The Metamorphosis

Kafka's novella: Gregor Samsa wakes as a monstrous insect and discovers what his family's love was for.

Specifications & Metrics

author

Franz Kafka

type

Absurdist novella

era

Modernism (1915)

language

German

setting

The Samsa family apartment

parts

3 parts

Relative Scale in Novels

Core Principles & Analysis

• Published in 1915 in Leipzig after Kafka's delays.
• Kafka instructed his publisher never to draw the insect on the cover.
• Gregor's death in the third part frees the family — the story's bitterest turn.

Sources

• Wikipedia: The Metamorphosis