Harare Review of Books

201 pages.

First published in 1972.

Finished reading on 29 July 2021.

Genre: Fiction.

Publisher’s blurb:
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes.”

With it’s startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first opening, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing—though absurdly comic—meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction. As W.H. Auden wrote, “Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man.”

I congratulate myself whenever I read a book from the Western (loosely) canon for not taking English Literature at A-level (I was a Sciences student innit). There’s something about discovering these books as an adult, about reading them not because you have to as part of Western civ propaganda, and about judging them from your own perspective. And so it is with this delightful read, about a man who turns into a bug, a story that came uncomfortably close to my experience as a tool of CAPITALism (heh) and once the sole breadwinner in my family (you have to read it to see what happens to poor Gregor, who is me, without the turning into a bug bit).

So, how relatable, and how clever! It reminded me of Animal Farm in this: a clever commentary on the human condition. I really feel edified for reading it, and I’m sure I’ll read it again in the future.

If, like me, you’ve missed out on reading it because you were that steeped in experiments in the lab/cramming differentials (does one cram those? It’s a long time ago)/any other reason really: this is an excellent read. I can’t imagine any of my readers were as I was — but, you know, just in case. In any case: read.

Rated: 9/10.