One of the most striking transformations of Kafka's most famous story is into an acclaimed performance for the Royal Ballet. This podcast discusses how thinking about movement in the story and the ballet offer insights into Gregor Samsa's transformation and what it is to be human. 

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’s Metamorphosis

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).