Julia.22.8.81

Thanks for your comments, King. Poor guy indeed. It is very interesting that Grete's transformation does seem inverse to Gregor's. I think I will join you, Wordsgood, in reading The Trial next. Really looking forward to it. When I think about Metamorphosis the following phrase lingers in my mind: “Was he an animal if music stirred him that way? He felt as if he were being shown the way to the unknown nourishment he longed for.” These were Gregor’s uncharacteristically questioning thoughts after listening to his sister’s beautiful, sorrowful music - music unappreciated by the lodgers who were hoping for some easier entertainment. Just before the violin was brought out Gregor had watched the family and the lodgers stuffing their faces with food (which he has been rejecting): “I do have an appetite,” said Gregor uneasily to himself, “but not for those things. How these lodgers pack it away, and I’m perishing!” Near the end, when the last remnants of sympathy and pity for Gregor are dwindling away, Gregor feels ‘love and compassion’ for his family. I feel as though Gregor seems to have finally – in some sort of inner sense – lifted above the banality of his everyday existence and become more truly human, in spite of his monstrous shape, than all the other people around him. (especially the parasitic father and the cruel, heartless people from his old work). I am left with a sense of a very sad, but strangely beautiful, paradoxical journey…

Thanks for mentioning Walter Benjamin’s writings on Kafka, Budda. Just found a lecture by Judith Butler (a feminist philosopher) about Walter Benjamin on Kafka – sounds really interesting. I’ll have a listen.

Yes, I see what you mean, King. And part of that arc – part of the inevitability, sadness and beauty of the story - is the parallel transformation of Gregor’s sister. As she takes on new responsibilities necessitated by Gregor’s transformation, she emerges into an assertive young woman who doesn’t need Gregor anymore. When she stood up on the train at the end and ‘stretched out her young body’ it made me think of a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis – a very evocative phrase.

Exactly, KingofLiterature, I think the poignancy is in all those little details you mentioned. The part where Gregor creeps out of his room to listen to his sister play music (and the resolution of this scene) was incredibly moving. He was captivated by the music and wanted to reach out to his sister, with whom he used to share the greatest bond, but his family respond with fear and revulsion. Then there is that description of Gregor pitifully trying to manouvere his body back to his room, having to repeatedly strike his head against the floor to help himself along in his filthy pain wrecked condition. I felt so sorry for Gregor - felt his humiliation and rejection as he made that slow painful journey creeping back to his room, under the gaze of his family, before his sister jumps up to lock the door after him - but I can still smile at the absurdity of it all. I think the balance of pathos and humour is masterful. The way the story is told is so engaging - that's why I'm fascinated and I want spend time figuring out exactly what to make of it. As it's been said, there must be many ways of interpreting it. The Street of Crocodiles, by Bruno Schulz looks so irresistably strange and wonderful, Budda, that I think I will have to get hold of it – thanks.

I read something about Gregor's wings too - that Nabokov was a insect expert and he said that Gregor was definitely not a cockroach, but a beetle with wings under his shell. Wings he never discovered . . . interesting! Agree with you about the isolation metaphor, Poppyshake.

Is there anyone else here who has an opinion on Metamorphosis by Kafka? I have just read it and I was completely bowled over by the bizarre brilliance, the playful humour, the intensity of the expression of desperate loneliness and isolation, the pathos. Never having read any Kafka before, I had a vague idea that his work was strange in an abstract, unapproachable sort of a way, and had therefore avoided his work until now. What an incredible and unexpected experience to feel so moved by the story of a many waking up to find he has turned into a giant bug! Completely unforgettable and unique, will stay with me forever.