Gregor Samsa

Gregor Samsa is a fictional character in "The Metamorphosis", a novella by Franz Kafka, who tries to live his life after having been transformed into a "monstrous vermin". He is a travelling salesman.

Origin

The name "Gregor Samsa" appears to derive partly from literary works Kafka had read. The hero of "The Story of Young Renate Fuchs", by German-Jewish novelist Jakob Wassermann (1873–1934), is a certain Gregor Samassa. The Viennese author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836–1895), whose sexual imagination gave rise to the idea of masochism, is also an influence. Sacher-Masoch (note the letters Sa-Mas) wrote "Venus in Furs" (1870), a novel whose hero assumes the name Gregor at one point. A "Venus in furs" literally recurs in "The Metamorphosis" in the picture that Gregor Samsa has hung on his bedroom wall. [Kafka (1996, 3).] The name Samsa is similar to Kafka in its play of vowels and consonants: "Five letters in each word. The S in the word Samsa has the same position as the K in the word Kafka. The A "is in the second and fifth positions in both words." [Kafka (1996, 3 & 75).]

References in other media

* Apache Xalan, an XSLT processor, names its default "translet" class "GregorSamsa", as a reference to this character.
* The character Mr. Samsa (One of several normal cockroaches) in "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac" is a reference to this novella
* There's a spoof of Gregor Samsa in the anime "Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan".
* There is a reference to Gregor Samsa in "" # 10.
* In Darren Shan's book "Slawter", There is a giant cockrach demon whose name is confirmed as Gregor by his creator and master, and is stated by one of the characters to be a direct reference to Samsa.
* In Charles Stross' "Missile Gap", a character is a sentient bug disguising himself as a human named Gregor Samsa.
* M.E. Kerr's cult favorite children's novel "Shoebag" features a young Gregor Samsa who is a cockroach who has been turned into a human.
* While searching for a sure-fire flop for Broadway, theatrical producer Max Bialystock in "The Producers" dismisses the opening line of a potential play "Gregor Samsa woke one morning to discover that he had been transformed into a giant cockroach" as "too good."
* An insect-type ghost in an episode of the 1997 cartoon "Extreme Ghostbusters" introduces himself as Gregor Samsa when disguised as a human.
*"Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei"'s seventh episode is entitled "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning, he found himself on a bandwagon".
*"FoxTrot" - In this comic series by Bill Amend, there are a few strips where Jason turns into a miniature Paige after waking up. His older brother Peter had been reading the book for English class.
*A post-rock band formed in Virginia in 2000 uses the name Gregor Samsa.
* Michael J. Nelson references Samsa in a joke on his Rifftrax commentary track for Heroes S.1 Ep.2.
* In Neil LaBute's play The Shape of Things, when central character Adam realises his whole lifestyle change has been part of his "girlfriend's" art project, he responds with "I got a whole Gregor Samsa thing going now..."
* The protagonist in the novel "Kafka on the Shore" written by the Japanese author "Haruki Murakami " renames himself "Kafka", because of his strong identification with "The Metamorphosis" and other stories written by Kafka.
* The novel is referenced in an episode of Sesame Street, when Bert reads from a book: "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning, he found himself transformed into a giant pigeon!".
*In the computer game "Wizardry 8", the player can encounter an enemy named Gregor who is a monstrous beetle locked away in a room of a monastery.
*A prominent German black metal band references the novel through their name, Samsas Traum (Samsa's dream).
*The Zamzar software derived its name from the surname of this character.

References

* Kafka, Franz (1996). "The Metamorphosis", ed. Stanley Corngold. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-96797-2.