The Soul in Kafka’s »Metamorphosis«

Authors

  • Vid Snoj

Keywords:

German literature, Kafka, Franz, Jewish mysticism, soul, metamorphosis

Abstract

The treatise begins by analysing the beginning of Kafka’s narrative. Kafka’s first sentence presents metamorphosis as something that has already taken place and become visible on the protagonist’s body – visible both to the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, and to all the other characters. As an accomplished fact, the cause of which is never given even in the subsequent narrative, it foreshadows Gregor’s imminent death. »The Metamorphosis« may thus be perceived as a narrative about dying, about what happens to Gregor’s soul when his body has been transformed. – Seeking to track down the soul, which is not given a voice of its own, let alone a thematic emphasis in the narrative, the treatise draws on Aristotle’s division of the soul according to its capabilities as vegetative, animal, or human. Yet a close reading of the narrative always runs into indeterminability: rather than mere man or mere animal, Gregor is both, a mananimal. – The conclusion highlights Kafka’s authorial gesture: Kafka intended to publish »The Metamorphosis« together with two other narratives under a shared title, Strafen (Punishments). This cover title suggests that the metamorphosis is a punishment and, indeed, that it might be explained in the sense of Jewish mysticism: as metempsychosis, the transmigration of the human soul into an animal body, where it does penance for the sins of its former life. Yet this tempting possibility is rejected. Rather than explained through eisegesis from the tradition, Kafka should be understood against its background.

References

Anders, Günther. »Franz Kafka – pro et contra«. Die neue Rundschau 58 (1947): 119–157.

Aristotel. O duši. Prev. Valentin Kalan. Ljubljana: Slovenska matica, 1993.

Beissner, Friedrich. Der Erzähler Franz Kafka. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1952.

Berger, Anne Emmanuelle, in Marta Segarra. »Thoughtprints«. Demenageries. Thinking (of) Animals After Derrida. Ur. Anne Emmanuelle Berger in Marta Segarra. Amsterdam in New York: Rodopi, 2011. 3–19.

Binder, Hartmut. Kafka-Kommentar zu sämtlichen Erzählungen. München: Winkler Verlag, 1975.

Blanchot, Maurice. Literarni prostor. Prev. Jaroslav Skrušný. Ljubljana: Literarno-umetniško društvo Literatura, 2012.

Brod, Max. Franz Kafka. Eine Biographie. Frankfurt ob Majni: S. Fischer Verlag, 1954.

Bruce, Iris. »Kafka and Jewish Folklore«. The Cambridge Companion to Kafka. Ur. Julian Preece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 150–168.

Cavarocchi Arbib, Martina. »Jüdische Motive in Kafkas Aphorismen«. Franz Kafka und das Judentum. Ur. Karl Erich Grözinger, Stéphane Mosès in Hans Dieter Zimmermann. Frankfurt ob Majni: Jüdischer Verlag bei Athenäum, 1987. 122–146.

Corngold, Stanley. The Commentators’s Despair: The Interpretation of Kafka’s »Metamorphosis«. Port Washington, N. Y., in London: Kennikat Press, 1973.

– – –. »The Structure of Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’«. The Commentators’s Despair: The Interpretation of Kafka’s »Metamorphosis«. Port Washington, N. Y., in London: Kennikat Press, 1973. 1–38.

De Bruyker, Mellisa. »Who Identified the Animal? Hybridity and Body Politics in Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’ and Amerika (The Man Who Disappeared)«. Kafka’s Creatures. Animals, Hybrids, and Other Fantastic Beings. Ur. Marc Lucht in Donna Yarri. Lanham itn.: Lexington Books, 2010. 191–209.

Dentan, Michel. Humour et création littéraire dans l’œuvre de Kafka. Ženeva in Pariz: Droz, 1961.

Derrida, Jacques. The Animal That Therefore I Am. Ur. Marie Luise Mallet. New York: Fordham University Press, 2008.

Descartes, René. Œuvres et lettres. Ur. André Bridoux. Pariz: Gallimard, 1953.

– – –. Razprava o metodi. Za pravilno vodenje razuma in iskanje resnice v znanostih. Prev. Saša Jerele. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2007.

Edel, Edmund. »Franz Kafka: ‘Die Verwandlung’, Eine Auslegung«. Wirkendes Wort 4 (1957–1958): 217–226.

Emrich, Wilhelm. »Der Käfer in der Erzählung ‘Die Verwandlung’«. Franz Kafka. Frankfurt ob Majni in Bonn: Athenäum, 1965.

Evripides. Elektra. Prev. Marijan Tavčar. Maribor: Založba Obzorja, 1978.

Greenberg, Martin. »Gregor Samsa and Modern Spirituality«. The Terror of Art: Kafka and Modern Literature. New York: Basic Books, 1968. 69–91.

Grözinger, Karl Erich. Kafka und die Kabbala: Das Jüdische in Werk und Denken von Franz Kafka. Frankfurt ob Majni: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1994.

Heidegger, Martin. »O ‘humanizmu’«. Izbrane razprave. Prev. Ivan Urbančič. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, 1967. 179–235.

Henel, Ingeborg. »Die Deutbarkeit von Kafkas Werken«. Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie 86.2 (1954): 250–266.

Kafka, Franz. »Brief an den Vater«. Gesammelte Werke in zwölf Bänden. 7. zv. Ur. Hans-Gerd Koch. Frankfurt ob Majni: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1994.

– – –. Briefe: 1902–1924. Ur. Max Brod. Frankfurt ob Majni: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1975.

– – –. »Križanje«. Opis nekega boja in druge zgodbe: Skice–črtice–novele II. Prev. Štefan Vevar. Ljubljana: Študentska založba, 2009. 146–147.

– – –. »Pismo očetu«. Babilonski rov: Proze, Pismo očetu, dnevniki. Prev. Lado Kralj. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1985. 115–170.

– – –. »Pismo očetu«. Pismo očetu in druga kratka proza: Skice–črtice–novele III. Prev. Štefan Vevar. Ljubljana: Študentska založba, 2010. 7–58.

– – –. Preobrazba«. Preobrazba in druge zgodbe: Skice–črtice–novele I. Prev. Štefan Vevar. Ljubljana: Študentska založba, 2008. 73–129.

– – –. »Preobrazba«. Splet norosti in bolečine: Izbrana proza. Prev. Herbert Grün. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1961. 33–88.

– – –. Der Prozeß. Gesammelte Werke in zwölf Bänden. 3. zv. Ur. Hans-Gerd Koch. Frankfurt ob Majni: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1994.

– – –. »Die Verwandlung«. Ein Landarzt und andere Drücken zu Lebzeiten. Gesammelte Werke in zwölf Bänden. 1. zv. Ur. Hans-Gerd Koch. Frankfurt ob Majni: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1994. 91–158.

Kimberly, Sparks. »Drei schwarze Kaninchen: Zu einer Deutung der Zimmerherren in Kafkas ‘Die Verwandlung’«. Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie 84.posebna številka (1965): 73–82.

Lucht, Marc, in Donna Yarri, ur. Kafka’s Creatures. Animals, Hybrids, and Other Fantastic Beings. Lanham itn.: Lexington Books, 2010.

Luke, F. D. »Kafka’s ‘Die Verwandlung’«. The Modern Language Review 46.2 (1951): 232–245.

Norris, Margot. »Kafka’s Hybrids: Thinking Animals and Mirrored Humans«. Kafka’s Creatures. Animals, Hybrids, and Other Fantastic Beings. Ur. Marc Lucht in Donna Yarri. Lanham itn.: Lexington Books, 2010. 17–32.

Ovidius Naso, Publius. Metamorfoze: Izbor. Prev. Kajetan Gantar. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1977.

Pfeiffer, Joachim. Franz Kafka: ‘Die Verwandlung’. ‘Brief an den Vater’. München: Oldenbourg, 1998.

Scholem, Gershom. Kabbalah. Jeruzalem: Keter Publishing House Jerusalem Ltd., 1974.

Scholem, Gershom. Poglavitni tokovi v judovski mistiki. Prev. Vid Snoj. Ljubljana: Nova revija, 2003.

Sokel, Walter H. Franz Kafka. New York in London: Columbia University Press, 1966.

– – –. »From Marx to Myth: The Structure and Function of Self-Alienation in Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’«. Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’. Ur. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988. 105–116.

Swinford, Dean. »The Portrait of an Armor-Plated Sign: Reimagining Samsa’s Exoskeleton«. Kafka’s Creatures. Animals, Hybrids, and Other Fantastic Beings. Ur. Marc Lucht in Donna Yarri. Lanham itn.: Lexington Books, 2010. 211–236.

Vergilij Maro, Publij. Vergilij Maro, Publij. Prev. Marko Marinčič. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1994 (Lirika 79).

Walser, Martin. Beschreibung einer Form: Versuch über Franz Kafka. München: Hanser, 1961.

von Wiese, Benno. »Franz Kafka: ‘Die Verwandlung’«. Die deutsche Novele von Goethe bis Kafka. Interpretationen II. Ur. Benno von Wiese. Düsseldorf: August Bagel Verlag, 1962. 319–345.

Published

2017-10-25