Metamorphosis

__Metamorphosis__ by Franz Kafka

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Readers should remember the details of Kafka's life as they read Metamorphosis. Connections between the author's life and the life of his character, Gregor Samsa, can be easily made. Kafka's relationship with his father was strained. His father was domineering and cold. His mom was loving, but she was also non-committal (wishy-washy). Pay special attention to the relationship Gregor has with his parents. Also pay attention to his relationship with his sister. Isolation and alienation are major themes in Kafka's writing, both are present in Metamorphosis. Look for evidence of these themes.

Kafka was an Existentialist.


 * //__Existentialism:__ A twentieth-century philosophy arguing that ethical human beings are in a sense cursed with absolute free will in a purposeless universe. Therefore, individuals must fashion their own sense of meaning in life instead of relying thoughtlessly on religious, political, and social conventions. These merely provide a façade of meaning according to existential philosophy. Those who rely on such conventions without thinking through them deny their own ethical responsibilities. The basic principles of existentialism are (1) a concern with man's essential being and nature, (2) an idea that existential "angst" or "anguish" is the common lot of all thinking humans who see the essential meaninglessness of transitory human life, (3) the belief that thought and logic are insufficient to cope with existence, and (4) the conviction that a true sense of morality can only come from honestly facing the dilemma of existential freedom and participating in life actively and positively. The ethical idea is that, if the universe is essentially meaningless, and human existence does not matter in the long run, then the only thing that can provide a moral backdrop is humanity itself, and neglecting to build and encourage such morality is neglecting our duty to ourselves and to each other. (http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_E.html) //**

Students will be given a copy of the novella to use for class, but if a student has a Kindle or other E-reader, it is available in those formats via this link: [|Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka]

Here is a link to an audio recording, but it is not the same translation as the text students are reading. I have been unable to find one that matches the Project Gutenberg version of the story. http://archive.org/details/metamorphosis_librivox