1. -Franz Kafka in a letter, December 16, 1911
The Metamorphosis
“I am separated from all things by a hollow space, and I do not even reach to its boundaries”
-Franz Kafka in a letter, December 16, 1911

2. The Early Years
Kafka was born in Prague to a middle class Jewish family on July 3, 1883.
Kafka had a strained relationship with his overbearing father. Family conflicts became a common theme in Kafka’s fiction.

3. Education
Kafka showed an early interest in literature, but at the age of eighteen he attended the German University to study law.
After graduating, he worked in a government insurance office
This photo was taken in 1906,
the year Kafka graduated
from law school.

4. Kafka’s Writing Kafka’s stories feature bizarre situations and
characters that are often
lonely and searching for
meaning.
The Metamorphosis was one of Kafka’s few works published during his lifetime.

5. A few important facts
Like Gregor, the main character in The Metamorphosis, Kafka had a strenuous job and lived at home with his parents.
Kafka was a minority in his society:
He was Jewish in a predominately Christian part of the world, and his family spoke German, whereas the official language of Prague was Czech.

6. The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis is generally categorized as a novella.
A novella is longer and more complex than a short story, but has a simpler, shorter plot line than a novel.
The novella usually focuses on fewer characters and a single chain of events that takes place in a short period of time.

7. What is a metamorphosis?
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary:
A change of physical form, structure or substance.
A transformation

8. A man wakes up as a giant bug…
The Metamorphosis is about Gregor Samsa who awakes one morning turned into an insect-like creature and how this transformation affects those around him.
As you read this puzzling novella, keep in mind that literature scholars and critics have argued for centuries about what exactly it means.

9. Let’s Review! What is Kafka’s first name? Franz
The Metamorphosis is categorized as what type of fiction?
Novella
True or false? Kafka studied literature in college.
False. He studied law.

10. True or False: The Metamorphosis was published during Kafka’s lifetime.
What does metamorphosis mean?
A change of physical form, structure or substance; transformation.
What language did Kafka speak and write in?
German