The Metamorphosis [Paperback]

Peter Kuper (Adapter), Franz Kafka (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 20, 2004

Acclaimed graphic artist Peter Kuper presents a brilliant, darkly comic reimagining of Kafka’s classic tale of family, alienation, and a giant bug. Kuper’s electric drawings—which merge American cartooning with German expressionism—bring Kafka’s prose to vivid life, reviving the original story’s humor and poignancy in a way that will surprise and delight readers of Kafka and graphic novels alike.

“A brilliant illustrated adaptation of Franz Kafka’s famous story. It’s a real pleasure to read and one in which everyone will recognize the existential drama and uncanny wit of the original text."—Susan Bernstein, associate professor of comparative literature and German studies, Brown University

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kuper has adapted short works by Kafka into comics before, but here he tackles the most famous one of all: the jet-black comedy that ensues after the luckless Gregor Samsa turns into a gigantic bug. The story loses a bit in translation (and the typeset text looks awkward in the context of Kuper's distinctly handmade drawings). A lot of the humor in the original comes from the way Kafka plays the story's absurdities absolutely deadpan, and the visuals oversell the joke, especially since Kuper draws all the human characters as broad caricatures. Even so, he works up a suitably creepy frisson, mostly thanks to his drawing style. Executed on scratchboard, it's a jittery, woodcut-inspired mass of sharp angles that owes a debt to both Frans Masereel (a Belgian woodcut artist who worked around Kafka's time) and MAD magazine's Will Elder. The knotty walls and floors of the Samsas' house look like they're about to dissolve into dust. In the book's best moments, Kuper lets his unerring design sense and command of visual shorthand carry the story. The jagged forms on the huge insect's belly are mirrored by folds in business clothes; thinking about the debt his parents owe his employer, Gregor imagines his insectoid body turning into money slipping through an hourglass. Every thing and person in this Metamorphosis seems silhouetted and carved, an effect that meshes neatly with Kafka's sense of nightmarish unreality.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Gregor Samsa wakes up and discovers he has been changed into a giant cockroach. Thus begins "The Metamorphosis," and Kuper translates this story masterfully with his scratchboard illustrations. The text is more spare, but the visuals are so strongly rendered that little of the original is changed or omitted. Though the story remains set in Kafka's time, Kuper has added some present-day touches, such as fast-food restaurants, that do not detract from the tale. He has used the medium creatively, employing unusual perspectives and panel shapes, and text that even crawls on the walls and ceilings, as Gregor does. The roach has an insect body but human facial expressions. Once he is pelted with the apple, readers can watch his rapid decline, as his body becomes more wizened and his face more gaunt. This is a faithful rendition rather than an illustrated abridgment.
Jamie Watson, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (July 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400052998
• ISBN-13: 978-1400052998
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 0.2 x 11.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #353,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A recommended read, November 29, 2009

By 

Maria Savva (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Metamorphosis (Paperback)

A man wakes up one day to find he has been changed into a large insect/beetle. The story follows his efforts to deal with this, and his family's reaction to the change. But it's not just a story about a man turning into a beetle, it's a clever way of writing about how a family would deal with the main breadwinner in the house becoming unable to work, and also on a wider scope, the way a family (and the world at large) reacts to someone who is disabled, or terminally ill. It could also be an analogy for how a family treats a member of the family who is now old and needs to be cared for. The man who is now a beetle, is forced to live in his room, shut away from the world, for fear that he will frighten anyone who enters the house. The man who once provided for the family, and thought of them above himself, has now become a burden on them, as they are now short of money, and have to find employment. The once able and hard-working man, transformed into a beetle, is now rejected, and his family blame him for their financial situation and the fact that they cannot move to a smaller house, because they need to have a room to keep him in.
The descriptive quality of the writing is excellent, and although it is a sad and gruesome tale, it is also very funny in parts; I couldn't help laughing out loud a couple of times.
The main thing that struck me, was that even though this story is nearly 100 years old, it is still totally relevant to today's world (and I'm not sure that's something we should be proud of)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Portrait of Dehumanization, June 13, 2011

By 

Donna Quesada "Author of Buddha in the Classroom" (Culver City, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Metamorphosis (Paperback)

The existential theme of choice in The Metamorphosis, and the repurcussions of our dubious choices coming back to haunt us, has been noted many times elsewhere. In this novella, Gregor's choice to work like a drone delivers a most unspeakable transformation. Granted. But, what I find more interesting is another aspect of existential thought: Taken in its rightful modern context, it shunned religious dogma and the whole idea of predictability. It rejected the seemingly simplistic idea that everything has meaning and purpose, and scoffed at the scientific assuredness that all things can be explained. In other words, weird things happen, and we don't know why! Furthermore, there's often nothing we can do about it and we have to live with it, and then die without answers.

As if this news wasn't dismal enough, like Gregor, even when we bust ourselves to serve and please others, that effort often goes without recognition or gratitude. We have to live with that reality, too. Taken to its extreme, we end up feeling oppressed, rejected and sometimes, sadly, completely disjointed and alienated from society. And as if that isn't extreme enough, how about if everyone around you could no longer understand you? If they looked at you as if you were an alien? If life's simple pleasures--in Gregor's case, a plain old glass of milk--evaded you?

In this case, dehumanization isn't just a figure of speech. Our grotesque protagonist is shut away and left to rot. Yet in this cheerlessness is a beautiful portrait of life. As the fog suggests the increasing distance between Gregor and the world, all of Kafka's rich imagery and symbolism culminates in a poetic reflection on the puzzle of existence, itself.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a review for the CD audiobook ! ! !, September 25, 2009

By 

John J. Martinez (Chicago, Illinois, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Metamorphosis (Audio CD)

It seems EVERYONE has an opinion about the BOOK, but I came here to read reviews about THE CD AUDIOBOOK, and there aren't any. So, for those of you who want to wade through all the high-horse critiques about what it meant to them yadda-yadda-yadda for the thousandth time and simply want to know how and what the CD sounds like, here it is:


The 2 CD set is excellently crafted, the vocals of Martin Jarvis are clear and a small baroque-style accompaniment occasionally plays behind him. The unabridged work is presented here straight-forwardly, and presented as if Franz was relating it to you.

The sound is clear and fresh, 9/10.

This CD is worth the purchase price.

You all know the book, you all know what it may or may not mean, but if you're willing to LISTEN TO IT IN AN AUDIOBOOK FORM, this is the version for you.


So, that's pretty much it. Thanks for reading, and check out my (hopefully) not too biased other reviews here online.