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La Metamorfosis / La Condena / Carta Al Padre
En las tres obras breves que reúne este volumen se manifiesta la animadversión que sentía hacia su padre, una figura autoritaria y dominante que marcó su existencia. En La metamorfosis, el protagonista se convierte en un estorbo para todos, y en Carta al padre la relación de amor-odio con el padre es un reflejo de la suya, aunque en ambas sublima la experiencia familiar para hacerla universal. En La condena se agudiza el sentimiento de angustia, opresión y culpabilidad ante un futuro incierto e incomprensible; sentimientos que se reflejan en toda su obra. · En estos relatos cortos se dan los más fulminantes destellos de lucidez e ironía, inequívocos en toda su producción literaria.
184 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2012
2 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Franz Kafka
3,233 books38.7k 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 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 26, 2023
La metamorfosis es un gran cuento y tiene uno de los mejores inicios que se han escrito quizá para un relato, por sí solo podría ser un microcuento. El mismo García Márquez contaba alguna vez en una entrevista cómo siendo muy joven había sido sorprendido y fascinado por ésta simpleza y precisión para contar algo maravilloso con tan pocas palabras.
February 9, 2025
No debe ser sano leer a Kafka tantas horas seguidas.
August 21, 2020
La Metamorfosis es bakan y muy contingente, obvio. La condena me sorprendió mucho! y la Carta al Padre lo encontré muy incómoda de leer pero muy bonita escrita.
Me da risa escribir como si esto fuese un blog y alguien leyera esto xd
esta edición no es muy linda si :(
Me da risa escribir como si esto fuese un blog y alguien leyera esto xd
esta edición no es muy linda si :(
September 20, 2023
La verdad me sorprendio bastante el relato "La metamorfosis" en si ya conocía de lo que trataba y todo eso pero quería leerlo por mi propia cuenta. Siento que se puede interpretar de muchas formas ya sea como una crítica al capitalismo y como Gregor al ya no poder trabajar deja de serle útil a su familia la cual podría representar a la sociedad. Por otro lado se podría interpretar como que este sufria alguna enfermedad ya sea física como mental la cual hace que sea imposible para el trabajar llegando a solo ser una carga para su familia esto podría dar a entender el porque la familia se siente aliviada con la muerte de este.
Con respecto a la condena fue el relato que menos me gusto de los 3 pero aun asi fue muy ligero de leer.
Carta al padre la verdad lo tuve que dejar varias veces de leerlo, ya que me daba mucha lástima/pena el como contaba todo lo que ocurría y en más de una ocasión se culpaba a el mismo de lo que ocurría. También hay frases con las que pude asociar a cosas que yo he llegado a vivir o pensar respecto a mi padre.
Con respecto a la condena fue el relato que menos me gusto de los 3 pero aun asi fue muy ligero de leer.
Carta al padre la verdad lo tuve que dejar varias veces de leerlo, ya que me daba mucha lástima/pena el como contaba todo lo que ocurría y en más de una ocasión se culpaba a el mismo de lo que ocurría. También hay frases con las que pude asociar a cosas que yo he llegado a vivir o pensar respecto a mi padre.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 3, 2019
**Warning: this text may contain spoilers** Metamorfosis un hombre que se siente un animal por comenzar a enfermer de muerte, siendo el sustento de sus padres y su hermana, vendedor de oficio; Su familia al igual que el resto de las familias se hacen cargo de el hasta su muerte pero al morir sienten alivio de haberlo cuidado hasta el final..
September 16, 2021
*No se basen en mí para leer este libro...
Leí este libro cuando estaba en la prepa y no me gusto, se me hizo lento y no me hizo clic como a otros estudiantes. Era joven y no savia nada de la vida, tal vez si lo vuelva a leer me gustaría.
Leí este libro cuando estaba en la prepa y no me gusto, se me hizo lento y no me hizo clic como a otros estudiantes. Era joven y no savia nada de la vida, tal vez si lo vuelva a leer me gustaría.
March 11, 2025
lo compré en una feria del libro y me gusta tenerlo en mi colección , haber leído “La metamorfosis” antes me hizo con todas mis fuerzas comprar esta edición donde encontré dos clásicos más de Kafka, excelente decisión
February 25, 2025
Le voy a poner cinco estrellas solo porque es Kafka. La manera que tiene de escribir, cómo puede meterse en mi y lograr indignarme y quebrarme por completo, realmente no sé cómo lo hace...
May 20, 2025
muy muy muy weno, nada que decir
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2025
De las mejores obras de Kafka
July 30, 2014
Leí la edición de Planeta, que contiene El Proceso, La Condena y La Metamorfosis. Para quien gusta de este tipo de novela. Una buena interrupción de las lecturas más ortodoxas.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews