The eNotated Metamorphosis

Though most eBooks are simple conversions of paper books, "The eNotated Metamorphosis" is a completely new approach that takes advantage of eBook technology by providing eNotations (electronic annotations), essays, and background information conveniently accessible through links and a comprehensive table of contents. Written by Kafka and Goethe scholar and Wellesley College German professor, Jens Kruse, this background biographical, historical, and interpretive information makes Kafka’s simple-to-read but difficult-to-understand European literature classic more accessible and the reading experience more satisfying.


Based on the Ian Johnston translation, with additional material translated by Dr. Kruse and others, and including 27 illustrations, this eNotated edition extends Kafka’s writing by providing a new layer of information behind the text, which the reader can access before, during, and after each of the three parts of “The Metamorphosis”.


For instance, in the eNotations to Part 1, Dr. Kruse provides a link from the English title, “The Metamorphosis” to a discussion of the pros and cons of using that as an adequate translation of Kafka’s original German title, “Die Verwandlung.” Kafka had something different in mind from what an English reader understands by the word “metamorphosis” and it’s important to understand his intention and the shortcomings of “metamorphosis” in order to understand his novella.


“The Metamorphosis” is one of the most important European literary works of the early 20th century - engaging and provocative while at the same time disorienting and confusing. Connecting Kafka’s text with his life and times, Dr. Kruse provides a framework that, while not solving the puzzle Kafka left us, makes it much clearer and richer. 


Jens Kruse, born in Hamburg and educated in Germany and the United States has been studying and teaching Kafka for three decades and in this eNotated version of “The Metamorphosis” shares with the reader what he has learned during that process - by adding extensive eNotations, an introduction, a bibliography, a chronology, and topical essays on Art, Family, Reality and other themes that run through Kafka’s “Little story.”


If you are going to read Kafka for the first time - or reread him after some years - you will best enjoy and more effectively appreciate him with this unique eNotated edition.