Talk:The Metamorphosis

Evolution of Insect Mind

I don't think Kafka was so interested in what particular species of insect Gregor became -- as so much of the above discussion is concerned with. Rather, his focus was to show the horror of Gregor's experience as his mentality changed from human to insectile. The things that concern Gregor immediately after his transformation are very human and much different than his concerns and habits many months later. There is a flattening and narrowing of perception or a psychic myopia that Gregor develops reflected in his behaviors which are similar to those of insects that may appear in our own lives. That is the most horrifying thing. 96.225.76.102 (talk)Kolef96.225.76.102 (talk) 02:25, 24 February 2021 (UTC)

That’s a really cool way to see the story! I think that definitely checks out with Kafka’s style of writing.- sep 24 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:16D0:5410:DD85:365D:2E74:E969 (talk) 14:59, 24 September 2023 (UTC)

First translation

This is a trivial matter, but I want to explain a couple of edits. On November 5, 2023, under "Translation of the opening sentence," I changed "In the first 1933 translation of the story, Willa Muir and Edwin Muir" to "In their 1933 translation of the story, Willa Muir and Edwin Muir." I explained at the time that I made the edit because their translation was not the first. The reason that I thought it was not the first is because the list of translations included one by Katja Pelzer in 1915. I have now learned that "1915" should have been "2017," and I edited it accordingly. Therefore, I undid my November 5 edit, but I did not reuse the same words, because they were infelicitous. "In the first 1933 translation" suggests that there was a subsequent 1933 translation, which there was not. Instead, I changed it to "In their 1933 translation of the story — the first into English — Willa Muir and Edwin Muir." Maurice Magnus (talk) 03:31, 2 February 2024 (UTC)

Translation of the opening sentence

One translation, by William Aaltonen (2009), is not included. See Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka - Google Books. Google Books doesn't permit a search of the text. If anyone has a copy of the Aaltonen translation, please add it to the list. Maurice Magnus (talk) 14:12, 8 February 2024 (UTC)