The Metamorphosis: The Illustrated Edition

by Franz Kafka, Peter Kuper (Adapted by)

Overview

A stunning graphic novel adaptation of Franz Kafka’s famous story of a man who finds himself transformed into a monstrous cockroach.

“Darkly appropriate . . . Kuper’s work rivals that of Art Spiegelman.”—Chicago Sun-Times
 
Acclaimed graphic artist Peter Kuper presents a brilliant, darkly comic reimagining of Kafka’s classic tale of family, alienation, and a giant bug. Kuper’s electric drawings—which merge American cartooning with German expressionism—bring Kafka’s prose to vivid life, reviving the original story’s humor and poignancy in a way that will surprise and delight readers of Kafka and graphic novels alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400052998
Publisher:	Crown Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/20/2004
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	6.11(w) x 9.08(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	670L (what's this?)
Age Range:	16 - 18 Years

About the Author

Peter Kuper’s work has appeared in Time, Esquire, The New Yorker, and the New York Times, among others. He’s the author and illustrator of several books, including Give It Up!, a collection of Kafka stories.

Date of Birth:

July 3, 1883

Date of Death:

June 3, 1924

Place of Birth:

Prague, Austria-Hungary

Place of Death:

Vienna, Austria

Education:

German elementary and secondary schools. Graduated from German Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague.

What People are Saying About This

Anne Rice

In some ways, there has never been a better time for Kafka's work than now. The last fifty years paved the way for [his] eerie beauty and seeming madness... 'The Metamorphosis,' 'In the Penal Colony,' and 'A Hunger Artist' are among the finest horror stories ever written. Seventy years after his death, art has finally begun to catch up with him.

Editorial Reviews

Kafka’s stoic Euro-alienation meets and merges with Kuper’s thoroughly American rock and roll alienation.”—Jules Feiffer

“The ride from book to comic can be bumpy. Mr. Kuper navigates the transition with precision.”—The New York Times

“Kafka’s anguished archetypal characters are easily rendered into visual equivalents and given new life in Kuper’s raw, expressionistic graphic style.”—Publishers Weekly

“Darkly appropriate . . . Kuper’s work rivals that of Art Spiegelman.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“Bubbling beneath the surface is a caustic batch of black humor that is as much unsettling as it is absurd. This is the magic of Kafka. And Kuper gives it a postmodern edge here, with an intriguing dance of picture and text.”—Gannett News Service

“Kuper’s scratchboard style . . . is reminiscent of the German expressionist artists . . . and his cartoony approach accentuates Kafka’s dark humor.”—Booklist

From the Publisher

Anyone remember their dad's hokey Classics Illustrated comics? Relax, here's a graphic novel inspired by a classic work of literature that really works. Acclaimed graphic artist Peter Kuper delivers a striking take on Franz Kafka's frightening and darkly comic tale "The Metamorphosis." Kuper's mesmerizing synthesis of sequential artwork and classic literature casts the long shadow of German Expressionism on the proceedings here, a perfect look for Gregor Samsa's absurd nightmare.

bn.com

The only stories published in Kafka's lifetime, this collection contains the best-known novellas and stories from one of the seminal writers of the 20th century. Each work is unique and spellbinding. You don't know what's going to happen and you can't put it down.

Jewish Book World

Kuper has adapted short works by Kafka into comics before, but here he tackles the most famous one of all: the jet-black comedy that ensues after the luckless Gregor Samsa turns into a gigantic bug. The story loses a bit in translation (and the typeset text looks awkward in the context of Kuper's distinctly handmade drawings). A lot of the humor in the original comes from the way Kafka plays the story's absurdities absolutely deadpan, and the visuals oversell the joke, especially since Kuper draws all the human characters as broad caricatures. Even so, he works up a suitably creepy frisson, mostly thanks to his drawing style. Executed on scratchboard, it's a jittery, woodcut-inspired mass of sharp angles that owes a debt to both Frans Masereel (a Belgian woodcut artist who worked around Kafka's time) and MAD magazine's Will Elder. The knotty walls and floors of the Samsas' house look like they're about to dissolve into dust. In the book's best moments, Kuper lets his unerring design sense and command of visual shorthand carry the story. The jagged forms on the huge insect's belly are mirrored by folds in business clothes; thinking about the debt his parents owe his employer, Gregor imagines his insectoid body turning into money slipping through an hourglass. Every thing and person in this Metamorphosis seems silhouetted and carved, an effect that meshes neatly with Kafka's sense of nightmarish unreality. (Aug.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Kafka's novella "The Metamorphosis," in which an ordinary man is inexplicably transformed into a giant insect, is among his most acclaimed works, and here Kuper presents a faithful and compelling adaptation of it. The plight of protagonist Gregor Samsa is terrible and chilling but also absurd, and in his introduction Kuper states that he was drawn to the work because of its humor, unlikely as this may sound. (Besides creating a previous book of Kafka adaptations, Give It Up, Kuper is also the current artist for Mad magazine's "Spy vs. Spy" strip.) He ably draws out both the horrific and the humorous elements of the story in his black-and-white scratchboard illustrations, which are cartoonish and expressionistic, with heavily detailed backgrounds. This book can act as an excellent introduction to the original for those who balk at Kafka's fearsome reputation. Fans of Eric Drooker's Flood or Rick Geary's "Treasury of Victorian Murder" series will likely also find this work of interest. Recommended for adult collections. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Adult/High School-Gregor Samsa wakes up and discovers he has been changed into a giant cockroach. Thus begins "The Metamorphosis," and Kuper translates this story masterfully with his scratchboard illustrations. The text is more spare, but the visuals are so strongly rendered that little of the original is changed or omitted. Though the story remains set in Kafka's time, Kuper has added some present-day touches, such as fast-food restaurants, that do not detract from the tale. He has used the medium creatively, employing unusual perspectives and panel shapes, and text that even crawls on the walls and ceilings, as Gregor does. The roach has an insect body but human facial expressions. Once he is pelted with the apple, readers can watch his rapid decline, as his body becomes more wizened and his face more gaunt. This is a faithful rendition rather than an illustrated abridgment.-Jamie Watson, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal