About this book
Franz Kafka's novella about travelling salesman Gregor Samsa who wakes one morning to find himself transformed into a monstrous insect. A cornerstone of 20th-century literature, it gave the language the adjective "Kafkaesque." Kafka — a Czech Jew writing in German — was banned under the Nazis (his three sisters died in the Holocaust). The book was suppressed in Soviet-era Eastern Europe and Franco's Spain.
Why it was banned
Banned in Nazi Germany in 1933 as part of the suppression of Jewish authors; also restricted in Francoist Spain and the Soviet Union due to ideological concerns about existentialism and individualism.
Censorship history
The Metamorphosis has been banned or restricted in multiple countries primarily for its political content and challenge to authority, as well as race / colonialism. The book has faced formal bans or removal orders in Germany, Soviet Union, and Spain since at least 1933. In each case the ban was imposed at the national or government level, reflecting state-level rather than institutional opposition. All documented bans have since been lifted or lapsed; the book now circulates freely in the countries listed. This case illustrates how governments across political systems have used censorship to shield authority from literary criticism.
Bans
| Country | Year | Reasons | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 1933lifted | PoliticalRacial | ||
| Kafka was Jewish; his works were among those burned on May 10, 1933 and banned under the Third Reich. | ||||
| Spain | 1939lifted | Political | ||
| Banned under Francisco Franco's dictatorship as part of broad censorship of modernist and leftist literature. | ||||
| Soviet Union | 1950lifted | Political | ||
| Kafka's absurdist vision of bureaucratic oppression was officially frowned upon in the USSR for its perceived "pessimism" and lack of socialist realism. | ||||
