Over the years, translators have had Gregor Samsa transform into 'a monstrous cockroach,' 'an enormous bedbug,' and 'a large verminous insect,' among other things. There are numerous translations of The Metamorphosis's famous opening line. Finally, in October 1915, the story appeared in the literary journal Die weissen Blätter, with a book printing two months later by publisher Kurt Wolff Verlag in Leipzig. Then World War I broke out, causing further delays. Due to his preoccupations with writing Bauer and with Amerika, though, it took Kafka months to write a new manuscript.

They began talking about the work, and soon publishers were expressing interest. Kafka read a section from his ' bug piece,' as he called it, aloud to friends on November 24, 1912.

It took three years for The Metamorphosis to be published. There were delays-Kafka was, after all, working full time at an insurance company-but he still was able to finish the first draft in three weeks, from mid-November to early December 1912. Once the inspiration for The Metamorphosis came, he seized on it and resolved to write it quickly, in two or three sittings. Kafka was having a hard time turning out his first novel (which he never finished, and which was published after his death under the title Amerika). Franz Kafka wrote The Metamorphosis while working on another novel. A story, he later wrote her, began to take shape. Lying in bed one morning, Kafka told himself he wouldn’t get up until he’d received Bauer’s next letter. Kafka demanded detailed accounts of Bauer’s days, expressed his love for her and visions of their future together, and demanded that Bauer, who would eventually become his fiancée, respond to him in kind. The correspondence was desperate-and pretty much one-sided. He began writing to Bauer, who lived in Berlin, shortly after, eventually penning two and three letters per day. In 1912, Kafka met Felice Bauer, an acquaintance of his friend Max Brod, at a dinner party in Prague. A tortured, long-distance relationship inspired The Metamorphosis. Let's take a look at a few things we do know about Franz Kafka's mysterious novella. Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman living in Prague, wakes one morning from troubled dreams to find himself transformed into-what, exactly, isn’t clear, just as any clear interpretation of The Metamorphosis has eluded readers for decades.

It is one of the most enigmatic stories of all time, with an opening sentence that’s unparalleled in all of literature.

The metamorphosis franz