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The biologist's reply to Carolyn:
In his Kafka lecture from "Lectures on Literature" VN discusses the
beetle issue in detail, and even provides an illustration!
He emphasizes that Samsa is just a large (about 1 m) beetle, NOT the
dung beetle (although he is addressed as Mistkafer, dung beetle), BUT
VN states that BOTH Samsa and Kafka do not see this beetle quite
clearly.
To recap VN's argument for a beetle (versus anything else such as
cockroach, etc): Samsa is not flat, he has strong mandibles (jaws) as
beetles do; he is convex-shaped dorsally and ventrally; his dorsum
(back) is hard and rounded (i.e. he has elytrae, modified front wings
serving as lids for flying wings, a feature of beetles who are called
Coleoptera, hard-winged on that account) -- so Samsa, according to VN,
NEVER found out he could simply fly away.
Neither did Kafka.
Victor Fet
P.S. Wikipedia, which I am positively addicted to, has a very nice
discussion of the issue as related to the term "Ungeziefer" :
"....English translators have often sought to render the word
Ungeziefer as "insect", but this is not strictly accurate, and may be
based on an attempt to clarify what Kafka may have intended (according
to his journals and letters to the publisher of the text) to be an
ambiguous term. In German, Ungeziefer literally means "vermin" and is
sometimes used to mean "bug" – a very general term, totally unlike the
scientific sounding "insect". Kafka had no intention of labelling
Gregor as this or that specific thing, but merely wanted to convey
disgust in his transformation. Literally, the end of the line should be
translated as "...transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin" (this
is the phrasing used in the David Wyllie translation, although the
feeling of the word in German is more colloquial sounding (like "bug").
However, "a monstrous vermin" sounds unwieldy in English and in Kafka's
letter to his publisher of 25 October 1915, in which he discusses his
concern about the cover illustration for the first edition, he uses the
term "Insekt", saying "The insect itself is not to be drawn. It is not
even to be seen from a distance". [2] While this shows his concern not
to give precise information about the type of creature Gregor becomes,
the use of the general term "insect" can therefore be defended on the
part of translators wishing to improve the readability of the end text.
Ungeziefer has sometimes been translated as "cockroach", "dung beetle",
"beetle", and other highly specific terms. This term, in the book, is
used by the cleaning lady near the end of the story, but it is not used
in the narration. This has become such a common misconception,
Ungeziefer, in the literal vermin sense of the word, can be
comprehensively defined as an unclean animal (or any entity) unsuitable
for sacrifice. It is very characteristic of Kafka to play word games
(and could be why these direct terminologies are not used in the
narration): the Un part of the word, grammatically speaking, is a
negation in German that makes the word opposite to “clean” and
“suited.” It also denotes a sense of separation between him and his
environment: he is unclean and therefore he shall be excluded. Vermin
can either be defined as a parasite feeding off the living (as is
Gregor's family feeding off him), or a vulnerable entity that scurries
away upon another’s approach (as in Gregor's personified self). The
maid's use of Ungeziefer can be interpreted as a description of
Gregor's lifestyle: sedentary, slob-like, a nuisance, etc.
Vladimir Nabokov, who was an entomologist as well as writer and
literary critic, insisted that Gregor was not a cockroach, but a beetle
with wings under his shell, and capable of flight - if only he had
known it. Nabokov left a sketch annotated "just over three feet long"
on the opening page of his (heavily corrected) English teaching copy. "