Field notes on Kafka, Die Verwandlung

I stopped where the text went quiet.

On page 41 Kafka never says what Grete decides. I marked the line and left the rest blank.

Open page 41 Read Part III with me

Marks in the margin

Reading 03, pp. 5 to 41. Nine marks in three weeks, and most of them are about the family, not about Gregor. Point at the list and the pencil draws the blank again.

  1. 5Underlinedungeheueren Ungeziefer
  2. 9One questionWhy is the train his first worry, and not his body?
  3. 12Three underlinesEverything the chief clerk says through the door
  4. 23Underlinedein Napf mit süßer Milch
  5. 27One questionDoes Grete clear the room for him, or for herself?
  6. 33CircledPelzboa
  7. 39Underlinedein schwach geworfener Apfel
  8. 41Left blank

Underlined, a line to come back toCircled, one word that carries the sceneOne question, never twoLeft blank, where the text goes quiet

Page 41, the last sentence of Part II

und vor der schreienden Schwester die Mutter hervoreilte

and ahead of the screaming sister his mother came running

What happens

His mother runs to his father in her shift and begs him to spare Gregor's life. Gregor's sight fails. Part II ends.

What Kafka leaves out

Grete screams, and then she is gone from the sentence. We never learn what she did in that minute, or whether she tried to stop the apples.

What I wrote

Four words under the paragraph, in pencil. The blank under a page is the most honest note I have made in three readings.

Three readings, one book

The same yellow paperback each time. The marks get fewer, and the blanks get longer.

  1. 1

    For the Abitur

    Spring 2014, with a highlighter

    I marked everything Gregor says about his job and nothing his sister says.

    71 of 71 pages · 46 marks
  2. 2

    On the night train to Prague

    August 2021, a pen, then a pencil

    I noticed the sister for the first time, and the violin, and how quickly the family recovers.

    71 of 71 pages · 17 marks
  3. 3

    One page a day

    Since 13 September, pencil only

    I stop where the text goes quiet and leave the gap the way Kafka left it.

    41 of 71 pages · 9 marks

Read Part III with me

Thursdays at seven, about ten pages a week. Bring your own copy and a pencil; pens stay in the bag. We read the pages aloud, then everyone says where they stopped.

  1. pp. 42–53The apple in his back, and three lodgers
  2. pp. 54–63Grete plays the violin in the living room
  3. pp. 64–71The tram out into the country

19:00 to 20:30 in the back room of Antiquariat Brenner, Lindenstraße 12, Leipzig.
Or on the call; the link comes with the pages.

Nine of twelve chairs taken