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Foreshadowing
Genre
Explanation and Analysis:
Kafka's The Metamorphosis is a novella that falls under the genre of existentialist or absurdist fiction. Existentialism is a branch of philosophy that argues, as Sartre once claimed, that "existence precedes essence." In other words, what is essential to being a person results from life as it is lived and can not be understood as separate from existence itself. Absurdism, associated with philosophers like Albert Camus, is a branch of philosophy that explores how people can live life in a world that eschews meaning, clarity, and understanding. Camus believed Kafka's fiction was an excellent portrayal of the absurd and referenced Kafka accordingly in his seminal philosophical work "The Myth of Sisyphus." While Kafka's fiction is not a work of philosophy per se, it draws heavily on both existentialism and absurdism, portraying characters whose stories shed light on what it means to live life in an absurd world.
Kafka burned the majority of his writing over the course of his life: The Metamorphosis was one of the few pieces of literature published with his consent. In a way, The Metamorphosis is a perverse bildungsroman, or a coming-of-age story, as the reader experiences the entire life of Gregor-as-insect from start to finish. Indeed, the story begins with Gregor's first day as an insect and ends with his death.
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