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Die Verwandlung: Franz Kafka Einfach Deutsch
Franz Kafka is one of the most important figures in twentieth-century culture. The fascination of his work has long since reached international proportions, and the concept 'Kafkaesque' has entered the English Language as an everyday part of speech. This new edition of Kafka's famous story contains a critical introduction and notes which help to explain how the author achieves his particular effects. The editors are concerned less with what the story means then with how it blocks and baffles its reader, provoking them into an interpretation through its combination of clues and counter-clues, its questions and its uncertainties. Careful attention is therefore paid to the 'openness' of the text, to point of view, and to Kafka's use of language. The editors also consider the important biographical and cultural influences which shaped the writing of the story, and they outline some of the very different ways in which it has been interpreted --biographically, socially and psychologicall
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First published January 1, 2008
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About the author
Franz Kafka
3,381 books39.1k followersFranz 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 1, 2022
my mans gregor samsa deserved better
October 22, 2022
A normal man wakes up one day as a huge roach and his first thought is how he’s going to get to work; thats the best description of a German I ever read
February 25, 2016
Dieses Buch hatte ich schon in meiner Muttersprache gelesen, deshalb habe ich mich entchieden Gregor Samsa auch auf Deutsch kennenzulernen. (Natürlich um meine Kentnisse und Wortschatz zu verbessern) Die Geschichte finde ich interessant - sowohl auf Tschechisch als auch auf Deutsch werden die Personen wirklich gut beschrieben. Das Buch ist Niveau B1 und veständlich. Nur die Stimmen auf der CD haben ein bisschen seltsam und unnatürlich geklungen.
Weil ich die Handlung ziemlich einfach gefunden habe, habe ich vor nicht nur die gekürzte Version, sondern auch das originale Werk zu lesen und zu hören.
Weil ich die Handlung ziemlich einfach gefunden habe, habe ich vor nicht nur die gekürzte Version, sondern auch das originale Werk zu lesen und zu hören.
February 2, 2026
Interesting part of re-reading this story in German: in the original, Gregor transforms into "Ungeziefer" - an intentionally vague word for vermin. English usually translations strip this ambiguity by calling him a cockroach or beetle.
My point being, Kafka would've enjoyed Animal Crossing, whose simple graphics intentionally give you a similar imagination gap.
My point being, Kafka would've enjoyed Animal Crossing, whose simple graphics intentionally give you a similar imagination gap.
September 24, 2022
This book is my very first German novel that I have read in this language.
I thought it was a very sad story since the moment Gregor Samsa was transformed nobody took any notice of him.
He had to provide for himself and his family who he had taken care of just thought about their own disadvantages.
Gregor tries to adjust himself in every way possible to his new situation but his family is not able to adjust. They just miss the money he brought into the house as it is stated that he was the breadwinner for his family.
When they have to make do without his money they seek solutions with his sister Anna and to rent room to lodgers.
One day Anna decides that that beast in Gregors room is quite a nuisance to be get rid of as early as possible.
The event in this story show that a person can be dehumanized in every way possible.
I thought it was a very sad story since the moment Gregor Samsa was transformed nobody took any notice of him.
He had to provide for himself and his family who he had taken care of just thought about their own disadvantages.
Gregor tries to adjust himself in every way possible to his new situation but his family is not able to adjust. They just miss the money he brought into the house as it is stated that he was the breadwinner for his family.
When they have to make do without his money they seek solutions with his sister Anna and to rent room to lodgers.
One day Anna decides that that beast in Gregors room is quite a nuisance to be get rid of as early as possible.
The event in this story show that a person can be dehumanized in every way possible.
August 3, 2021
Well written, easy to understand for a B1 level in German, not the greatest of the stories tho
December 5, 2023
Was für ein trauriges Buch!
Armer Gregor, er hat etwas Besseres verdient.
Armer Gregor, er hat etwas Besseres verdient.
November 25, 2021
Interessante Intention, aber 1/4 der Länge hätte für den Inhalt gereicht 😅
March 3, 2023
I have never felt so empty after a book in my life as I did after this one....
April 14, 2023
The story in itself was quite interesting to read, but it still felt like such a pain to get through it.
August 3, 2021
This version seems to be well simplified and proposes great exercises and questions, that really help interpreting the novel. The other chapters, about related themes, are also very pertinent and interesting.
It's not an easy read for a B1 student, though. However, since the solutions are easily found online, I could manage and had a lot of fun
It's not an easy read for a B1 student, though. However, since the solutions are easily found online, I could manage and had a lot of fun
March 9, 2022
Good language learning book of a German classic with descent illustrations and activities. I had read Kafka’s Metamorphosis (Verwandlung) ober a decade ago, so great to follow up with it in the original language (albeit simplified).
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews