Of The Metamorphosis, Vladimir Nabokov wrote, “Beauty plus pity—that is the closest we can get to a definition of art. Where there is beauty there is pity for the simple reason that beauty must die: beauty always dies, the manner dies with the matter, the world dies with the individual. If Kafka’s The Metamorphosis strikes anyone as something more than an entomological fantasy, then I congratulate him on having joined the ranks of good and great readers.” That recommendation will likely persuade you to read (or re-read) this singular novella with us, but if you need more persuasion, the book’s first famous first sentence should do the trick: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect.”
The Metamorphosisis available in several different translations; we recommend the translation by Willa and Edwin Muir, available in the collection The Metamorphosis: And Other Stories, published by Schocken (ISBN: 0805210571). If you would like to purchase a copy of this book from the Poetry Center, contact Julie Lauterbach-Colby at jujubee8@email.arizona.edu. The Poetry Center's gift kiosk has been closed, so you can no longer walk in and purchase book club titles. However, you can contact Julie to arrange to come in to purchase books, and Book Club titles will be available for purchase at meetings of the Book Club.