As translator Susan Bernofsky wrote, "I imagine Kafka laughing uproariously when reading the story to his friends." 7. The first pages of The Metamorphosis, where Gregor tries to communicate through the bedroom door with his family, who think he’s merely being lazy, is vintage screwball comedy. Indeed, scholars and readers alike have delighted in Kafka’s gallows humor and matter-of-fact handling of the absurd and the terrifying. Viewed one way, a story about a man who wakes up to find he’s a bug is horrifying. The Metamorphosis is a pretty funny story when you think about it. Subsequent editions, however, have interpreted Gregor in all sorts of creepy, crawly forms. It is not even to be seen from a distance." He got his wish, with the first edition featuring a drawing of a tormented man wearing a robe. Kafka wrote, "The insect itself is not to be drawn. Given the ambiguity over Gregor’s new form, Kafka argued that its picture should not appear on the cover, as his publisher suggested. Franz Kafka prohibited his publisher from portraying "the insect" on The Metamorphosis's cover. And that seems to be Kafka's intention, as the German word he uses for Gregor’s new form, Ungeziefer, suggests a bug, a vermin and, in Old High German, an unclean animal unfit for sacrifice. While scholars agree Gregor changes into a bug of some sort, the exact entomology remains a mystery. Over the years, translators have had Gregor Samsa transform into "a monstrous cockroach," "an enormous bedbug," and "a large verminous insect," among other things. There are numerous translations of The Metamorphosis's famous opening line. Finally, in October 1915, the story appeared in the literary journal Die weissen Blätter, with a book printing two months later by publisher Kurt Wolff Verlag in Leipzig. Then World War I broke out, causing further delays. Due to his preoccupations with writing Bauer and with Amerika, though, it took Kafka months to write a new manuscript. They began talking about the work, and soon publishers were expressing interest. Kafka read a section from his " bug piece," as he called it, aloud to friends on November 24, 1912. It took three years for The Metamorphosis to be published. There were delays-Kafka was, after all, working full time at an insurance company-but he still was able to finish the first draft in three weeks, from mid-November to early December 1912. Once the inspiration for The Metamorphosis came, he seized on it and resolved to write it quickly, in two or three sittings. Kafka was having a hard time turning out his first novel (which he never finished, and which was published after his death under the title Amerika). Franz Kafka wrote The Metamorphosis while working on another novel. A story, he later wrote her, began to take shape. Lying in bed one morning, Kafka told himself he wouldn’t get up until he’d received Bauer’s next letter. Kafka demanded detailed accounts of Bauer’s days, expressed his love for her and visions of their future together, and demanded that Bauer, who would eventually become his fiancée, respond to him in kind. The correspondence was desperate-and pretty much one-sided. He began writing to Bauer, who lived in Berlin, shortly after, eventually penning two and three letters per day. In 1912, Kafka met Felice Bauer, an acquaintance of his friend Max Brod, at a dinner party in Prague. A tortured, long-distance relationship inspired The Metamorphosis. Let's take a look at a few things we do know about Franz Kafka's mysterious novella. Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman living in Prague, wakes one morning from troubled dreams to find himself transformed into-what, exactly, isn’t clear, just as any clear interpretation of The Metamorphosis has eluded readers for decades. It is one of the most enigmatic stories of all time, with an opening sentence that’s unparalleled in all of literature.
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