Metamorphosis and Other Stories, Franz Kafka
Metamorphosis and Other Stories, Franz Kafka
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Metamorphosis and Other Stories

Author: Franz Kafka, Michael Hofmann

Narrator: Johnny Flynn

Unabridged: 9 hr 31 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 11/13/2025


Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.

A collection of Kafka's greatest short fiction, translated by Michael Hofmann

Kafka's masterpiece of unease and black humour, Metamorphosis, the story of an ordinary man transformed into an insect, is brought together in this collection with the rest of his works that he thought worthy of publication. It includes Contemplation, a collection of his earlier short studies; The Judgement, written in a single night of frenzied creativity; The Stoker, the first chapter of a novel set in America; and an eyewitness account of an air display. Together, these stories, fragments and miniature gems reveal the breadth of his vision, his sense of the absurd, and above all his acute, uncanny wit.

Translation and Afterword copyright © Michael Hofmann, 2007 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

About Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was one of the major fiction writers of the twentieth century. His unique body of writing-much of which is incomplete and which was mainly published posthumously-is considered to be among the most influential in Western literature. Among his most well known stories are "The Metamorphosis" and "In the Penal Colony," and his novels include The Trial and The Castle.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Matthias on February 09, 2017

The Metaphormosis - a tiny tale The field lay sparkling in the sun. The cold night had covered it with a white blanket which the grass was now reluctant to shed. The distant sun did not mind the ground’s slumber. It gazed benevolently down to the field and saw shimmers of its big bright self refl......more

Goodreads review by Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) on January 19, 2021

This very famous story by Kafka strikes me as a literary Rorschach test: everyone seems to see something different in it. Some people treat it like an elaborate metaphor, as where other seem to think it should be read quite literally – as the story of a poor man who one day woke up turned into a gia......more

Goodreads review by Leonard on July 18, 2023

See my review of the Schocken Kafka Library edition: [URL not allowed]......more

Goodreads review by Monika on September 30, 2018

Nothing demands meticulous attention more than Kafka's prose. He weaved the false thread of inner lives of his characters in a way that is as ridiculous and surreal as it possibly can be. They try to make sense, but alas, it is the world Kafka had woven and hence, absurdity reigns triumphantly. The e......more

Goodreads review by Sasha on September 20, 2017

Here's Kafka with the best thing anyone's ever said about literature:We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be like the axe for th......more