La metamorfosis y otros relatos

by Franz Kafka

Barcelona. 21 cm. 183 p. 1 retr. Encuadernación en tapa dura de editorial ilustrada. Colección 'Literatura alemana', numero coleccion(1.). Kafka, Franz 1883-1924. Obra selecta. Traducción, Julio Izquierdo. Traducido del alemán. Clásicos del siglo XX. 1. Literatura alemana .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. 8447309738

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1995

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 His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime.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

[aleee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me ha encantado. Todo el mundo debería leer "La metamorfosis", es un relato que, a pesar de haber sido escrito hace años, es muy actual.

Esta edición tiene otros relatos de kafka y están muy bien, me ha complacido bastante la selección. Son muy interesantes. Me han llamado especialmente la atención (y me he desgarrado leyendo) "El artista del hambre" y "Ante la ley".

Era mi primera vez leyendo a Kafka y he disfrutado el sufrimiento que producen sus relatos. Después de leerlo no creo ser la misma persona, es de esos escritos que te dejan reflexionando sobre toda tu vida por horas y de repente tienes muchas ganas de morir. Lo recomiendo mucho (para aquellas personas que quieran tener una crisis existencial forzada y pensamientos desgarradores).

[Candela Gregoria De la Concepción · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ha sido una experiencia que sin remordimientos calificaría de cercana al éxtasis, poder acompañar a nuestro amigo Gregor en este viaje de transformismo y metáfora, tanto como a los participantes de otros relatos deleitosos y me atrevería a admitir, que dan pie a chuparse los dedos.

[Giu Acciarri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gregorio Samsa, un joven de familia trabajadora, despierta un día cualquiera de su rutina habitual, dándose cuenta de que se le había hecho más tarde de lo normal: había perdido el tren de la madrugada, el cual lo llevaría al taller a horario. Además, siente una rareza en su cuerpo: incapacitado para moverse, Gregorio se da cuenta que de que se metamorfoseó e, increíblemente, en la piel de un bicho parecido a un escarabajo.
"La metamorfosis" narra la conversión de una persona normal a la piel de un animal, donde el personaje deberá atravesar diferentes desafíos familiares y personales, dejando ver entre líneas la manera en la que el individuo en sociedad es visto y percibido, y cómo un ser improductivo e inservible no es provechoso para la vida diaria de una sociedad.
Además, la edición de esta obra, traducida por Jorge Luis Borges desde el idioma original, reúne una serie de cuentos selectos del autor, los cuales descontracturan la lectura liviana y pasajera de "La metamorfosis"

[paula agrelo · Rating 3 out of 5]

pobre gregorio… e unha representacion literal de y si fuese un bicho me querrias…… o resto de relatos nada que decir non son unha chica de relatos

[Lainer De La Hoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo siento pero no me atrapó, por momentos me llegó ha parecer una lectura pesada. El final no me gustó tampoco, no entendí.

[Eva Antinori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volví a leer La Metamorfosis después de muchos años y está vez me gustó mucho. Los otros relatos no me entuciasmaron demasiado.

[Nachuncio]

está bien, pero kafka es un poco llorón he de decir

[inkandnature · Rating 3 out of 5]

3'5. Compartiendo crisis existenciales con Franz Kafka durante mis trayectos en transporte público (experiencia recomendada).

[Andrés Quintero · Rating 4 out of 5]

“¿Era un monstruo si la música podía conmoverlo tanto?”

“Sobran las causas, cuando es levantisca la gente.”

[Aitana Rivero · Rating 4 out of 5]

mi primera toma de contacto con kafka, vine por Gregorio y me quedé por todo lo demás.
"se escribe mejor cuando uno está triste". kafka era el mejor en ambas cosas.

[Luciana · Rating 4 out of 5]

El cucaracho se muere :(