Gregor Samsa

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For the post rock band, see Gregor Samsa (band).

Gregor Samsa is a fictional character in The Metamorphosis, a novella by Franz Kafka, who tries to live his life after having been transformed into a "monstrous vermin". He is a travelling salesman.

[edit] Origin

The name "Gregor Samsa" appears to derive partly from literary works Kafka had read. The hero of The Story of Young Renate Fuchs, by German-Jewish novelist Jakob Wassermann (1873–1934), is a certain Gregor Samassa. The Viennese author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836–1895), whose sexual imagination gave rise to the idea of masochism, is also an influence. Sacher-Masoch (note the letters Sa-Mas) wrote Venus in Furs (1870), a novel whose hero is named Gregor. A "Venus in furs" literally recurs in The Metamorphosis in the picture that Gregor Samsa has hung on his bedroom wall.[1] The name Samsa is similar to Kafka in its play of vowels and consonants: "Five letters in each word. The S in the word Samsa has the same position as the K in the word Kafka. The A "is in the second and fifth positions in both words."[2]

[edit] References in other media

  • Apache Xalan, an XSLT processor, names its default "translet" class "GregorSamsa", as a reference to this character.
  • The character Mr. Samsa (One or several normal cockroaches) in Johnny the Homicidal Maniac is a reference to this novella
  • There's a spoof of Gregor Samsa in the anime Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan.
  • There is a reference to Gregor Samsa in Spider-Man: The Other # 10.
  • In Darren Shan's book Slawter, There is a giant cockrach demon whose name is confirmed as Gregor by his creator and master, and is stated by one of the characters to be a direct reference to Samsa.
  • In Charles Stross' Missile Gap, a character is a sentient bug disguising himself as a human named Gregor Samsa.
  • M.E. Kerr's cult favorite children's novel Shoebag features a young Gregor Samsa who is a cockroach who has been turned into a human.
  • While searching for a sure-fire flop for Broadway, theatrical producer Max Bialystock in The Producers dismisses the opening line of a potential play "Gregor Samsa woke one morning to discover that he had been transformed into a giant cockroach" as "too good."
  • An insect-type ghost in an episode of the 1997 cartoon Extreme Ghostbusters introduces himself as Gregor Samsa when disguised as a human.
  • Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei's seventh episode is entitled "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning, he found himself on a bandwagon".
  • FoxTrot - In this comic series by Bill Amend, there are a few strips where Jason turns into a miniature Paige after waking up. His older brother Peter had been reading the book for English class.
  • A post-rock band formed in Virginia in 2000 uses the name Gregor Samsa.
  • Michael J. Nelson references Samsa in a joke on his Rifftrax commentary track for Heroes S.1 Ep.2.
  • In Neil LaBute's play The Shape of Things, when central character Adam realises his whole lifestyle change has been part of his "girlfriend's" art project, he responds with "I got a whole Gregor Samsa thing going now..."
  • The protagonist in the novel Kafka on the Shore written by the Japanese author Haruki Murakami renames himself "Kafka", because of his strong identification with "The Metamorphosis" and other stories written by Kafka.
  • The novel is referenced in an episode of Sesame Street, when Bert reads from a book: "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning, he found himself transformed into a giant pigeon!".

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kafka (1996, 3).
  2. ^ Kafka (1996, 3 & 75).
  • Kafka, Franz (1996). The Metamorphosis, ed. Stanley Corngold. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-96797-2.

Georgia based Christian/Raw Rock band Showbread had a song titled "Sampsa meets Kafka" which in title and in lyrics makes refence to the Metamorphosis.

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