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The Metamorphosis

peter kuper franz kafka kerstin hasenpusch

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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.

“A brilliant illustrated adaptation of Franz Kafka’s famous story. It’s a real pleasure to read and one in which everyone will recognize the existential drama and uncanny wit of the original text."—Susan Bernstein, associate professor of comparative literature and German studies, Brown University

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2004

This edition

Format
80 pages, Paperback
Published
July 20, 2004 by Crown
ISBN
9781400052998
ASIN
1400052998
Language
English

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About the author

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peter kuper

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American alternative cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his autobiographical, political, and social observations.

Kuper's work in comics and illustration frequently combines techniques from both disciplines, and often takes the form of wordless comic strips. Kuper remarked on this, "I initially put comics on one side and my illustration in another compartment, but over the years I found that it was difficult to compartmentalize like that. The two have merged together so that they're really inseparable."

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
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34(34%)
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
2shizukasensei88
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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En su momento, leí La metamorfosis de Kafka y me dejó muy mal cuerpo, pero me encantó.

No obstante, ahora veo que no entendí bien los temas del libro (porque tenía como 15 o 16 años).

Casi 20 años más tarde, puedo apreciar la crítica que hace el autor acerca de cómo se aplasta a la clase obrera en este capitalismo en el que vivimos.

Por otro lado, el arte de esta adaptación me ha gustado mucho: este es un libro muy visual y es muy importante que el escarabajo gigante (en mi cabeza, siempre fue una cucaracha) te transmita la repulsa necesaria.

Ha sido todo un acierto.
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bossunhimeswitch
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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A comic adaptation of Kafka's famous story of the same name. It's what you'd expect from such an adaptation, really. There's not much new in the way of story (as is preferable with most adaptations) but the visual element actually takes away many of the things that made the text so good, e.g. the ambiguity, the symbolism, etc. In the text there's a constant air of uncertainty. With the added visual element things are much more literal and blunt. Which is why I'm hesitant to call this an adaptation (in the true sense at least). If it were an adaptation it would strive to present the same emotions and thoughts as the material it is adapting did, by means of a different medium. This graphic novel didn't quite fully achieve that. Which is why I see this more as an interpretation rather than an adaptation. It is merely showing a single way to interpret a story that can be interpreted countless ways. So it's better to view this (and indeed many works feigning adaptation as well) as an interpretation rather than a strict adaptation.

So the question must be then, how well was it interpreted? (a bit of a matter of subjectivity, no doubt, but critique-able nonetheless). Well, to start off, the presentation is very nice. The art style has a sense of expressionism and is quite beautiful in all its black & white glory. The lettering is nice too (it's font, not handwritten) and doesn't only appear in speech bubbles or boxes, but instead you'll find the text bending around the corners of the panels or swirling around characters and lingering on their bodies. The text is very involved; part of the story rather than on top of it. The art style, along with the text, do well to reflect the mood of a scene, whether it be anxiety or sorrow.

I daresay that the art style is just as pleasing if not more so than Robert Crumb's rendition of The Metamorphosis in R. Crumb's Kafka. I will say, however, that Peter Kuper took some very obvious influence from Crumb's rendition, especially in regards to character and location designs. I might as well also take this time to mention (and indeed recommend) Caroline Leaf's wonderful animated adaptation, The Metamorphosis Of Mr. Samsa, of which I still believe is the finest portrayal of the story (and the most beautiful too!).

In conclusion it's a fine adaptation (ahem! I mean interpretation) that will amuse nearly all but will surprise very few, especially if you've already read Kafka's story (which I highly recommend).

It deserves a bit more than 3 stars but a bit less than 4 (damn you, Goodreads, give me my half stars!), so a 3.5 it is. Recommended for fans of Kafka, but this is far from substitute.
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B3y0ndB1rthd4y
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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But Gregor had never intended to frighten anybody, most especially his sister. He only wanted to crawl back to his room.

Peter Kuper's adaptation of Kafka's The Metamorphosis works, but it isn't groundbreaking. In fact, Kuper's depictions of Gregor as a bug and of Gregor's father are too cartoonish. Working within a graphic medium, Kuper should provide better imagery to capture this classic. In the "About the Author" section, Kuper is described as doing a lot of art for Mad magazine (does anyone still actually read that?)--and I wasn't a bit surprised. But honestly, the two styles--graphic literary adaptations and juvenile humor should not overlap. And yet...
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ymasumac
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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this traumatized me and I forgot abt it until i saw this word and remembered I didn’t add it

shoutout to the sophomore curriculum
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issa_labshat
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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An obviously classic story so not going to comment much on plot. The illustration fit the tone of the story perfectly and in fact brought out or highlighted certain moments or tonal aspects which I would not have given much attention to before. The style was like a mix of American cartooning and like a woodcut aesthetic and I feel the black and white works excellently. The character design I also thoguht was spot on, especially the father was soo scary. Horror and humor kind of spar throughout and yet the sadness of the situation shines through, the abjection of Samsa as he degenerates further and further shines through. The moment where he comes out to see his violin song, crushing. There are also moments where Kuper really plays with the possibilities of the graphic novel medium, for example the scene where is climbing around his room for the first time, the reader has to keep flipping the book in order to follow the text which also climbs all over the page, this produced a v satisfying effect.

Overall a v v solid adaptation of a classic.
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Resting_Bonfire
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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The graphics are very nicely illustrated. I will eventually read the actual novel but like this is currently the most morbid book I’ve read this year.
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