The Metamorphosis (1915)

There is a reason why Franz Kafka is still recognized as one of the greatest authors of the last century, and The Metamorphosis is just one of many examples. As Gregor Samsa famously awakens to find himself transformed into a large insect, this brief novella explores the complicated aspects of identity, alienation, and the complex nature of both familial and societal relationship to such an extent that it is still considered one of the great existentialist masterpieces. There's nothing I can say here that hasn't been said in countless volumes by thousands of critics and scholars, except for my personal opinion that this is a deeply resonating work that still relevant despite being published over a hundred years ago.

There is a reason why Franz Kafka is still recognized as one of the greatest authors of the last century, and The Metamorphosis is just one of many examples. As Gregor Samsa famously awakens to find himself transformed into a large insect, this brief novella explores the complicated aspects of identity, alienation, and the complex nature of both familial and societal relationship to such an extent that it is still considered one of the great existentialist masterpieces. There's nothing I can say here that hasn't been said in countless volumes by thousands of critics and scholars, except for my personal opinion that this is a deeply resonating work that still relevant despite being published over a hundred years ago.

There is a reason why Franz Kafka is still recognized as one of the greatest authors of the last century, and The Metamorphosis is just one of many examples. As Gregor Samsa famously awakens to find himself transformed into a large insect, this brief novella explores the complicated aspects of identity, alienation, and the complex nature of both familial and societal relationship to such an extent that it is still considered one of the great existentialist masterpieces. There's nothing I can say here that hasn't been said in countless volumes by thousands of critics and scholars, except for my personal opinion that this is a deeply resonating work that still relevant despite being published over a hundred years ago.

La famosa novela corta o relato de Kafka ha sido objeto de críticas, referencias, estudios e hipótesis. Estamos aquí ante un caso de cómo la brevedad también puede dar lugar a un extenso examen, y a una trascendencia que ha perdurado, y perdurará, a través de los años.

El relato es protagonizado por Gregorio, un comerciante que mantiene a su familia que, una buena mañana, se despierta convertido en un insecto gigante. Resulta curiosa la manera en la que Kafka describe la situación, casi como si le hubiera ocurrido a él. El escritor, hábilmente, se la imagina y la plasma a la perfección, pudiendo transmitir al lector toda la agonía y extrañeza del hecho.

La transformación parece trivializarse al principio por el protagonista, que está preocupado por no poder cumplir con sus obligaciones laborales. Eso lo tortura, pues él es el que provee y trabaja para sus padres y su hermana y, sin su sueldo, la economía familiar se rompe. Mientras intenta levantarse, en su hogar se presenta el gerente para pedir explicaciones. Gregorio intenta solventar la situación encerrado en su cuarto mientras su familia que, por el momento, desconocen lo ocurrido, hacen lo propio.

En ningún momento se especificará la razón o motivo que lleva a un hombre a convertirse en un insecto, pero no parece que sea lo relevante y lo importante. Todas las teorías de los estudiosos literarios y filosóficos apuntan a un sentido alegórico y figurado del argumento. Algunas hacen referencia a la diferencia de clases, otras al puro egoísmo humano. Sin embargo, una de las interpretaciones más reconocidas se refiere a la identidad desdoblada de Kafka (el autor siente nostalgia por la identidad judía de sus abuelos, y siente que no logra hacer pie en el mundo de Praga al que pertenece su padre).

Sin la contemplación de tales interpretaciones, difícilmente cobraría un peso ese relato. Ahora bien, la literatura es sencilla y no hace alarde de grandes dotes narrativos. Semeja buscar un lenguaje más cercano y nada culto, por lo que su literatura estaba orientada al público general. ( )

Twenty-five years ago, I taught The Metamorphosis for the first and last time; after that year, I was reassigned to different courses and so parted ways with Gregor and his family. Reading it again for the first time since then, I was shocked by how many phrases and images stayed with me: the apple lodged in his back, Grete’s violin, the three indistinguishable bearded lodgers, the charwoman saying, “Look at that old dung beetle!” and Grete’s own transformation at the end.

Gregor is the aged relative with whom no one in the family knows what to do; he is the person who finds he has ben hit with a wasting disease and knows he is becoming a burden to his caretakers; he is the sniveling weakling in the office whom everyone knows will never be promoted; he is an object of both scorn and sympathy. His family, despicable as they are, can still remind us of how even the best people can tire from the labor of taking care of someone else. At first, Grete leaves her brother a bowl of milk; months later, she “would quickly thrust some randomly chosen foodstuffs into his room with her foot on her way to work at morning or midday, only to sweep it out again at night with a quick swipe of the broom, paying no heed if the food had been only barely nibbled at or—as was most often the case now—not touched at all.”

Gregor has become what he once was only in metaphor. He no longer has a backbone—only a shell into which he tries to hide but which cannot even protect him from a tossed apple. The tone of Bernofsky’s translation—always matter-of-fact and understated—heightens the horror of Gregor’s condition. This edition also includes an illuminating introduction by David Cronenberg; while his 1986 The Fly might seem like a cute connection to Kafka’s novel, Cronenberg writes well, beginning with an opening sentence that echoes Kafka’s own: “I woke up one morning recently to discover that I was a seventy-year-old man.” Viewed from this angle, The Metamorphosis seems realistic rather than a scene from a nightmare.
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