledge of human nature ...". Kafka's mother, Julie was the daughter of Jakob Lwy, a prosperous brewer in Podbrady. Kafka was the eldest of six children. He had two younger brothers who died at the ages of fifteen months and six months, respectively, before Kafka was six, and three younger sisters. On business days, both parents were absent from the home. His mother helped to manage her husband's business and worked in it as much as 12 hours a day. The children were largely reared by a succession of governesses and servants. The haunting story of a man transformed into an insect has attracted numerous commentators, who while agreeing on the high quality and importance of the story disagree strongly about what it means. Freudian, Marxist, existentialist, and religious interpretations have all been proposed, and there has been debate over whether Gregor Samsa, the man-turned-insect, symbolizes the human condition. It is generally agreed, however, that the story portrays a world that is hostile and perhaps absurd and that major themes in the story include fatherson antagonism (perhaps reflecting Kafka's diffi- cult relationship with his own father), alienation at work, isolation, and self-sacrifice. The story is sometimes praised for its symmetrical, three-part structure and its use of black humor, and its symbols (such as the lady in furs and the music played by Gregor's sister) are sometimes puzzled over, but what makes the story memorable is the central situation of the transformation of a man into an insect and the image of the man-insect lying on his back helplessly waving his little insect legs in the air.

The Shadow of Hermann Kafka. Kafkas famous Letter to His Father, written in 1919 but never read by the person to whom it was addressed, is a unique autobiographical and literary document. All of Kafkas conflicts unfold in this desperate outpouring to and diatribe against his father. It is generally interpreted as a classical example of the Oedipus complex as formulated by Freud. Yet the letter goes further, turning Kafkas dispute with his father into an endless leave-taking, and a rejection with universal implications. You raised me with vigor, noise and a hot temper. As a father you have been too strong for meand for that I was much too weak. This feeling of being nothing that often dominates me comes largely from your influence. I was weighed down by your mere physical presenceI was skinny, weakly, slight; you strong, tall, broadI felt a miserable specimen.

From your armchair you ruled the world. Your opinion was correct, every other was mad. For me you took on the enigmatic quality that all tyrants have whose rights are based on their person and not on reason. What was always incomprehensible to me was your total lack of feeling for the suffering and shame you could inflict on me with your words and judgments.

it is fundamentally impossible for you to talk calmly about a subject you dont approve of or even one that was not suggested by you; your imperious temperament does not permit it. I became completely dumb, cringed away from you, hid from you Your extremely effective rhetorical methodswere abuse, threats, irony, spiteful laughter and selfpity. Between us there was no real struggle; I was soon finished off; what remained was flight, embitterment, melancholy, and inner struggle. You turned in me to mistrust of myself and perpetual anxiety about everything else. You struck closer to home with your aversion to my writing. Your method of upbringing instilled in me weakness, the lack of self-confidence, the sense of guilt It is the general pressure of anxiety, of weakness, of self-contempt. In my writing I have made some attempts at independence, attempts at escapeI must choose the nothing. And there is the combat of vermin, which not only sting but suck your blood in order to sustain their own lifeand thats what you are.

Kafka: Three Movements

EXPRESSIONISM Early 19th century movement based on the belief that inner reality, or a persons thoughts and feelings, are more important than the object or situation that causes the response Expressed through symbolic characters, exaggeration, distortion, nightmarish imagery and fantasy Franz Kafka depicts the separation and alienation of modern man. Kafka delineates a distorted worldone of anxiety and bitterness. This disturbing world is reflected in the various novel covers shown below. SURREALISM Super realism developed in France in the early 1900s as a reaction to realism. It stressed the power of the imagination and dreams over conscious control. EXISTENTIALISM AND NIHILISM Existentialism An attempt to address a life with little meaning Existence (human action) precedes essence (being). There is nothing that explains, guides or gives purpose to our existence Existentialism is the philosophy that holds your existence as your pre-eminent truth and reality.

NIHILISM - NIETZSCHE Nietzsche proclaimed the dawning era of nihilism and atheism with his famous statement: God is Dead. Nietzsche predicted that gradually, belief in religion and philosophy would diminish, moving civilization towards a day where people would have no belief in anything. Nietzsche called this belief in nothing

Historical Background Modernist Movement The modernist movement in Prague influenced Kafka in many ways. The movement got started in 1897, prompted by the "Vienna Secession"; literally the "going apart". Art, architecture and literature made a radical break from convention, and the movement spread quickly. Modernist Movement Vienna Secession Radical break from convention Herr Gottwald - Science Teacher (Darwinist and Atheist) Kafka himself was influenced in this mode of thought from a young age by his science teacher at high school, Herr Gottwald. Gottwald was a Darwinist, a Positivist, and an Atheist, and no doubt planted subversive thoughts in fertile minds.

Prague Socio-Economic Background This is the Jewish Quarter of Prague, the old ghetto with narrow streets and decaying houses where Kafka was born, grow up and spend most his lifetime. Prague was a Czech city within a German-speaking empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire A City of Ethnic Tensions: But in 1912, when Kafka was writing "The Metamorphosis," Prague in general was a city of ethnic tensions, a city in which Czechs, Germans, and Jews lived side by side for centuries, yet were separated by culture, ethnicity, and language. Separate culture, ethnicity, and language: These divisions left their mark on the citys face, turning districts into hermetically sealed compartments and creating invisible boundaries.the Czechs had not yet won their independence, and despite its Czech majority, Prague was dominated by German-speaking elite. Jewish Minority Oppression: The Jewish population was oppressed by both the Germans and Czechs which considered Jews an obstacle in their advancement. Sense of Alienation: Recognizing where the power lay in the city, the Jews of Prague tended to identify with the German minority rather than with the Czech majority; the Czechs therefore considered the Jews to be part of the German community, but the Germans themselves did not. As a result, it was easy for the Jews to feel that they did not fit in anywhere. Being a German speaker in a predominantly Czech-speaking area and a Jew with little connection to Judaism, Kafka struggled his entire life with a sense of alienation from those around him.

Kafka Alienation Let us imagine a child, a German-speaking Jewish boy, who is a mystery to himself, an enigma surrounded by dead brothers, distant sisters, cold governesses, and a caustic cook. He is besieged by a world that he experiences through a veil of fear and guilt, a world where his fathers personality expands in all directions, leaving very little space for the life of a hypersensitive son. A den of bureaucrats. Kafka joined the Workers Accident Insurance Bureau. This brought him into direct contact with the more negative aspects of the process of industrialization: an increase in bureaucracy, dehumanization of workers, and a dramatic rise in the number of accidents. He described his working environment as a den of bureaucrats.

"Kafkaesque" Kafka is unique and Kafkaesque is something characteristic of his writings. Franz Kafka is best known for his dark and edgy stories filled with fantastic settings and almost unbelievable characters. Kafkaesque is a term that describes his style of writing a situation that seems illogical, distorted, dealing towards the bizarre with a twist of absurdity. Basically it describes a nightmarish situation that although is strongly surreal, most people can somehow relate to and signifies the oppressive, bizarre, illogical and nightmarish qualities of his literary production. Kafkaesque Intro: Kafka is marked by surreal distortion. He portrays man's fear, isolation, and bewilderment in a nightmarish dehumanized world. Themes and archetypes of alienation, physical and psychological brutality, absurdity of life, parentchild conflict, characters on a terrifying quest, labyrinths of bureaucracy, and mystical transformations. Marked by surreal distortion: Describe surreal situations and marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity and a sense of impending danger. Fear and Isolation: psychological oppression and fear of rejections isolation from family and society Paradoxical feelings and reactions: in contradictory opposite to the reaction or feelings which would normally be expected Dreamlike reality: dark, fantastic tales with almost no basis in our known reality or (when you experiencing situations that make you feel like you are having a bad dream and eventually you will wake up).

Nightmarish Dehumanized World: having a nightmarishly complex, a surreal bizarre entrapment Alienation: industrialisation and consumerism alienated the individual and led to loneliness. Physical and Psychological Brutality: of the modern world. Oedipal Conflict: father-son relationship, parent children. Absurdity of Life: kafkaesque means the ultimate existential absurdity of life, and the deathly irony and tragedy of life itself. Characters on a Terrifying Quest: Kafkian or Kafkaesque, meaning a menacing situation in which one feels persecuted and paranoid, in which one can see no way out but in which one barely even knows who one's enemies are, or in which faceless authorities seem to be manipulating one's life. Labyrinths of Bureaucracy: Kafka created a rigidly inflexible and sterile bureaucratic universe. Examples include instances in which bureaucracies overpower people, often in a surreal, nightmarish milieu which evokes feelings of senselessness, disorientation, and helplessness. Mystical Transformations: describe indescribable situations and experiences that seem to have no sense, fighting an unknown enemy. Characters in a Kafkaesque setting often lack a clear course of action to escape the situation. Numerous films, television works and theatrical plays have been described as Kafkaesque, especially science fiction films such the fly, Dark City Brazil Barton Fink. The television series The Prisoner is also frequently described as Kafkaesque.

Absurdist Fiction Literature genre: Modernist Late 19th and early 20th century Meaning out of tune, irrational

Influenced by: Existentialist and nihilist movements in philosophy Dada and surrealist movements in art

Elements of Absurdist Fiction Philosophically Absurd Irrational Satire Dark Humor Incongruity Abasement of Reason Controversy Regarding the Philosophical Condition of Being "Nothing" Often Explore Agnostic or Nihilistic Topics Ambiguous, Traditional Plot Structure

Kafka Movement Claiming Expressionists Absurdists Existentialists Surrealists Avant-Gardists Freudians Marxists Zionists

Kafkas Surrealism in Metamorphosis Georg Samsa wakes into the surrealistic dream world Above Realism Surreal Situation Alternates to Realism Literature in The Dream State Different Kind of Logic Non-Logic Prevails Restless Sleep Anxiety Irrational Element Coupled with a Realistic Setting Metamorphosis