Metamorphosis (1915)

Accept the transformation at the beginning and follow the practical problems it creates: work, doors, food and a family’s dependence on an income. Kafka’s matter-of-fact narration makes the impossible situation surprisingly easy to enter. The short novella is both absurdly funny and painful about shame and usefulness. Its force grows from the household’s changing behaviour, so there is no need to begin with a fixed meaning for the creature.