Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" has been translated into many languages and forms. This podcast explores Peter Kuper's graphic novel. Remembering Kafka's famous interdiction on illustrating the insect, we ask what is revealed when one turns Kafka's most famous story into a comic.  

Please note, the audio version of this podcast episode contains references to visual content. To access the video version on the University of Oxford Podcasts site use the Video button, or if you're listening on Apple Podcasts please search for the video version of the series.

Kafka and Humour

Oxford Humanities explores approaches to Kafka and his most famous story "The Metamorphosis": how the text has itself been transformed into new forms like ballet, theatre and comic books; how Kafka’s work has been read, from ecological insights to questions of illness, humour, feminism or race; how writers from across the world have responded to him from J. M. Coetzee to the 'Brazilian Kafka' Clarice Lispector or Marie NDiaye; and finally how artists have 'written back' to Kafka from their own time and place from the Czech Republic, Spain or even a viral Facebook novel in Russia.

For the curious a reading list associated with this series is available on ORLO (see Related Links).