Beginning ~ with a strange transformation

Metamorphosis ~ by Franz Kafka, 1915, novella, 63 pages, 10/10

Beginning:  One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.  He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly dome and divided by arches into stiff sections.

One of Kafka's best-known works, Metamorphosis tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect.  The German title literally means "monstrous vermin."  He struggles to adjust to this new condition.  In popular culture and adaptations of the novella, the insect is commonly depicted as a cockroach.  At 63 pages, it is the longest of the stories Kafka considered complete and published during his lifetime.  The text was first published in 1915 in the journal Die weißen Blätter, with the first edition in book form appearing that December.

I've read this short book at least once and decided to download it for my Kindle.  It's short, so it didn't take long to re-read.  It definitely will go into the library that I am assembling for my castle in the clouds!

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.