Metamorphosis

About the book

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915) is one of the most famous works of 20th-century literature. It opens with the travelling salesman Gregor Samsa waking to find himself transformed into a giant insect, and follows how his family’s care curdles into revulsion and neglect as he becomes a burden. A short, unsettling novella, it is read as a parable of alienation, the dehumanising pressure of work and duty, and the fragility of a person’s place in their own family. The text is in the public domain.