
The Metamorphosis
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Narrated by:
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Ralph Cosham
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By:
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Franz Kafka
About this listen
With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first sentence, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young traveling salesman who, transformed overnight into a giant, beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. Rather than being surprised at the transformation, the members of his family despise it as an impending burden upon themselves.
A harrowing - though absurdly comic - meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of 20th-century fiction. As W. H. Auden wrote, “Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man.”
FRANZ KAFKA (1883–1924), one of the major fiction writers of the twentieth century, was born to a middle-class German-speaking Jewish family in Prague. His unique body of writing, much of which is incomplete and was mainly published posthumously, is considered by some people to be among the most influential in Western literature, inspiring such writers as Albert Camus, Rex Warner, and Samuel Beckett.
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- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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On his deathbed, Franz Kafka asked that all his unpublished manuscripts be burned. Fortunately, his request was ignored, allowing such works as The Trial to earn recognition among the literary masterpieces of the 20th century. This brilliant new translation of The Castle captures comedic elements and visual imagery that earlier interpretations missed.
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Obscure, enigmatic, and not for everyone
- By John on 02-08-06
By: Franz Kafka
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The Stranger
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Albert Camus' The Stranger is one of the most widely read novels in the world, with millions of copies sold. It stands as perhaps the greatest existentialist tale ever conceived, and is certainly one of the most important and influential books ever produced. Now, for the first time, this revered masterpiece is available as an unabridged audio production.
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Is amorality bad?
- By Rolando on 03-10-14
By: Albert Camus
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The Metamorphosis
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Deaver Brown
- Length: 2 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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The classic transformation story by Kafka. A man is transformed into a bug and how everyone deals with the situation from his mother and father, to his employer and paying boarders, and himself.
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Just listen to a drunk at 2am in a crowded bar
- By Nia on 05-14-20
By: Franz Kafka
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The Castle
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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K. is a land surveyor who arrives in a remote village with the hope of securing a position working for the mysterious Castle that looms over the settlement. But his attempts to gain access to the Castle are thwarted at every turn by confusing rules, indifferent officials, and an opaque system that seems designed to keep him out.
By: Franz Kafka
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La Metamorfosis
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Christian Maggi, Sofia Carmona
- Length: 1 hr and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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La metamorfosis cuenta la historia de la transformación de Gregorio Samsa en un monstruoso insecto, y del drama familiar que, a raíz de este acontecimiento, se desata. En este relato se ha querido ver una alegoría del enfrentamiento del hombre ante un mundo moderno que lo oprime y lo borra.
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Buenísima narración
- By Caro Flores on 02-20-23
By: Franz Kafka
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Crime and Punishment
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett - translator
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 20 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In this intense detective thriller instilled with philosophical, religious, and social commentary, Dostoevsky studies the psychological impact upon a desperate and impoverished student when he murders a despicable pawnbroker, transgressing moral law to ultimately "benefit humanity".
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Wonderful reading, disturbing book
- By Tad Davis on 11-03-08
By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, and others
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The Death of Ivan Ilyich
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Hailed as one of the world’s masterpieces of psychological realism, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a worldly careerist, a high-court judge who has never given the inevitability of his death so much as a passing thought. But one day death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise he is brought face-to-face with his own mortality. How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth?
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Elegant, simple, and true
- By Alexandria on 09-22-13
By: Leo Tolstoy
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White Nights
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 1 hr and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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“White Nights” tells the story of a lonely man who wanders the streets of St. Petersburg over the course of four nights, searching for an escape from his isolation.
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Great Narrator
- By Anonymous User on 12-17-21
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The Metamorphosis
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Phillip Nathaniel Freeman
- Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Franz Kafka’s haunting novella, The Metamorphosis, tells the disturbing tale of Gregor Samsa, a young man who awakens one morning to find himself transformed into a monstrous insect. As Gregor grapples with his shocking new reality, his once-loving family begins to recoil, viewing him as an outcast and burden. Through Kafka’s unsettling lens, this story explores themes of isolation, identity, and the fragility of human connections, as Gregor’s physical change mirrors his growing alienation from society.
By: Franz Kafka
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The Castle
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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A land-surveyor, known only as K., arrives at a small village permanently covered in snow and dominated by a castle to which access seems permanently denied. K.'s attempts to discover why he has been called constantly run up against the peasant villagers, who are in thrall to the absurd bureaucracy that keeps the castle shut, and the rigid hierarchy of power among the self-serving bureaucrats themselves.
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A masculine and coquettish reading
- By Alan on 05-27-12
By: Franz Kafka
What listeners say about The Metamorphosis
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- Jim "The Impatient"
- 09-04-12
Written in 1915
This starts out with a man who wakes up as a big bug. Like in Amy Rand's Atlas Shrugged, his whole family depends upon him to make a living. The story is less about him being a bug and more about how his Mother, Father and sister cope with losing the bread winner in the house.
It must be remembered that it was written in 1915. Recently I read a story that was a modern version of this story and the bug kills his family. I hate to admit it, but I liked the modern version better.
FK is a great writer of interpersonal relations, it just was not what I was expecting.
It was not bad and it is only 2 hours long.
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44 people found this helpful
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- Andrew
- 10-07-14
Conservatively Depressing
Any additional comments?
This is a story about a man the turns into an insect, and then acts very conservatively British about it. But his family don't like it at all, and really make very little attempt to help him. The end is a bit of a downer, but life goes on, even for the characters in the story.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-09-23
i don't know how to feel.
to give some context. I'm the bread winner for my family; consisting of my mother and my severely autistic brother.
on one hand I feel this book so much. as the fear of losing my ability to provide for my family would feel little different than what happened to gregor. he killed him self as a human so his family could live like discount dandies. when really they were the ones killing him by leeching off him.
on the other hand. after reading this book I finally understand better how other people view my life both past and present. to most people they see my brother as a Gregor. something inexplicable that has been saddled on my life. mind you I grew up in the 90s when doctors spoke of aids as a more honorable and survivable diagnosis than autism. being that were 2 years apart. I grew up with him as a norm. so to see such a surreal example of how something like that can change a families dynamic. change out Gregor's condition with cancer, death, dismemberment, addiction, etc. it is frightening.
over all this. this is why I picked up classical literature. going through them and looking not only at how the world is shaped by them. but how the world had shaped them. an invaluable read I'd say. not for parking what the author means. but rather what it means to you. I'll even go so far as to say the book is less about Gregor or his families metamorphosis; and much more about yours as the reader. definitely one I will come back to at a different point in my life and re-read..
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2 people found this helpful
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- Kyx
- 05-26-22
I’ll never look at a bug the same way.
I chose this book for the picture on the sleeve. It seemed to entice my senses by curbing my need for a story that would take me to a new place. My usual taste is ether Jane Austin’s or exploring space type books. I was not disappointed. He lived a good life with a pute heart.
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- Basilio S.
- 02-05-22
A fantastic tragic short story
Honestly it was pretty hard for me to wrap my mind around this book but something spoke to me from the characters that can be related to us as people
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- Andy
- 01-13-23
Great Writing... but, what's the point?
An interesting story and good writing. Still, I don't understand it. Is it a metaphor for change or is it simply a study in what might happen if someone suddenly turns into a bug....?
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- Mom of 2
- 03-14-23
Strange
Very strange book. I wish there was a little more detail. There were things I was confused about.
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- BenjaminBird
- 08-22-23
Great... but different (In a good way)
I would recommend this pretty strongly to just about anyone, the story is great and certainly worth experiencing at least once, and the performance does it justice.
That being said if I had to critique it I would say there isn't much of a "story" it is simply a description of interesting events. What I mean is that there is no clear arc or catharsis in the story, so if those are important to you, then I wouldn't recommend it. That being said I think as a contemporary reader where this type of narrative catharsis is universal its valuable and interesting to read something that isn't interested in catering to those sensibilities.
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- Norman Kent
- 03-19-12
Kafka-esque terrific
Would you listen to The Metamorphosis again? Why?
A true classic. Works very well on audible. Almost a short story, but a wonderful narrative.
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16 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-30-17
has lose ends , but spell binding at the same time
open to interpretation, Kafka's work seems to reflect the struggles of a common man stuck in an unprecedented situation
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