Lo Ungeziefer della «Verwandlung» di Kafka nel processo di una nichilistica liberazione dallo Spießertum familiare. Alcune riflessioni<br><i>[The Ungeziefer of Kafka’s «Verwandlung» in the process of a nihilistic release from the philistinism of the family. Some considerations]</i>

• Main Author: Erminio Morenghi
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Università degli Studi di Milano 2019-04-01
• Series: Studia austriaca
• Online Access: https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/StudiaAustriaca/article/view/11502

This paper problematizes the etymology of the word “Ungeziefer” in Franz Kafka’s Verwandlung, connecting it to the Jewish tradition and Egyptian mythology as well as to the anti-Semitism that flourished from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century in the German and Central European area. Gregor Samsa’s desire for freedom and emancipation embodies a monstrous and tragical metamorphosis, which gives the opportunity to free the protagonist, albeit in a humiliating and nihilistic way, from the yoke of philistinism in the family, paradoxically freeing also his relatives from a stagnant existential condition. Kafka’s “Ungeziefer” thus becomes a symbol of growth, transformation and rebirth.