Metamorphosis by Fraz Kafka

I have recently plowed through the Tempest and followed on its heels with the next book on the list, Metamorphosis.  Just to let you know, I did both before firing up the blog again - I can't read THAT fast.  (In fact, I began reading The Idiot last night so I am already onto the next title.)  Well, even though I am trying to play catch up, I will still do my usual preamble with some background info on the author and book.

Franz Kafka was born in July of 1883 to a Middle class, German-speaking Jewish family in Prague.  (The country was not yet considered The Czech Republic at this time but was considered Bohemia, part of Austria-Hungary.) He would be the eldest of two other brothers and three sisters, unfortunately both brothers died in their infancy.  His father and mother made their living running a store that sold trinkets and accessories and were reasonably successful at it. Franz did not get on well with his father, though he seems to hold a begrudging respect for him, and his relationship would later play as a major influence in his writing.  His father is often described as loud, overbearing, demanding, and authoritarian. Despite this setback, Franz was well educated in the classics in grade school and in Law in college. Later in his working life, Franz was generally described as an astute and motivated worker, though he often claimed that he hated his job as an insurance lawyer, and took the opportunity to write in his spare time.  In 1917 Franz contracted tuberculosis but continued to write as well as date women who found his manner charming.  During his decreasing health he had to rely on his family, mainly his sisters, for support which was humiliating to him.  In 1924 he died of his sickness and starvation because his illness made it impossible to swallow and there were no medical solutions for that at the time.  Before his death he requested that all of his works and papers be burned unread, but his friend actually dedicated his life to having them published.  During Kafka's living years he was not successful as a writer outside of publishing a few short stories, the lions share of his work did not see the light of day until after his death.  On a sad note, 20 years after his death all three of his sisters would fall prey the the Nazi war-machine and would each perish in concentration camps.  Many of Kafka's letters and papers retained by a former love interest would also be seized by the gestapo at this time (these have never been recovered).