The Metamorphosis

Acclaimed graphic artist Peter Kuper presents a brilliant, darkly comic reimagining of Kafka's classic tale of family, alienation, and a giant bug. Kuper's electric drawings--which merge American cartooning with German expressionism--bring Kafka's prose to vivid life, reviving the original story's humor and poignancy in a way that will surprise and delight readers of Kafka and graphic novels alike.

"A brilliant illustrated adaptation of Franz Kafka's famous story. It's a real pleasure to read and one in which everyone will recognize the existential drama and uncanny wit of the original text."--Susan Bernstein, associate professor of comparative literature and German studies, Brown University

FRANZ KAFKA was born in Prague in 1883. Although his passion was for writing, it never served as a livelihood and only a handful of his stories were published before he died of tuberculosis at the age of forty. Though largely unknown during his lifetime, he has come to be regarded as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. His short story The Metamorphosis, originally written in German in 1915, is considered to be his masterpiece.

PETER KUPER’S fascination with entomology began at the age of five but was supplanted by his discovery of comic books several years later. Thanks to Franz Kafka, Kuper no longer has to choose between the two. His comics and illustrations appear regularly in numerous magazines and newspapers, including Mad, for which he draws ＂Spy vs Spy＂ every month. Give It Up!, his first collection of Kafka adaptations, was published in 1995.