Insert Kafka Pun Here

Like Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and The Stranger by Albert Camus, Metamorphosis explores the absurdity of existence and the conflict posed by tragic circumstances. After turning into a large, insectesque figure, Gregor Samsa is isolated from his family and work. I like to think that Kafka uses this physical change as a metaphor for the difficulty of communication with others that he may have felt after confronting the absurdity of existence. I imagine that Meursault may have felt like a cockroach, being looked down on with fear and disgust by society and being unable to get others to understand his philosophy. However, another layer is added to the difficulty of communicating ideas by the fact that I have to read Kafka' work in English, translated from the original German. Here is what I think of some of the translation of the first lines of Metamorphosis.

Notes

#1: As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

• Has a matter-of-fact feel to it due to the lack of punctuation despite the fact that a comma could be added after "dreams"
• "Gigantic" feels formal compared to the other word choices
• "As George Samsa awoke" Is a process and a dependent clause; not the most important part of the sentence and occurring as an experience
• "Uneasy dreams" implies oddness and irregularity, something that would make one feel sick

#2: Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.

• Has a matter-of-fact feel to it due to the lack of punctuation despite the fact that a comma could be added after "dreams"
• "Giant" and "changed" feel too simple, especially with the word "uneasy" being used
• "Gregory Samsa awoke" isn't a process but rather an event, and is also an independent clause, emphasizing the idea of him waking and making the metamorphosis secondary
• Doesn't tell that Samsa is in his bed, making the scene painted less clear

#3: When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.

#tfw you get changed into something enormous

• Lack of punctuation although it could be added after "morning"
• "Enormous" has a child-like feel to it, like something Roald Dahl would write
• "When George Samsa awoke" is an event, an instant in time, but it is not an independent clause, making it less important than him finding himself
• "Troubled dreams" sound lightly burdensome as opposed to sickening, implies negativity rather than irregularity

#4:One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

• Uses much punctuation, creating a broken feeling, as if the narrator is meandering towards the inevitable reveal
• "Monstrous vermin" feels strange of Samsa to think of himself, especially considering his nonchalant attitude through the rest of the novel (or at least Part 1) about his condition
• "Upon awakening" is not even at the beginning of the sentence, making Samsa's experience of consciousness of even less importance
• "Agitated" and "monstrous" imply that the change was negative, although agitated can be seen as describing Samsa experience of discomfort during his sleep rather than a negative aspect to the change itself

Overall Analysis

The wording of each translation has a large effect on how Samsa's experience of life is communicated. Syntax and punctuation both affect how the experience of consciousness is communicated. I think that the second translation does the best job in this regard, due to it emphasizing Samsa's waking as an experience and does not interrupt his thought process. The diction and imagery in the translation colors Samsa's perception of the scenario and slightly changes meaning in the sentence. I believe the first quote does the best job with imagery, not coloring Samsa's predicament as negative or necessarily unfortunate. I also like how most of the translations use "he found himself" rather than "he found he had been." I think that finding himself rather than finding an action to him had occurred creates a better sense of his experience, describing the strange nature of gaining consciousness and shortly after self-awareness when waking from a dream.

Translation seems incredibly difficult to do. With the different grammatical structures, word connotations and denotations, and cultural contexts that are ingrained within every language, the task of trying to preserve an author's ideas seems almost like trying to recreate an art piece in a new medium. No matter how hard you try, there are going to be differences in your final product that will affect how the piece is interpreted. It makes the idea of even trying to take on translating a novel seem futile. However, between these four translation, I think that I have still been able to understand Kafka's ideas that he was trying to get across through this piece of literature. According to Google Translate, Kafka's writing described Samsa's new form as a "monstrous vermin." However, I think that the choice of most translators to use insect or bug instead better preserves the tone of the sentence, making it more matter-of-fact and indifferent to the peculiar circumstance (one of the many reasons to take Google translate with a grain of salt). Overall, I think that none of these translations was perfect, but all of them add value to the work, doing more than merely translating word for word in order to let us understand Kafka's intentions without knowing his language.