Franz Kafka “The Metamorphosis” Escher’s drawing series of famous drawings all titled “Metamorphosis” offer us a way to visualize Kafka’s writing. Not linear  spiral in shape like Escher’s work. Can be v. confusing for a reader, but the structure has a purpose.

Kafka’s Life b. 1883 in Prague  grew up in middle-class Jewish family Kafka oldest of his siblings. Family life not great growing up; had “feelings of inferiority, guilt, resentment, and confinement” throughout childhood and beyond. Had contentious relationship w/ father that gets reflected in “The Metamorphosis” and other writings. Was closest w/ his younger sister Ottla, also mirrored in the relationship between Gregor and Grete in “The Metamorphosis”

Kafka’s Life [cont’d] 1908- begins working at the Workmen’s Accident Insurance Administration as a midlevel bureaucrat 1910- Kafka begins writing in a diary, which marks the start of his serious literary ambitions Received law degree in 1906 but never practices. Instead enters gov’t bureaucracy where he will remain for the rest of his life. His position in the Workmen’s Accident Insurance Admin, though not identical to Gregor’s, is similar in terms of its status and tasks. The character of Gregor, therefore, can be seen as representative of Kafka himself. With diary writing Kafka becomes serious about literary pursuits, and they offer him an escape from his menial day job where he compiles insurance manuals and policies (v. boring)

Kafka’s Life [cont’d] 1912- completes “The Metamorphosis” 1913- Balkan War begins 1914- assassination of Archduke Ferdinand precipitates WWI Balkan War and more significantly WWI (aka “The Great War”) significant in European history as they mark the disintegration of certain European powers (i.e. Britain, Austro-Hungarian empire) and the emergence of relatively new powers on the global stage (i.e. the US)

Kafka’s Life [cont’d] 1915- “The Metamorphosis” published 1922- Kafka’s employer grants him early retirement after he becomes afflicted with tuberculosis 1924- moves home with his parents due to his declining health and limited funds; passes away on June 3rd the same year Kafka’s illness severe from 1922, though he was diagnosed in 1917. V. humiliating for him to move back in w/ his parents in 1924, esp. given their strained relations.

Kafka’s Literature Form- heavily influenced by drama; divides “The Metamorphosis” into three parts like acts of a play Themes & Motifs- man’s alienation; the dullness of bureaucracy, bourgeois labor, and “[their] degrading impact on the soul” (xvi); the postmodern Kafka took an interest in Yiddish theater, which informed his writing of “The Metamorphosis” and other stories. The theme and motifs that emerge in “The Metamorphosis” and other stories are not immediately easy to understand but they become increasingly common threads in literature during Kafka’s time and beyond and fall under the umbrella term of “postmodern,” a rather amorphous word that means different things to different ppl., but for our purposes is used to describe the condition humans encounter when the so-called “grand narratives” (religious texts, political establishments) crumble and fail to describe the world in which we live, as happens in Kafka frequently.

Kafka’s Literature term “Kafkaesque” comes from Kafka (duh) The term Kafkaesque comes from Kafka’s literature and generally describes things “marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity.” Examples of Kafkaesque in our world: the US schedule at Athens Academy.