Metamorphosis and Other Stories

I love stories that are many things at the same time. They can open a person up to a wider perspective, a greater awareness; that’s the kind of story I love to write. Kafka’s stories can be considered as absurd allegory, as surreal evocations of mystery and magic, as psychological study, as satire, as dark comedy… as all of these and more at once. Many of Kafka’s stories were considered by the author to be unfinished but to me they seem complete. Kafka famously tried to ‘finish’ all of his stories once and for all by instructing his friend to… show more.

This is another classic that builds on a ridiculous conceit to tell a convincing tale. Like Joyce, Kafka breaks all conventions, linguistic and substantive. One of the stories in my book tells the tale of the Metamorphosis from the perspective of the protagonist’s sister. Kafka’s story is interesting because his absurd conceit—and a young man who wakes up as an insect—is exploited to explore the most ordinary but critical aspects of family relationships.