Author: Franz Kafka
Website (unofficial): http://www.kafka.org/
Adapted and Illustrated By: Peter Kuper.
Website: http://www.peterkuper.com/
Media Used: pen and ink.
Summary: Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find that he has transformed, this time in graphic format. Gregor and his family must come to terms with his ghastly change, and learn how to move on.
Personal thoughts (provided by S.Butts): I always found this book very upsetting. The clinical way that Kafka tells the story, and even how the characters react to the bizarre situation in the book with such cold practicality, always made me feel a little ill. No doubt that was part of the effect Kafka was aiming for. This graphic novel version I think is able to convey that same absurdity, making the reader's experience all the more upsetting because they can actually see the state Gregor is living in, and the expressions of disgust and horror he sees on the faces of those around him. Each page is packed with hectic, frightening images, heavily shadowed and bleak-looking, helping to express Kafka's disturbing text. Kuper also adds some cartoonish humor to the images (the three roomers spitting on the floor simultaneously with a "Pppptttooo") which might also help to express Kafka's sly jokes. In all, I think this graphic novel is true to Kafka's story in that the overall feel and message is retained. It does overplay much of the subtlety of the original.
"The Classics Revisited" Group Project - Check out our group's presentation of this and other literary classic graphic novel adaptations that we have suggested for high school students.
Curricular Connections: High School Literature
This graphic novel could be used as part of a high school summer reading list, in lieu of the original title, or as a supplement to a lesson on Kafka in a literature class. I found a wiki for just such a class assignment - I thought the students' insights were impressive: https://ibenglish11whs.wikispaces.com/message/view/Assignments/30927919?o=20
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