Categories: Autobiography: Literary Contemporary Fiction Classic Books & Novels Short Story Books Fiction In Translation The Metamorphosis and Other Stories 3.84 (3,843 ratings by Goodreads) Paperback Oxford Worlds Classics English By (author) Franz Kafka , By (author) Joyce Crick , Introduction and notes by Ritchie Robertson When Gregor Samsa woke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into some kind of monstrous vermin. With a bewildering blend of the everyday and the fantastical, Kafka thus begins his most famous short story, The Metamorphosis. A commercial traveller is unexpectedly freed from his dreary job by his inexplicable transformation into an insect, which drastically alters his relationship with his family. Kafka considered publishing it with two of the stories included here in a volume to be called Punishments. The Judgement also concerns family tensions, when a power struggle between father and son ends with the father passing an enigmatic judgement on the helpless son. The third story, In the Penal Colony, explores questions of power, justice, punishment, and the meaning of pain in a colonial setting. These three stories are flanked by two very different works. Meditation, the first book Kafka published, consists of light, whimsical, often poignant mood-pictures, while in the autobiographical Letter to his Father, Kafka analyses his difficult relationship in forensic and devastating detail. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. Product details Format Paperback | 208 pages Dimensions 128 x 196 x 13mm | 159g Publication date 26 Jul 2009 Publisher Oxford University Press Publication City/Country Oxford, United Kingdom Language English Edition Statement Critical ed. 10 0199238553 13 9780199238552 Bestsellers rank 2,871