It begins with the image of a locked door. With this dilemma bubbling around in my head, I found it shocking that every detail in Kafka’s bizarre novel served as a parable for my experience, and indeed many other queer experiences which I haven’t personally encountered. The response was flat “then I guess we won’t see each other for a while.” And by “for a while” the subtext is, until I’m not gay-or at least until I’m not openly gay. Having finally grown exhausted of this game, I informed my parents and siblings that if I could not see them with my boyfriend by my side, I simply couldn’t see them anymore. I can return home for a visit, provided I travel alone and never speak of my personal life, otherwise I am not invited. Whenever my boyfriend’s name comes up, they turn to ice, go completely silent until the topic moves on to something else. For several years my family has known about my boyfriend and yet believes any recognition of my relationship will “condone” the abominable act. I use quotes here because I did not so much come out as stop tip-toeing around this aspect of my life. I am a thirty-two year old gay man who recently “came out” to his deeply religious family. In fact, I associate myself with Gregor so exactly that it is almost as if Kafka had been writing-in his veiled, symbolic way-about my queer anxieties, just as they are on this day in 2021.įor context, let me briefly address what’s going on in my life before getting into the novel. Like many others before me, the reality of Gregor’s situation comes across personal. The sudden transformation to an insect is not a plight anyone should expect to suffer, and yet the fallout of this event is bitterly recognizable. There are many possible explanations for the novel’s enormous popularity, but perhaps the most unexpected reason is its relatability. Because, if there is one thing certain about The Metamorphosis, it is that it continues to inspire readers from every corner of the globe, generation after generation. Or rather too many satisfactory combinations. Feminist readings and postcolonial readings offer their own rich interpretations, and practically everything in between.Ī century later with still no definitive answer, it seems Kafka’s most famous novel may simply be a lock with no satisfactory combination. This interpretation is far from conclusive, however, with dozens of other compelling arguments. A hypothesis that Kafka suffered a Father Complex remains the running theory for how such bizarre fiction manifested itself into existence (Abraham). Multitudes have pored over every detail of the author’s life for clues to reveal its proper meaning, extending their search even to the journal entries of his close companions (Cain). Since its publication in 1915, Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis has become one of the most dissected literary works of all time.
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