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The Metamorphosis

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The Metamorphosis

By: Franz Kafka
Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
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About this listen

 “One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug.”

With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first sentence, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young traveling salesman 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. Rather than being surprised at the transformation, the members of his family despise it as an impending burden upon themselves.

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 20th-century fiction. As W. H. Auden wrote, “Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man.”

FRANZ KAFKA (1883–1924), one of the major fiction writers of the twentieth century, was born to a middle-class German-speaking Jewish family in Prague. His unique body of writing, much of which is incomplete and was mainly published posthumously, is considered by some people to be among the most influential in Western literature, inspiring such writers as Albert Camus, Rex Warner, and Samuel Beckett.

©Public Domain (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Jewish Heritage Metaphysics Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Philosophy Political Emotionally Gripping Science Fiction Heartfelt Mind-bending Funny Short Stories

Critic reviews

“In The Metamorphosis Kafka reached the height of his mastery: he wrote something which he could never surpass, because there is nothing which The Metamorphosis could be surpassed by - one of the few great, perfect poetic works of this century.” (Elias Canetti, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981)
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A funny little tale, and I couldn't help feel sorry for the protagonist who wakes up as a bug. He reminded me of a shy dog/naughty child. The ending ends ambiguously as I am sure Kafka intended. I loved this cute, short and fun yarn and you can takeaway what you feel from it and not what you are told to think. A classic for a reason

short but sweet

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This was a blast. A classic only 2 hours long. I have read this book 15 years ago but forgot all the details. It was well worth the time to listen to this entertaining tale. The reader has a fantastic voice and when he quotes certain characters changes his voice to better bring the characters to life. Well worth the listen.

Very entertaining and well read

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What if you woke up and found that you were something completely different? Surreal tale that will mesmerized.

Ovid 1915 Style

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The voice suits this novel very well. The story is very sad but with important morals which can be related to by many.

I love this novel

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Amazing to think this was written over 100 years ago, and the absolute absurdity given the times!! a fantastic book that I never tire of reading!

delightfully absurd!

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