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.

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.

gender celkem

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...

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

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.

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.

3.5 rounded off to 4

Frank Kafka’s dark surreal vision is given an appropriately skewed graphic treatment. Gregor Samsa’s plight is either a descent into madness or a sad commentary on the transient nature of a wasted life. Samsa believed that all his self-sacrifice as a salesman meant that he was providing for his family. But when he is stricken with a strange transformation (a metaphor for deformity, illness, insanity or crippling injury?), he proves peripheral to his family.

They carry on without him, managing finances, household chores and provender quite well without his help. It’s clear he has become a nuisance, an unwitting terror and a dangerous pest when all he wants is to show how much he loves them. It’s a twisted tale, all right, but at the end, when Gregor’s family shows their not-so-secret relief at his death, you wonder who the monsters really are.

This sad fable of a lost life is here adapted by Peter Kuper in rough etchings of black and white. Facial features are distorted as if seen from an insectile eye and text scrawls and crawls on the page, much like the creepings of a bug. The tale is bizarre with darkness lurking at its corners and tragedy gradually creeping from center stage to a dusty corner and the drawings take you spiraling down into its narrow hole.

Un tratto interessante e, a mio avviso, capace di rendere bene l'atmosfera di alcuni passaggi dell'opera. Un bella scoperta! :)

Peter Kuper's adaption of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is spectacular.

While there are various interpretations concerning Kafka's theme in The Metamorphosis, I tend to agree with Vladimir Nabokov's assessment -- The Metamorphosis is an examination of an artist's struggle to survive in a world determined to destroy him.

Kuper's graphic adaption does not allow for Kafka's hyper-punctuation, but Kuper does make some interesting graphic choices to keep the reader engaged. For instance, one page has to be read as the reader is spinning the book in circles.

Kuper's style of illustration perfectly lends itself to Kafka's story. His artwork is both haunting and stunning. Kuper's drawing of the apple that becomes lodged in Gregor's back particularly fascinated me.

When in Prague, buy something local. In this case, a book from an author who made the city their home.

I found this graphic novel adaptation of Kafka’s most famous work sold in a bookstore on the same street as my hotel in the Czechia capital. Kafka was a local, in fact, his museum was just a stone’s throw away from my street.

This adaptation was done by Mad magazine veteran Peter Kuper, whose work with Spy vs. Spy was one of the highlights of the magazine in its later years.

In my recent trip across Europe I found that Europeans enjoy their books. Germans love their comics, also the Austrians, and the Donald Duck family a favorite. The Czechs have the best bookstores, cozy, and with character, the walls brimming with their own stories as much as the shelves. The Dutch love their museums, where the shops carry their own books on the exhibits and the artists.

As for the book, Kuper captured the unsettling nature of the Kafka story with his adaptation. Both the art and the lettering captured the skittishness and awkwardness of a former human whose family no longer see him as such.