Part 1 of 5 · freeIntroduction
Published in 1915, The Metamorphosis opens with one of the most famous first lines in literature: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself changed into a monstrous insect.” The original German title is Die Verwandlung. Franz Kafka, who was born in 1883 and died in 1924, is not writing a fantasy tale here. He is writing the model case of modern dehumanization.
Written in record time in November 1912, the story explores what happens when a person stops being productive. He instantly loses his standing as a human being in the eyes of his own family. The absurd transformation only reveals an alienation that was already at work before his body changed.
The rest is in the Sophia app.The remaining parts, the open-book quiz and the full glossary. Free to start; Premium unlocks everything.
- 2The making of a masterpiece of the absurd
- 3Gregor Samsa, the social vermin
- 4Family solidarity wears out
- 5The survivors and the end of the nightmare
Open-book quiz10 questions whose answers are in the text.
Glossary7 terms explained in a tap.
30 languagesThe same course, from French to Japanese.
