Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

This time we're reading Kafka's The Metamorphosis (1915). Travelling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes one morning to find himself transformed into a monstrous insect. What follows is less a horror story than a sustained philosophical meditation. Kafka never explains the transformation — it simply is, accepted with dreamlike matter-of-factness. Through Gregor's gradual estrangement from language, work, family, and finally his own body, the novella asks sharp questions that resonate with existentialist, Marxist, and psychoanalytic thought alike: What is a person's worth when they can no longer be productive? How does identity survive when the body betrays it? Can love persist when care becomes burden?

The book can be found here.

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Stockholm Philosophy Study group is a group for thoughtful discussion on philosophical topics. Everyone is welcome regardless of previous philosophical experience, but we would like everyone you to read the text ahead of time as the conversation will revolve around it. This is a space were we learn from and listen to each other, our focus is on deliberation, not debate. If we are a large group, remember to leave room for everybody's voices to be heard. We read all sorts of philosophical texts, some are easier and some are difficult. If you don't understand everything, don't worry, we will make sense of it together. Our meetups are at a public café, so if you participate, please buy something from the café to support them.

Please note that this is a cross-post for an event being arranged via the Discord server. Discussion between meetups happens on Discord, and this group may be unmonitored. If you join the server you also get to vote on our coming readings, so please consider joining.

Hope to see you at the meetup!