The Metamorphosis

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning, from restless dreams he found himself recast in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armour-plated, back and when he raised his head a little he could see his domelike brown tummy separated into stiff arched parts on top of which the bed quilt could barely keep in place and was about to slide off entirely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully delicate corresponded to the remainder of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes. With its stunning, eccentric, yet surprisingly funny first opening, Kafka begins his chef-d'oeuvre, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a youthful man who, changed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, evolves an entity of disrepute to his family, a stranger in his own home, a quintessentially alienated 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.

"Kafka expertly portrays the vagaries of the human heart--all of its sad glory and tinny selfishness--in a recording that the gifted Martin Jarvis elevates to an audio classic, employing his storytelling skills and knowing inflections in a lively and charming narration occasionally punctuated by scratchy, whimsical violins. Jarvis has firmly established himself as a source of finely nuanced theater of the mind. This unforgettable audio movie is vivid and disturbing, shot through with black humor. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."

-- "AudioFile"