Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Penguin Modern Classics) by Franz Kafka

by Franz Kafka

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

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About the author

Franz Kafka was a German-speaking writer from Prague whose work became one of the foundations of modern literature, even though he published only a small part of his writing during his lifetime. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kafka grew up amid German, Czech, and Jewish cultural influences that shaped his sense of displacement and linguistic precision. His difficult relationship with his authoritarian father left a lasting mark, fostering feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inadequacy that became central themes in his fiction and personal writings.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.

Reviews

[Tas · Rating 3 out of 5]

dragged myself through this one but metamorphosis was worth it

[J-P Virtanen · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Metaporphosis" and "In the penal colony" hooked me like few other stories have.

[Sabeena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection has been translated from German by Michael Hofmann.

Knowing that Metamorphosis is considered a classic, knowing the acclaim this piece of work has garnered over the years, knowing the weight of Kafka's reputation in the literary and philosophical world, means that this story carries with it heavy baggage.

Advancing on 'Metamorphosis' for the first time without researching any summaries, synopses, notes or spoilers- was, in my opinion, the best way to experience it unspoiled. So this is what I did. Of course, you come across pop-art type depictions and posters of what looks like an overgrowing cockroach or beetle-esque beast in a room, but without any indication of what this could represent you can still explore the story without those depictions affecting or influencing your views or opinions about it before you have read it.

Now, the story itself.
Metamorphosis is a very sad piece of writing
At times, it became difficult to read due to the sheer sadness.
Kafka is in the moment- there are no enlightening moments or philosophies offered to reassure or placate the reader, no greater wisdom behind the story as it unfolds, there are bigger picture messages, themes, and lessons to be acknowledged, implicit in the text.
This is why 'Metamorphosis' would be an ideal text for analysing and studying by any 'literary' people. It has that quality and offers that scope.

Metamorphosis revealed itself within certain words, tone of language, expressions and descriptions as a story about depression, about disability, physical and mental debilitation in the foreground. Then, it tells you the sad truth about how society handles, deals with, treats those that are suffering with these debilitations. Let Kafka tell you, it isn't with kindness.

Kafka shows you the mirror of society. He captures the hopelessness, the helplessness and the struggles of those in this position. He describes the dehumanisation and outcasting of such people. Of what use are you when you have become this way? When you have lost your purpose and function (ones that society has assigned to you in the first place)?
You become useless, unwanted, disposable.

The main character, Gregor lives this horror out, in a symbolic manner i.e. in the state of changed shape (in this case a bug). But he is apologetic to the end which tells a lot about him being a reaction to others.
Gregor succumbs to the heartbreaking treatment of society but accepts his fate, as though this is what he is deserving of.

Kafka doesn't try to send society a message or greater good, of one to rectify their ways or of one to Gregor's to value themselves more or fight back. Kafka only describes. He is observant and his 'hyper-awareness' is evident in a lot of his other writing too.

Listen to Episode 55 by the Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast for an interesting discussion about this short story.

[Serine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out of all the stories , I only enjoyed the metamorphosis , country doctor ,a hunger artist and the penal colony.... I especially love how he criticizes different parts of society and human minds throughout these... The description and the stories were also beautifully done but heavily inspired by absurdism and existentialism to the point the endings feel incomplete or empty. He always loves to remind the reader how after each story ended , the environment didn't really get affected and how their lives and ideals didn't matter much in the end!
Good read , easy language but full of symbolism and philosophies so it triggers the mind!

[Mark Cusack · Rating 4 out of 5]

really liked the Odradek story. I misremembered the thing being called the depredeka and when I googled it russian csgo videos came up.

[hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 — controversially and devastatingly i did not enjoy my first read of metamorphosis

[Sabra Kadabra · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I learned more about Kafka's relationship with his father, my overall understanding of these stories was enhanced.

The two stories that stick with me are Metamorphoses, obviously, and the starving artist. I feel the former was symbolic for feeling like an outsider and scapegoated within the family system. The latter being starved of wholesome love as a child and to be an emotionally starved person is all he knows. That's my take.

I look forward to reading more of his work. I am now a fan.