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Introduction to Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

Introduction to Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. Adrian Agacer. Quick Write. Do you have a pet? If so, explain your relationship with your pet. If you don’t, write about an experience you had with animals (zoos, other’s pets, etc.). “ Cauda Equina ” (If Body Series) by Riva Lehrer.

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Introduction to Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

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  1. Introduction to Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis Adrian Agacer

  2. Quick Write • Do you have a pet? If so, explain your relationship with your pet. • If you don’t, write about an experience you had with animals (zoos, other’s pets, etc.). “CaudaEquina” (If Body Series) by Riva Lehrer

  3. Robert Crumb’s The Metamorphosis

  4. Crumb cont. • How is the non-human, GregorSamsa, represented in this scene from Robert Crumb’s adaptation of The Metamorphosis.

  5. Key Terms • Existentialism: A belief that philosophical thought begins with a acting, free, and living human being who is faced with the meaninglessness of existence. Existential thought attempts to grasp questions of how one should live authentically. • Absurdism: A philosophical school closely related to Existentialism, Absurdism believes that humanity is doomed to find meaning in life and should accept this fact and continue to explore and search for meaning.

  6. Absurdism and The Myth of Sisyphus • Punished by Hades, Sisyphus was condemned to roll a boulder to the top of a hill, from which it would roll back down.

  7. Absurdism and The Myth of Sisyphus cont. • “I hope I never get my fill / of pushing this boulder up on this hill, / getting to the top and taking a spill. / Every time’s like the first time. / Every time is the same.” • Titus Andronicus’ “Joset of Nazareth’s Blues”

  8. Key Terms cont. • Ego: the part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity. • Id: the part of the mind in which innate instinctive impulses and primary processes are manifest. • Superego: the part of a person's mind that acts as a self-critical conscience, reflecting social standards learned from parents and teachers.

  9. Key Terms cont. • Humanism: a system of thought criticized as being centered on the notion of the rational, autonomous self and ignoring the unintegrated and conditioned nature of the individual. • Posthumanism: a belief that is critical of Humanism and challenges the division between the human and the non-human • Tranhumanism: an ideology and movement which seeks to develop and make available technologies that eliminate ageing and greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities (BostromA History of Transhumanist Thought 2005). It is a continuation of Humanism.

  10. Key Terms cont. • Kafkaesque: Established by the works of Franz Kafka, Kafkaesque is a style of writing/storytelling where the character(s) lacks a clear solution and escape from a nightmarish, surreal, irrational, and overly complex world.

  11. Kafka’s Diary Entry and Biography • Franz Kafka Biography • Having heard an excerpt of Kafka’s diary and a brief biography, write down a handful of words you feel describes the personality of Franz Kafka. • Why do you think Kafka would want his writings to be burned after his death?

  12. Group Activity • Go into groups of four and discuss how you would feel if you suddenly woke up one morning as a giant cockroach. How would you continue your day? Go to school? • Feel free to discuss this humorously. Kafka’s writing is filled with humor. • But also discuss the serious implications.

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