The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung) first edition cover. Nevertheless, the humane side of Kafka’s novella remains somewhat limited because of the absurd nature of the events in the book.

His 1919 book, "The Journal of a Disappointed Man," talks openly about a disease, which we now know was MS, that crippled and swiftly killed him at just 30 years old.

And yet both of these books want desperately to bring a dead man back to life, so that he can explain himself, so that he can (metaphorically) finish novels that break off midsentence, so that he ...

The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung) first edition cover. Nevertheless, the humane side of Kafka’s novella remains somewhat limited because of the absurd nature of the events in the book.