In honor of Franz Kafka’s 130th birthday today, Google chose to illustrate one of Kafka’s most canonical works: The Metamorphosis. This classic novella was one of the first illness narratives that I read, telling the symbolic tale of the salesman Gregor whose illness transforms him into a “monstrous verminous bug” (1).
It’s interesting what a different feel this image has. The drab colors reflect the simplistic tone in the book. But the sense of entrapment and isolation conveyed in Kafka’s work is inverted here by a mobile insect in control of his limbs. And the apple, a weapon that injures Gregor, becomes raised on the pedestal-like letter L. There is no sense of the pain and torment that Gregor experiences from the illness in the novella.
This doodle has me thinking about images and their effects on literature. Since I saw this image after reading the book, it was a bit unsettling for me. But if I had seen this image prior, perhaps I would have left the text with a different sentiment. I wonder how book covers of illness narratives may sway perceptions of illness.
Investigating Illness Narratives 