'No other voice has borne truer witness to the dark of our times' George SteinerAfter an embarrassing sexual misadventure with a servant girl, sixteen-year-old Karl Rossman is banished to America by his parents.

'In Kafka, no honour comes without suffering, and no suffering goes unhonoured' Joshua Cohen

Only yesterday, Gregor Samsa was a meek salesman, browbeaten by his unappreciative employer and depended on fiercely by his ungrateful family. This morning, Gregor awakens to discover that, overnight, he has been transformed into a monstrous insect. As Gregor frantically tries to conceal his predicament, neither his family nor his unsympathetic employer accept that a terrible metamorphosis has upended his existence. Is Gregor’s condition only temporary? Will he eventually revert back to the person he was and resume his normal life? Or might he have to accept that his transformation is only...