Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

Introduction Kafka’s Die Verwandlung, or The Metamorphosis, has sparked much critical interest during the past century because it is indefinable, complex and undeniably unique. Casual Kafka readers and scholars alike find themselves in a state of suspended disbelief, even after a tenth read. “Can this really be happening?” they ask with more surprise than the transformed protagonist Gregor Samsa, who seems to accept his fate more readily than real-life critics or the world that surrounds him. This intentionally created discord emerges from Kafka’s distinctive pairing of the familiar with the bizarre. Supernatural events are described in a dry, matter-of-fact tone; the characters that experience these oddities have common, insignificant jobs, and the magical occurrences are recognizably set in an early 20th century European city. Kafka’s pairing of predictable characters and mundane setting with extraordinary events evokes ambivalent reactions of disbelief and familiarity. Yet, the supernatural occurrences of the story are not uncommon in fiction. Tales of magical forces and unexplainable phenomena permeate the literary tradition of every culture, and Kafka continues and contributes to that practice. His unique combination of magic and mundanity seems to be responsible for the awe-filled reactions that the story inspires, for we are familiar with magical tales themselves. In many cases, stories filled with paranormal events are told or read to us as children, but fascination with magic is not limited to the young. Examples of supernatural themes can be found from the first written works of ancient writers, to Shakespeare, to modern horror novelists and magical realists. These themes infuse many tales never, or only recently, recorded, which were passed on in the oral tradition.