The Metamorphosis (Chump Change Edition)

The Ian Johnston translation of “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, published by Greyhound Press, provides the reader with a clean, updated version of the classic story first published in 1916. I compared it to the Willa and Edwin Muir translation found the Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, 4th edition, copyright 1979. The new translation, from Greyhound Press, replaces archaic expressions with modern terms, clarifies punctuation with direct quotations, trims the extremely long sentences, and breaks up the long paragraphs. Yet the new translation remains completely faithful to the haunting story of Gregor, who awakens one morning to find himself transformed into a very large beetle. Here are a couple of examples of the changes: Wording Older translation: Oh God, he thought, what an exhausting job I’ve picked on! (The lack of quotation marks and the outdated expression make this hard to follow.) Greyhound edition: “O God,” he thought, “what a demanding job I’ve chosen!” Clearer sentences and paragraphs Older translation: Two strong people – he thought of his father and the servant girl – would be amply sufficient; they would only have to thrust their arms under his convex back, lever him out of the bed, bend down with their burden and then be patient enough to let him turn himself right over on the floor, where it was to be hoped his legs would then find their proper function. Greyhound edition: Two strong people – he thought of his father and servant girl – would have been quite sufficient. They would have only had to push their arms under his arched back to get him out of the bed, to bend down with their load, and then merely to exercise patience and care that he completed the flip onto the floor, where his diminutive legs would then, he hoped, acquire a purpose. Cover All of this is included in an eye-catching cover featuring a silhouette beetle, which looks to me like a potato beetle. I always thought poor Gregor had turned into a cockroach, but it’s not specified in the story. The cleaning lady actually refers to Gregor as a dung-beetle, so I suppose the kind of beetle is irrelevant. It’s the no longer human part that really causes the problem. I strongly recommend this translation.

Read it for a class. Odd story, but it holds one's attention pretty well. Kids would have a hard time understanding it.

I loved the look on the cover of the book. The wording was a nice size to read. I read this year's ago and this is a much better version. If you are a Sci-Fi person you will love the book. It's a interesting adventure of a man turning into a bettle. This was a great book to read. I did receive the book complimentary to give my honest and unbiased opinion.

I know this is a classic. Unfortunately classics are not always great. I did not get this book

i really loved the way they translated this book. it's a lot better than previous versions. there are something that everyone would find something in their life. i really enjoyed it. i would def suggest this book.

I have to say I love this version of Kafka's timeless classic. Every masterpiece deserves a beautiful, thoughtful cover like this. A more than readable edition, with the adequate typeface. ¡Love it!

Kafka's prose in Metamorphosis is really good. It is detailed and precise and you can understand easily what message he is conveying. Though the story is not necessarily what I prefer in terms of fantasy I was captivated. It his also a great insight into Kafka's mind at that point of his life. This book also include a short description of the book and biography of the author (from Wikipedia).

Metamorphosis kept reminding me of militarism in a society. Gregor Samsa's condition of being transformed intoa monstrous vermin and the manner in which he is rejected reminded me of societies where militarism spreads like a menace and eats a society away. The description of the character and his physical, emotional and sociological transformation has been so masterfully described by Kafka. Only Kafka could write this.

Awesome

The book is missing pages and the print quality is abismal

vond het boek zelf moeilijk te lezen, maar wel reuze interessant. het boek zelf kwam zonder beschadigingen aan. het is natuurlijk een klassieker, dus raad ik hem je aan als je er in geinteresseerd bent

I enjoyed the novel even though I found it very sad. Gregor is a good guy who tried to do the best by his family, but there was a sense that he did not look after himself and the decline in his status in the family is very sad. The exploration of how the family dealt with the loss of income from Gregor and developed a survival strategy,

Great easy read only took a short amount of time to finish the book.