The Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka (1883—1924) — one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, a classic of German-language literature and a key figure in modernism. His prose is recognizable for its chillingly clear style, where the utmost precision of language combines with an atmosphere of anxiety, absurdity, and alienation. Kafka reinterprets fundamental questions of human existence in new forms — guilt, power, helplessness, loneliness, and the opacity of complex systems. His texts, despite their outward simplicity, reveal deep psychological and philosophical layers, and the situations he created have become proverbial: “Kafkaesque” now means the confrontation of a person with irrational, incomprehensible forces.
His stories, novellas, and parables, filled with mystery and sometimes unfinished, challenge the imperfections of existence and the absurdity of being. This collection includes his famous novella “The Metamorphosis” and several novellas and parables. In “The Metamorphosis,” a traveling salesman suddenly turns into a bug, while other novellas depict human struggle against incomprehensible forces. Absurd, mysterious, yet with convincing plausibility, Kafka portrays the confrontation of man with hidden, all-pervasive power.