The Metamorphosis

Product Description<br/><br/><br/>THE METAMORPHOSIS is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It has been cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The novella deals with Gregor's attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repulsed by the horrible, verminous creature Gregor has become.<br/><br/><br/>Review<br/><br/><br/>Kafka s stoic Euro-alienation meets and merges with Kuper s thoroughly American rock and roll alienation. Jules Feiffer<br/><br/> The ride from book to comic can be bumpy. Mr. Kuper navigates the transition with precision. New York Times<br/><br/> Kafka s anguished archetypal characters are easily rendered into visual equivalents and given new life in Kuper s raw, expressionistic graphic style. Publishers Weekly<br/><br/> Darkly appropriate . . . Kuper s work rivals that of Art Spiegelman. Chicago Sun-Times<br/><br/> Bubbling beneath the surface is a caustic batch of black humor that is as much unsettling as it is absurd. This is the magic of Kafka. And Kuper gives it a postmodern edge here, with an intriguing dance of picture and text. Gannett News Service<br/><br/> Kuper s scratchboard style . . . is reminiscent of the German expressionist artists . . . and his cartoony approach accentuates Kafka s dark humor. Booklist --Booklist<br/><br/><br/>About the Author<br/><br/><br/>Franz Kafka was born to Jewish parents in Bohemia in 1883. Kafka s father was a luxury goods retailer who worked long hours and as a result never became close with his son. Kafka s relationship with his father greatly influenced his later writing and directly informed his Brief an den Vater (Letter to His Father). Kafka had a thorough education and was fluent in both German and Czech. As a young man, he was hired to work at an insurance company where he was quickly promoted despite his desire to devote his time to writing rather than insurance. Over the course of his life, Kafka wrote a great number of stories, letters, and essays, but burned the majority of his work before his death and requested that his friend Max Brod burn the rest. Brod, however, did not fulfill this request and published many of the works in the years following Kafka s death of tuberculosis in 1924. Thus, most of Kafka s works were published posthumously, and he did not live to see them recognized as some of the most important examples of literature of the twentieth century. Kafka s works are considered among the most significant pieces of existentialist writing, and he is remembered for his poignant depictions of internal conflicts with alienation and oppression. Some of Kafka s most famous works include The Metamorphosis, The Trial and The Castle.