I, Kafka
December — 2018
I, Kafka is a project conceived for the first assignment in ESAD's MA in Communication Design, The Compound Narrative. It consists on a book design for Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, containing additional information that parallels Kafka's life to different events in the story.
1. Mimesis: Art imitates life.
An imitation of the real world in art or literature.
In the first chapter of The Metamorphosis, the transformation of Gregor Samsa into a hideous bug can be seen as a metaphor of Kafka’s low self esteem and constant worrying about his own image. The author always had a strong autobiographic mark in his works. A lot of his stories, even if extremely depressive and surreal, are a metaphor to his own experiences.
2. Catharsis: Miserable life.
The process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.
The second chapter describes in detail Gregor’s sad existence, leading him to an increasing loneliness. Likewise, Kafka’s life was also very dull: routines, difficult personal and social relationships, displeasure with his jobs, frustrating love life, etc. Kafka accepts this destiny because he thought he deserved it for being unable, ugly, incompetent: a loser. He probably felt guilty for being that way. Therefore, this can be seen as a catharsis.
3. Nemesis: Meaningless life.
A downfall caused by an inescapable agent: one risks nemesis by uttering such words.
A downfall caused by an inescapable agent: one risks nemesis by uttering such words.
Ironically, although written in 1912, the third chapter foresees Kafka’s own ruin a few years later. Gregor Samsa’s condition deteriorates, and, much to everybody’s relief, he softly decays into death, his existence meaningless.
Kafka died in 1924. The cause of death was starvation: due to laryngeal tuberculosis, the condition of his throat made eating an extremely painful job to him. In the last years of his life, seeing he had failed in a lot of major aspects he tried to accomplish, Kafka couldn’t help but fall into a destructive spiral that culminated in his death.
