Monday, July 16, 2007

Interview with Marc Estrin author of Insect Dreams: The Half Life Of Gregor Samsa


http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw020425marc_estrin

Above is a link to a interview with Marc Estrin who wrote a book called Insect Dreams:The half life of Gregor Samsa. In it Gregor remains alive at the end of the story and becomes part of a circus act. When the circus subplot runs its course and Samsa goes off to New York, he undergoes a radical transformation into a half-man, half-insect superhero whom the author uses to reexamine the first half of the 20th century He befriends historical figures like Charles Ives, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Robert Oppenheimer, as well as numerous other highly fascinating fictional characters. Gregor has an impact on the unfolding of world events as we remember them and others that never got recorded in history books, such as Roosevelt's refusal to interfere with the genocide of the Jews.

This is an incredibly inventive rewrite or continuation of the ending of The Metamorphosis. I think this will show you how Kafka's story inspires people to rewrite the ending and in Estrin's case get it published.

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