Sunday, March 9, 2008

Ungeheures Ungeziefer: Eine wahre Erzaehlung!

Als Gregor Samsa eines Morgens aus unruhigen Träumen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheuren Ungeziefer verwandelt.
This is the famous opening sentence of Franz Kafka's Die Verwandlung, or The Metamorphosis.

A rough and free-flowing translation:
When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from disturbing dreams he discovered that he had changed, in his bed, into an enormous insect-like creature.
Well, it turns out that this shocking story was true! See Mark Leyner, "A Bug's Life. Really," NYTimes (March 9, 2008):
In a scandal that’s sending shock waves through both the publishing industry and academia, the author Franz Kafka has been revealed to be a fraud.

"The Metamorphosis — purported to be the fictional account of a man who turns into a large cockroach — is actually non-fiction," according to a statement released by Mr. Kafka’s editor, who spoke only on the condition that he be identified as E.

"The story is true. Kafka simply wrote a completely verifiable, journalistic account of a neighbor by the name of Gregor Samsa who, because of some bizarre medical condition, turned into a 'monstrous vermin.' Kafka assured us that he’d made the whole thing up. We now know that to be completely false. The account is 100 percent true."



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