Franz Kafka

The Metamorphosis

The Early Years

Kafka was born in Prague to a middle class Jewish family on July 3, 1883.

• Kafka had a strained relationship with his overbearing father. Family conflicts became a common theme in Kafka’s fiction.

Education

Kafka showed an early interest in literature, but at the age of eighteen he attended the German University to study law.

After graduating, he worked in a government insurance office

This photo was taken in 1906, the year

Kafka graduated from law school.

Kafka’s Writing Kafka’s stories feature

bizarre situations and

characters that are often

lonely and searching for

meaning.

The Metamorphosis (1912) was one of Kafka’s few works published during his lifetime.

A few important facts

Like Gregor, the main character in The Metamorphosis, Kafka had a strenuous job and lived at home with his parents.

Kafka was a minority in his society:

He was Jewish in a predominately Christian part of the world, and his family spoke German, whereas the official language of Prague was Czech.

The Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis is generally categorized as a novella.

A novella is longer and more complex than a short story, but has a simpler, shorter plot line than a novel.

The novella usually focuses on fewer characters and a single chain of events that takes place in a short period of time.

What is a metamorphosis?

A change of

physical form,

structure or

substance.

A man wakes up as a giant bug…

The Metamorphosis is about Gregor Samsa who awakes one morning turned into an insect-like creature and how this transformation affects those around him.

As you read this puzzling novella, keep in mind that literature scholars and critics have argued for centuries about what exactly it means.

Let’s Review! What is Kafka’s first name?

Franz

The Metamorphosis is categorized as what type of fiction?

Novella

True or false? Kafka studied literature in college.

False. He studied law.

True or False: The Metamorphosis was published during Kafka’s lifetime.

True

What does metamorphosis mean?

A change of physical form, structure or substance; transformation.

What language did Kafka speak and write in?

German