The Metamorphosis

Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

“The Nose” by Nikolai Gogol

• This Gogol story, written nearly a century before The Metamorphosis, presents a lighter, satirical take on Russian absurdism while engaging in class critique.

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris

• Ferris’s novel deals with many of the same themes as The Metamorphosis a century later: The Dehumanizing Nature of Work and The Effects of Social Alienation are both prominent in the book, but the approach is the opposite, as the corporate culture is embodied in a second-person “we” point of view that pretends those thematic elements don’t exist in the workplace at all.
• Each story arrives at some of the same conclusions while taking drastically different approaches with their themes.

Other Student Resources

“On Translating Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’”

• Susan Bernofsky, the translator of a new edition of Kafka’s work, discusses the difficulties and pleasures of translating a story that is deliberately vague in its characterization of Gregor’s transformation and details some of the telling word choices that Kafka uses throughout.
• The article brings up many of the challenges of reading translations, citing not just cultural differences but differences in the language.

“The Beetle and the Fly”

• David Cronenberg, the director of The Fly and other works of body horror, looks at the impact The Metamorphosis had on him and ruminates on its role as a metaphor for illness and mortality.

“From Kafka’s Window”

• Jeffrey Condran’s creative essay looks at Kafka’s novella through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic and provides insights into The Effects of Social Alienation.

Teacher Resources

“Understanding the Emotion of Shame in Transgender Individuals—Some Insight from Kafka”

• Simona Giordano’s academic essay provides a narrow but important reading of Kafka and his writing about the body.
• This text would be particularly helpful for older students who are thinking about any aspect of the relationship between mind and body, whether it is gender presentation or the role of body shame in contemporary culture.