On Wednesday night, I made the mistake of reading the Metamorphosis right before going to sleep -- bad idea. I had some real crazy dreams involving public embarrassment, shifting realities and extremely large purple tigers. I woke with a distinct sense of displacement, as if the dream had never really ended. I think my strange dreams were a direct result of reading Kafka. So why does reading Kafka evoke such a strange mess of emotional responses, both conscious and unconscious? In the Metamorphosis, Kafka is playing on humans' deepest fears. Humans typically want to be understood, loved, and comfortable within themselves. Gregor's transformation renders him utterly incapable of normal human communication, unlovable even to his closest family members, and disgusted by his own insect-like form. While this kind of transformation is (hopefully) not an experience that many readers have suffered, we can instantly relate to Gregor's struggles because we've all experi...