My apologies for any confusion, and for my delay in posting. Since our schedule is a bit off, with Wednesday following a Monday schedule, you don’t have a homework post until after this online discussion.

For our discussion this week, let’s think about our experience reading Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” by each focusing our comment through a particular passage. Some possible topics to address here:

How do you deal with the outrageous situation presented in “The Metamorphosis”? Does it help to read “The Metamorphosis” metaphorically? What does metaphorically mean? If “Young Goodman Brown” can be read as an allegory (refer “Elements of Fiction” for a description of allegory and allegorical fiction), can “The Metamorphosis” as well?

When you think of “The Metamorphosis,” can you picture it? Do you have a visual sense of the story? What provides that sense, or what would you need to have that sense if you don’t? After you consider that, you might compare the sense of the visual to other stories we’ve read so far. Or you might compare what you’ve envisioned with this short video featuring images from a graphic-novel adaptation of “The Metamorphosis.”

“The Metamorphosis” is translated from Kafka’s German “Die Verwandlung.” As you read, especially as you pay particular attention to the ways the story is crafted using particular words, consider that the words are the choice of a translator. If you are comfortable writing in another language, try translating your favorite passage from “The Metamorphosis” into that language to share with the class. Or, if you can read German, look online for a copy in German and try to translate a passage into English. What kinds of choices did you need to make to translate that passage? Is there anything that isn’t exactly the same as the version you read? Commenters who can read that language, what do you think about the translation, and would you have made the same choices?

There is a word, kafkaesque, based on Kafka’s writing. What do you guess it would mean, and why, based on reading “The Metamorphosis”? After you guess, look for the definition. Explain using details from “The Metamorphosis” why that’s the definition of the word. (Kafka’s is not the only author to have his name turned into an adjective, but it’s one more widely used outside of an English class. Faulknerian  is also a word, but with a narrower usage).

I look forward to this discussion with you!

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