First Edition of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Germany, 1915
Museum Collection
Must Know
Franz Kafka (1883-1924) is considered among the 20th century’s greatest writers. Born to a bourgeoise Jewish family in Prague, he worked for an insurance company leaving him almost no time at all for his writing. he published little during his lifetime, and his books were published posthumously. It is believed that he burned most of his manuscripts prior to his death. His writings are regarded masterpieces of world literature. His most famous short story, The Metamorphosis (1912), describes a salesman who wakes up one morning to find that he has transformed into a monstrous insect.
Franz Kafka, whose Jewish name was Anshil (Asher), was born in 1883 to a Jewish family in Prague and died at the age of 40 from tuberculosis. he was a writer who wrote in German and is considered to be one of the greatest, most important and influential writers of the twentieth century. Most of his writings were published after his death, including the famous novels: “The Trial” and “The Castle”. The novella “The Metamorphosis” is one of Kafka’s best-known works, and many consider it to be the highlight of his writings and indeed, of cinema, theatre and opera all over the world. “The Metamorphosis” is perhaps the most famous story written by Kafka, written in 1912 and published in 1915. The story is part of the fantasy genre of fiction as it presents an unreasonable phenomenon – a man, Gregor Samsa, undergoes a metamorphosis and becomes an insect.
His writings deal with the state of the modern man facing powerful bureaucratic systems, under the influence of technology on contemporary society and feelings of isolation and opacity in human relationships. The metamorphosis in the novella is not only physical, it is also a mental metamorphosis of a torn soul which reveals the tragic reality of a man who ceases to fulfil his role towards society, and in this way it becomes a kind of insect, a burden that must be disposed of. The metamorphosis is based on the foundations of an autobiography but evolves into a broader universal meaning.
The vast majority of Kafka’s literary works, including all his well-known books, were not published in his lifetime but rather after his death. he entrusted his writings to his friend, Max Brod, asking him to destroy them. Brod ignored his request and instead worked all his life to publish them. After his death, the collection of unpublished writings was transferred to Brod’s secretary. Following her death and after a series of legal hearings, the collection ended up in the National Library of Israel in 2012, to ensure their preservation and access to the public.
More Info
This novel, like Kafka’s other novels, represents in a tragic and absurd manner the existential tension, isolation and strangeness of modern life. Despite Kafka’s huge influence on the literary and cultural movements of the 20th century, the vast majority of his literary works and well-known novels were not published in his lifetime but only after his death. he entrusted his writings to his friend, Max Brod, asking him to destroy them. Brod ignored his request and instead worked all his life to publish them. he justified to himself that Kafka knew he would not execute his wishes, and that if he still entrusted his collection to Brod, then it meant that Kafka came to term with the publication of his writings. The second justification, which Brod admitted was quite a powerful one, was the enormous value of the inherited legacy. Amongst Kafka’s writings published after his death, were the books, “The Trial”, “The Castle” and “Amerika”, which were incomplete. In his will Max Brod bequeathed all of his property, including Kafka’s collection of writings, to his secretary Esther Ilse Hoffe with the instruction that after his death, the collection was to be sent to a public archive.
Esther did not fulfil Brod’s instructions, and the manuscripts of the two men were held for decades in bank vaults in Tel Aviv and in Zurich, Switzerland. According to some reports, some important documents were also kept in unsuitable conditions in Hoffe’s own apartment in Spinoza Street, Tel Aviv. Some of the manuscripts were sold by Hoffe at auctions around the world. Among other things, in 1988 she sold the manuscript of Kafka’s most famous novel, “The Trial”, for approximately $2 million dollars – a record amount in those days. The buyer transferred the manuscript to the German Literature Archive in Marbach, Germany, where they remain safely today. After her death in 2008, a trial began between Hoffe’s daughters and the National Library of Israel about the fate of the estate. In 2012 the Family Court ruled that Kafka’s writings would be transferred to the National Library, whose main role is to make its collections accessible to the general public both in Israel and around the world, thus ensuring the preservation of the manuscripts as well as the general public’s access to them. From there, they were moved to the Museum of the Jewish People. Add details on manuscript maintenance, acclimatization etc.
There is an interesting book on the subject by Isaac Robin, “The man who didn’t burn Kafka”, which tells the story of Peter Klein, a young Tel Aviv native born in Prague, a journalist in his early days who traces Franz Kafka’s resume. During Klein’s investigation, he discovers that his elderly neighbour is in fact the forgotten author, Max Brod. Peter learns that it was Brod who revealed Kafka to the world, then an unknown, insecure writer, a hypochondriac; that it was Brod who pushed and encouraged Kafka to write and to publish his stories despite the stubborn objection of the anonymous author who disapproved of his own works. [This book does not appear to be available in english]
Renowned American graphic artist, illustrator and comic book artist Peter Kuper, born in 1958, presents a brilliant rendering of Franz Kafka’s literary masterpiece. Kuper’s illustration – merging American cartoon with German expressionism – breathes life into one of the greatest writings of the twentieth century, and reconstructs in a surprising and exact manner the dark humour and poignancy of the original story about family, alienation and one’s own existential condition.
