The Metamorphosis – Old Paper & Cats, Reviews by S. Hargrave

The Chipmunks Return

The arrival of two little chipmunks into our garden has been particularly magical this week. There used to be so many when we first moved in, but over the last few years they haven’t been very frequent visitors. However, these two little cute stripey friends have been coming every day for their share of the peanuts. I hope that they stick around, even if it means that we have to keep an eye on new plants that my lovely spouse just got through Ontario Native Plants.

A calico tabby lounges belly-up on a cahir, her head resting on a blanket. Wrapped in her paws is a small hardcover book.

A hardcover version of The Metamorphosis features a symmetrical in-style pattern in black on a bright yellow clothbound cover.

Three Short Stories

In this small lovely clothbound edition of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) put out by Penguin Classics, there are actually three short stories — the longest of those being ‘The Metamorphosis’. The story of Gregor Samsa’s unfortunate transformation into a bug is the most famous of the three, but the other two are just as compelling. ‘The Penal Colony’ features a unique and horrible form of slow execution that ends up doing in the executioner in a painstakingly described narrative. In ‘The Judgement’, Kafka decides to explore an absurd and strained relationship between a newly engaged man and his father.

A calico tabby lounges on her back in an armchair. A bright yellow copy of Kafka's Metamorphosis sits between her paws.

What It Means to Be a Bug

It’s tempting to view Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’ as a simple story of a man turning into a bug for no reason and the impossibility of trying to fit back into society whilst still being a bug. But I think the true purpose of the narrative is only apparent when you dig a little deeper below the surface. The metamorphosis of Samsa into a bug is meant to symbolize the metamorphosis that occurs to the majority of us as we transition from childhood into adulthood and become individuals that might be very different from what our families might have expected or imagined. What Samsa is struggling with is how to fit into a family and a job that doesn’t truly know who he is and, if they did know? Would find him nothing but monstrous and alien and would be unable to gaze upon him.

A bright yellow hardcover book of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, styled with a black symmetrical inkblot-like pattern on the front. The cloth spine has split a little from reading.

A calico tabby looks over the edge of a bright yellow hardcover book.

A Word on the Edition

There’s something really nice about having a classic novel or collection of short stories gathered into a pretty little book. It’s perfect for travel. It reminds me of the slight musty but unique editions of books that I find in the forgotten corners of the best used bookshops. These pocket-sized brightly coloured books are a great mixture of old and new.

A bright yellow book seen at an oblong angle. Behind it looms the wide-eyed startled face of a tabby cat.

Ants! Ants! Ants!

Other garden happenings this week? We were late getting in the hummingbird feeder and had an empty ant moat too. Which meant my poor, lovely spouse was trying to dance off some ants in the night, in the dark, while we gathered in the feeders. It was funny, but also? I do not have a high tolerance for ants.